What are you willing to do for your dreams?

After living and working in Germany for three years, I felt I needed to do something completely different, something I haven’t done before. In my first two years, I’ve conducted workshops and later I’ve worked in the corporate world but somehow I felt my life was so empty.

I couldn’t really address what I was missing though. Maybe more connectedness with my surroundings, a romantic relationship or direct access to nature?

You know it’s time to move on when the universe keeps sending you countless signs. I’ve lived on the 13^th floor of an apartment house and one of the neighbors upstairs – an alcoholic as I found out later – started to blast music in the middle of the night every freaking night.
Another thing was that the company I was working for decided to train me for a new role which I didn’t like very much.

So, I quit my job and my apartment and organized everything to move my stuff to my parents’ house in Hungary. I had no clue what to do once I arrived there though.
It was October 2012 and while I was reflecting on my time in Nuremberg, I started to realize that I really missed being in nature, being physically active outside the gym and doing something out of passion. So, I made up my mind that I was going to learn snowboarding! Woohoo!
The best place to do it was in the Alps and I started looking for jobs in hotels and shops of some Austrian ski resorts.

In the first couple of weeks in Hungary, I spent all the time with my family and childhood friends and visited my favorite places in the area. In Balatonfüred, I ran into an old friend from high school and mentioned to her my plans. It turned out that she also wanted to work in a hotel in the upcoming winter and has already applied for a job in a small Alpine village in Austria.
At this point, I got really excited! In my mind, I started to see myself riding down the slopes and having lots of fun – and of course, working in a cool team together with her.

Unfortunately, the next week she told me that she wouldn’t be able to make it but I could contact the hotel she was applying for a job at, they seemed to be okay. I did so and shortly after I had an interview with the hotel manager on the phone (no Zoom back then) and got a job as a waitress in a small hotel in Saalbach.
I was so excited! Finally, I was going to do something completely new, get out of my comfort zone, be in nature and learn snowboarding, the coolest thing ever!

I had three weeks to prepare everything for a season in the mountains and figure out what to take with me. Since I’ve just moved a whole household to my parents’, I got everything to set up a new one basically.
This meant I ended up bringing way too much stuff with me.

Arriving at the hotel, I learned that the team was half Greek, half Hungarian and that I was going to share a little room with another girl from Hungary. We became good friends and had lots of fun even though we’ve worked different jobs and hours.

Time passed by and it was the beginning of February when I could finally start my week-long snowboard class.
I loved it! With every day, I got more and more confident on the board, and at the end of the week, I really started enjoying it (meaning having less fear and more technique).
I made a plan for the upcoming weeks: I would be on the slopes from 8.30 am to 1.00 pm, take a quick shower, eat lunch and start working at 2.00 pm in the hotel. After work, I would go out with my roommate and party like crazy. The next morning, I would sleep in and go straight to work. That night, I would take it easy and go to bed in time so that I could get up early the following morning and head to the slopes again. On my day off, I would go snowboarding the whole day and party in the evening. I absolutely loved my schedule and made lifetime memories!
This was pretty much my life until the end of March when I fell on ice and hurt myself badly. Luckily, it was almost the end of the season.

Compressed in four months, I had everything I missed living in the big city before: being literally in nature, learning new skills and testing my boundaries in any given way, being in my best shape ever, being in a relationship, breaking up, having a romance with a smaller rock star, having loads of fun and making memories with the amazing Greek and Swedish peeps in Saalbach.

There were many ups and downs though. There were times we were so stressed out that we all wanted to give up and leave. Fortunately, the foreign workers in the whole village built a supportive community and we used to meet in our favorite pubs every night. Having that sense of connectedness was what kept us going.

During the season, I’ve faced many challenges physically, mentally, at work and also in my private life but I wouldn’t change it for anything. With each experience, I got stronger and discovered new depths of my emotions and my personality, and most of all I learned snowboarding.
I gave up my comfortable life with a decent job in an office in Nuremberg to be a waitress in a hotel in Saalbach. If you think it was easy, then you have never jobbed as a waiter around Christmas time with no days off.

Do you think it was easy to put my master’s degree aside and be a total beginner, and often times a loser, in a completely different job and work environment?
Do you think it was easy to do hardcore shifts until late at night while dealing with disrespectful guests, and sneaky colleagues from your very own country? No!
Was it worth it? Hell yeah! I’ve sacrificed everything for making one of my dreams come true and learning how to snowboard, and I would do it again anytime. Saalbach will always have a special place in my heart.

What are you willing to do for your dreams?
What are you willing to sacrifice?