If your
friends are your family, what happens when they are scattered around the world?
Well, then you realize your heart will never be in one place. Its pieces, parts
of you, will be everywhere. When you
find people who make up if only one part of you, you're forever
connected.
Once there
were the two of us, the girls who studied, worked and traveled together. I'm
sure you know the feeling and this sounds familiar to you-the kind of
friendship everyone needs to experience.
The
adventures that our trips took us to always put a smile on my face when I think
of it.
Such as the
feeling you get when you wake up in the middle of the night in a camp in France
trying to hear if it's pouring it outisde and then quickly touching the roof of
the tent to check if it already got soaked in rain. We survived a few storms in
that old tent that my grandparents bought somewhere in Poland and later
referred to it as our dog house.
Or the
feeling you get when you're walking in who-knows-where in Amsterdam late on New Year's Eve.
Struggling to walk, I should say, as we were fighting the wind and rain. But
you do all that because your friend wants to see the narrowest building in
Amsterdam that „will be nearby“.
Or sleeping
with dozens of candles in a hostel in Lisbon that we bought to keep ourselves
warm during the night in which your friend was also trying to finish her
Master's thesis confining herself with the laptop to a closet to be more concentrated.
That's her,
my Berlin connection. She is sitting today with me in my room, just like we used
to do so many times back in the day. We are talking about Berlin, her address
now.
C: What's the first thing that comes
to mind about Berlin?
K: Self-inventing. Multiculti. Positive energy.
A constantly changing environment in every sense. Many new places
appear and then get replaced with yet other ones. Things such as pop up events
which include a temporary shop, or a warm up party, for instance. However,
what's special is the location of those events – they're temporary and usually
with an interesting background or atmosphere – so not just any rented space.
C: You 've taken up some interesting
hobbies there...
K: I've been doing ballet for a few
years now. It's organised via alumni association of Humboldt University. We've
been doing some basics as it's for amateurs, of course.
I also auditioned for extras and got
invited to be one of the French civilians in G. Clooney's movie „The Monuments
Men“. However, I couldn't get 5 days off from work so I missed that one. But
then I got invited to be an extra in a German movie, where I appeared as a
patient in hospital. The shooting started at 5 a.m. and went on for the entire
day. My next appearance as extra would be as stuntwoman who drives a car
instead of the main actress.
C: What would you say your
neighbourhood in Berlin is like?
K:
I live in Friedrichshain- it is a very relaxed part of town popular among
young people and families so there are a lot of students and WGs.
(„Wohngemeinschaft“ is a term for a flat-sharing community in Germany). There
are a lot of places to go out to. Every neighbourhood in Berlin is a town for
itself. We have our weekly market held at Boxhagener Platz or „Boxi“. It is a
small center of Friedrichshain where people sell groceries, coffee, cakes, some
exotic spices and food, but there are also stands with handicrafts. On Sundays
Boxi becomes even livelier with music and a flea market.
C: What about West Berlin?
K: West Berlin is being slowly
rehabilitated in terms of a „place to be“. There are places such as Bikini Haus,
for instance, once a landmarked industrial building and today a new shopping
mall with cool bars where a lot of people are coming at the moment.
C: Tell me some popular Umgangssprache
or Berlin slang.
K: „Späti“ – that's
very typical of Berlin – „Späti“ is a small shop which has a constant large
supply of all kinds of drinks, cigarettes, snacks and some basic groceries such
as milk, flour, oil, sometimes eggs – depending on what a Späti owner thinks
might sell well after other shops have closed during the week or on Sundays.
Späti always works all night and all weekend and some of them are always open.
There are loads of them and it seems that every 200m there is one. When you go
out, you first go to Späti saying "erst was vom späti holen" (let's
get something from Späti first). Then you buy yourself a beer or whatever you
like drinking on your way out or on S-Bahn as it sometimes takes you as much as
40 minutes to reach your destination so why not enjoy the ride.
„Kiez" is something like a neighbourhood, a smaller
part of town. For something to be called Kiez it must have a character, its own
infrastructure, like a small island within town. People feel comfortable and
well in their Kiez.
For more Berlin slang check this link:
http://www.cafebabel.co.uk/lifestyle/article/voll-nice-how-to-get-the-hang-of-berlin-slang.html
C: When do you enjoy Berlin most?
K: Summer, of course. The sun finally appears, everything is
livelier than ever with lots of cafés by the river and lots of lakes around
Berlin where you can go to. There are also lakes in Berlin, such as Wannsee and
Schlachtensee.
That is also another of my hobbies. I took up wakeboarding in
Brandenburg, right next to Berlin. However, there is a small lake only and
cannot be compared to wakeboarding on the island of Krk where I usually do it
in Croatia.
Another fun and popular thing to do during summer are Freiluft
Kinos or outdoor cinemas. Berlin abounds in them. They are usually in parks and
you will be provided with a seat if you come on time. People take their
blankets, some snacks and whatever makes them feel comfortable whilst watching
films.
C: What are some things that you were
surprised to have found in Berlin, that you have never had in Croatia?
K: Have a brunch at weekends. Go out at night and be
surrounded with truly different kinds of people. Nobody cares how you look
like.
Public transport which functions impeccably, all night long and at
weekends. You can take one person with you on your pass for free after 8 p.m.
International food.
Original interiors.
Flea markets.
C: Maybe a few tips for people coming
to Berlin?
K: Everyone finds something for themselves. From partying to
cultural offer.
It's not easy to find a job in Berlin as competition is fierce,
but one has to be persistent, make contacts and network with people.
Berlin is a safe city. Nothing bad has ever happened either to me
or my friends there.
Considering it's a metropolis, Berlin is not expensive at all.
I myself have visited Berlin and my friend there twice.
Once in the winter and once in the summer. Maybe because of that or because of
the time that passed between my two visits (which was more than 5 years) I had
so many different impressions of that city. It is a place that works on so many
different levels. When I came there first, I was under the impression of
everything I learnt and read at the uni, mostly Döblins book „Berlin
Alexanderplatz“. I sort of looked for and imagined all the scenes and places
from that novel. Then Berlin's history struck me as something almost palpable.
I had a feeling that old buildings I was passing by were telling me their
history and sometimes in an almost creepy way that gave me goosebumps.
But then there is the vibrant Berlin. The Berlin of
hipsters, artists, melting pot of different cultures, future home in dreams of
so many newcomers.
You cannot but love such Berlin. It will capture you with
all its attractions and it will be hard to get out.
Check some of my photos of Berlin here:
