Personal

I am happily married. My wife and I reside in Duisburg and spend extended weekends in Amsterdam, Prague, and San Juan del Rio (Mexico).

My passion for adventure has led me to hitchhike and backpack across numerous regions around the globe. Through these experiences, I have come to appreciate the value of a culture that emphasizes sharing over individualism combined with the pursuit of efficient markets.

I've met all kinds of people on my journeys, including the confused ones, but I never met anyone evil. There might be some selection bias in that I'm still writing these lines.

After two years of renting an apartment in NYC, I questioned whether it was worth paying half of my scholarship in order to sleep in the same place every night. I spent the following three months sleeping in parks, beaches, and rooftops around NYC while studying and teaching at NYU. I neither got killed nor was raped against my will.

During the rest of my PhD studies at NYU, I lived on a sailboat, which also served as my mode of transportation for crossing the Atlantic upon graduation. My academic journey took eight years to complete because I had to acquire survival sailing skills to facilitate my relocation.

In my view, the world is a magical place when experienced by an open heart. And it is an interesting clockwork when experienced by an open mind.

For inspiration: