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• Born in Oak Park, Illinois, USA near Chicago. Primary School: The Academy of the Sacred Heart, Chicago

• Move to Europe at the age of 12 – 6 months in Rome, Italy followed by move to London, England for 5 years

• Move to Frankfurt, Germany at the age of 17. Frankfurt International School: High School Diploma and International Baccalaureate

• 1987 BA Hons in Arabic and Turkish, SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies), University of London – 9 months in Alexandria, Egypt as part of the course

• Registered for MPhil from 1987 – at the same time employed with the Egyptian newspaper, Al-Ahram International and with the Centre of Near and Middle Eastern Studies at SOAS in addition to free-lance work in translation, desk-top publishing and design.

• Move to Tunisia in 1991. Manager of a translation agency, employment with English tour operators, free-lance translation work, longer stays in England, Turkey and Spain.

• Move to Freiburg, Germany in 2001. Employed with the language school, International House Freiburg from 2002 to 2007.

• Language skills: English (native), French (Diploma in Business French from the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry with "very good" grade - „Diplôme de francais des affaires, 1er degré avec mention très bien“), German (very good), Arabic (fluent spoken language), Croatian (fluent), Turkish (academic), Italian (conversational)