Marisa - a third-year Creative Business student - grew up in Darmstadt, Germany. Being half Italian, half German, she has always loved traveling and exploring new cultures — whether it was during family vacations as a child, during her year working as an au pair in Chicago, or now as a Grand Tour student studying in Bali.

Creative Business student Marisa Greiner is working hard to become a mindful entrepreneur, as she has always wanted to start her own company. By choosing specific minors such as Mindful Leadership and Entrepreneurship in Action, she is aiming to become just that. She took the plunge and went on Grand Tour to Bali. Even though there were a lot of insecurities, it was a no-brainer for her to take a leap of faith. Even though, as she puts it: “Traveling is beautiful, but also scary. Especially when traveling by yourself. However, it is about exploring the unknown, going on ad-ventures, meeting new people, and opening up to a completely different culture. And anyone considering it should stop trying to find excuses. Just enjoy the journey. It’s a magical thing.”

Traveling is magical

“For me, traveling is magical. This feeling of excitement, nervousness, and curiosity. Traveling is about exploring the unknown, going on adventures, meeting new people, eating exotic foods, and opening up to something completely new. It challenges you to step out of your comfort zone, to stop worrying about the ifs and buts, and to completely enjoy the journey.”

All that travel can be quite challenging, though: “Actually opening up to a completely new culture can be one of the scariest things in life. Traveling is beautiful, but it’s also scary, isn’t it?” And that’s increasingly the case when traveling by yourself.

Grand Tour as Preparation for the Business World

So how do you bite the bullet, and just do it? “For me, studying my minors abroad was a no-brainer. There were plenty of Grand Tour minors I liked.” Specifically, Mindful Leader-ship and Entrepreneurship in Action seemed perfect to Marisa. “Growing up in a family of entre-preneurs, I have always dreamed of having my own agency or TV production. While my studies in the Netherlands helped me to gain knowledge about the media industry and the different practic-es and theories in media management, I still needed to explore the entrepreneurial part.”

So, in terms of content, the Grand Tour is a hit for Marisa: “Both minors combine the management and leadership aspect I was looking for and help me to become the “mindful entrepreneur” I strive to be. Additionally, Entrepreneurship in Action will give me a glimpse of what it means to start up my own company and serves as ideal preparation for the business world.”

Advice for Future Grand Tour Students

That’s all good and well, but does studying abroad live up to expectations? In some ways it does, in some it doesn’t, she says. “Even though my time in Bali so far hasn’t always been as glorious and sunny as I expected it to be, I still fell in love with the nature, the culture, and -especially - the peo-ple. There are few places in this world where I’ve met more heart-warming and open-minded people as in Bali.”

After experiencing the Grand Tour for herself, Marisa has one key piece of advice for students that are thinking about joining her ranks: “If you are thinking about coming to Bali too, the best advice I can give you is to stop trying to find excuses and enjoy the journey!”

If you want to learn more about Marisa’s travels, you can follow her on Instagram at www.instagram.com/marisagreiner.