Michael Rehm:
CLASS OF 1993
Waubonsie Valley High SchoolClass of 1993
Aurora, IL
Texas A&M University - ArchitectureClass of 2002
College station, TX
University of Houston - Architecture Class of 1998
Houston, TX
Michael's Story
Life
Where to begin? Well the last time any of you (WVHS) have seen me was the day of HS graduation. I left a couple days after the ceremony for Houston, Texas where my family moved and I began studying architecture at the University of Houston.
I had a blast during my undergrad and spent several months of my final year living and studying in France. After receiving my B. Arch in 98, I worked for a small firm in Austin but after a year I decided to shift my career towards the business side of architecture (real estate development) and enrolled at Texas A&M.
My initial goal was to earn two masters degrees (MS Land [Real Estate] Development and MS Construction Mgmt) but halfway thru my first degree I decided to go for a PhD (Urban and Regional Science) instead of the 2nd masters. One of my classmates at A&M was a beautiful Russian girl named Olga from a country called Kazakhstan. We hit it off and have been inseparable ever since.
Olga and I were married in June 2001 and moved to Almaty, Kazakhstan that August. Both of us began working with a British real estate firm called Scot Holland Estates doing consulting and commercial leasing. We both returned briefly to the US to defend our PhD dissertations and finished the degrees in spring 2002.
On Dec 11, 2002 our first child, Linda, was born. Olga stopped working a couple months prior and has continued to stay at home. Our second baby, Alexandra (Sasha), was born on September 4, 2004. Just pr...Expand for more
ior to Sashas birth we heard of an opportunity to teach real estate at The University of Auckland in New Zealand. The professor that Olga and I studied under at A&M had been on the faculty for a couple years and notified us of the new openings. After a brief negotiation we were both offered full-time faculty positions. So after 3-1/2 years of living and working in the former Soviet Union where I got a unique perspective on many aspects of life, picked up a good understanding of Russian, and where both our daughters were born, we are now in the middle of an international move to Auckland, New Zealand.
I am already here and have been lecturing a course on advanced construction since the semester started in late Feb 05. Ive been busy getting acquainted with a new country, shifting from the professional to academic world and setting up life here in Auckland prior to the familys arrival. Olga and the girls will meet me in Austin in mid-April for my brothers wedding and well return to Auckland together. Ive never been separated from Olga or the girls for so long and I am very much looking forward to seeing them in Austin! Its hard to say how long well remain here in NZ. Could be for good, but more likely 3 to 5 years. Then its back home to the US, probably in central or northern Texas.
So this is my last dozen years in a nutshell. Hope you are all doing well. If youd like to drop me a line here down under, Id be happy to hear from you :-).
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