* Born in Oak Park, Illinois, near Chicago. Primary school - the Academy of the Sacred Heart, Chicago
* Move to Europe at the age of 12 - 6 months in Rome, Italy
* Move to London, England for 5 years
* Move to Frankfurt, Germany at the age of 17, Frankfurt International School - High School Diploma und International Baccalaureat
* 1987 BA Hons in Arabic und Turkish, SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies), University of London – 9 months in Alexandria, Egypt were part of the course
* from 1987 registered for MPhil at SOAS – at the same time employed by the Egyptian newspaper, Al-Ahram International and at the Centre of Near and Middle East Studies at SOAS, in addition free-lance work in translation, DTP and design
* Move to Tunisia in 1991 - manager of a translation office, employed with English tour operators, free-lance translation work. Several longer stays in England, Spain and Turkey during this period.
* Move to Freiburg in 2001 - employed at the language school, International House Freiburg from 2002 to 2007

My language skills: English (native), French (very good – certificate in Business French from the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry "very good", (Diplôme de francais des affaires, 1er degrè avec mention très bien“), German(very good), Arabic (fluent in the spoken language), Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian (fluently spoken), Turkish(academic), Italian (conversational)