Berlin is cosmopolitan, multicultural, cold, modern, artistic, and acapital of Europe. Maybe some of you moved to this magic city since three days while someone else is only thinking about moving, and probably there is someone living there since years and who will better identify him/herself with this post.
We have already talked about the city, but what are the inevitable changes that you will meet after living several years over there? How will you change the way you live? Here are the side effects of becoming a Berliner:
Serendipity
After you moved to the city and during your first nights you’ve probably thought about going out for a walk and take a beer somewhere hoping to meet someone else who, seeing you alone, was so friendly to ask you to join him. And then suddenly you realized that beeing alone can be in many cases the winning card.
Berlin nights begin around 23pm, and at that time you think “I will go out for a walk, let’s see what going on. I’ll take a beer and then I will go home.” Well, do you know what will probably happen? You will find yourself in the pub where you just wanted to drink a beer with a group of guys who will invite you to a party to the house of a man, who someone else met at the house of another man a few nights ago.
So the “quiet evening” you planned at the beginning of the night will end at 5am in a club with other people and you don’t remember the name of either of them. But you feel in love with them and in love with that kind of serendipity that Berlin, like few other cities, can offer.
Any wish can come true
You say, “wow, that’s great”, but this is actually the problem! You will be able to fulfill every wish or dream and the real problem then is to return the way you came. Do you want to see an exhibition within a crane, to dance on the roof of a building or have a massage by a fairy? In Berlin there will be a meet up for each of these things.
Transformation in organic man in 3… 2… 1…
After several scandals about the meat trade and the livestock conditions, in Berlin you will daily hear the words “green” and “organic”. Everyone goes looking for quality products and this allowed the birth of many fruit and vegetable markets and unique markets such as the Markthalle IX, called the “brunch paradise” for all kinds of foods and tastes.
You will find wurst meat from controlled farms and beers from microbreweries. You will prefer to pay 3 euro for an organic eggplant, even if at the supermarket you can pay 80 cents for a normal one. You will buy beef for 22 euro per kilo so then you can go to bed thinking that the beef had a good life before dying. You will be poor, as long as everything is organic.
Shoddy beer “come to me”
Before you left you have probably thought “now that I am going to Germany I will finally drink good beers.” Germany is known all over the world for the good quality of its beer and that’s why the German breweries are among the most famous in the world. But be aware that the dream of becoming beers expert actually won’t last for a long time.
Suddenly you will find yourself walking anywhere, in a tram, bus, metro, in a park or climbing the stairs of your house drinking shoddy cans such as Sterni and Pilsator, because they are much more cheaper. So do not be alarmed if after a few months you will begin to have stomach cramps.
Why should I dance only in a disco?
Usually happens that a person sometimes thinks ” I wanna dance tonight. I will find a good event and then I will go to the disco.” Not in Berlin!
If you are becoming Berliners or are about to do it you will dance at the exit of subway stations in makeshift clubs or on the bridges such as Oberbaumbrücke who stopped being just a bridge to become a musical neighborhoods.
Sad in winter, happy in summer
Maybe you are used to wonder about your state of mind and the way you feel almost every day. Do you want to simplify your life? Move to Berlin! Here there are only two kinds of moods: sad when it’s winter, and winter means -15 degrees and rain; happy when it’s summer and suddenly everything is wonderful.
Throw the unnecessary
Are you used to keep everything? Is your bedroom, home, living room usually full of objects placed in the same corner for years? Well, when you’ll move to Berlin you will change your mindset. You will leave the books you don’t read or have already read in the lobby of your house, you will leave in the street sofas, chairs, armchairs, TVs and everything you don’t want anymore. Because you know there will always be someone to pick them up. Didn’t you know why the Berlin clubs furnishings are unique and different? Here is the answer!
What’s customer service?
We said something about the Berliner Schnauze, which is the hostile and cynical attitude that characterizes many Berliners. And maybe you’re thinking now “what a surprise” since no one expects to meet lovely Germans as they were teddy bears. But you will know to be part of Berlin life when you will stop waiting for a real customer service. So that sometimes you’ll have to give you some little slap in the face to be sure not be wearing the Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak.
You will march for everything
You will always find the time to protest … because of the noise of the airport, because a piece of the East Side Gallery was destroyed, because one of your favorite clubs was closed, because of some changes made to Alexander Platz, because of the refugees. Heat the voice and buy banners and spray cans!
Eat your meals on the sidewalk
If you can’t be an organic man, spending 50 euro for 5 vegetables, a bit of meat and maybe a couple of beers, then you will be among those Berliners who eat food on the street at any time like a currywurst, an asian box or a doner. It will be cheaper and, trust us, very good anyway. What do you want to drink together with this dainty food? A 60 cents Pilsator beer, of course!
You will be totally in love with Berlin
You will love it, with all its positive and negative aspects. It’s a big city where people can go anywhere without making it too much confusing, you can enjoy it biking without fear of dying, you can “born again” or “reinvent yourself” without fear of being judged, you can be who you want and do what you want, you can get lost in the art world or simply improve your interests in one of the most varied communities in the world.
You will become Berliners and for this you will come to say “Ich liebe Berlin“.
Thi entry is also available in: Italian
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