I was born in central Turkey. A crossroads of East and West was already in my DNA. When I was four, my family immigrated to the US where I was blessed with a happy childhood in the “sweetest place on earth,” a town renown for the great American chocolate bar. My contrasting fascination with of all things urban led me to Chicago at 18, Vienna at 22, Shanghai at 32, and Dusseldorf at 36.  I now live in Erlangen, Bavaria with my husband and our two children. It is the smallest town I have lived in since Hershey, PA, but thanks to the university, international companies, and proximity to Nuremberg and Munich, it has a lively mix of people and cultures which is key to any place I call home.