Going! To Barcelona/Berlin

[theaddict]

ok, maybe i should add my two cents for Berlin.

First the bad things: weather in the winter is horrific, always greyish, rainish...
Real Berlin people are know for their unfriendliness, the state even started a campaign to educate the public servants in friendliness...but from my experience, people in barcelona, especially waiters in restaurants can be superignoring too..
There are many nice girls, but compared to London, Paris, NY, Tokyo, Seoul, the number is not worth mentioning...


Good things: If you love serious electronic music, than Berlin is the capital of the world. I dont know any other place where so many people have such a high level of music taste like here. Clubs are mostly fucked up, but if you like that kind of style you are right here. Berlin is founded on poverty and not on finance, like London or other major cities.
You can discover this fact in everyday life, how people style, how cheap the rents are, how cheap food is, how easy going everything is. There is no rush rush and show off like in other cities.
I mean whole Germany is very settled, you wont find this crazy holiday atmosphere like in Barcelona here.
Its more a serious feeling. But on the other hand, everything is very reliable here (starting from the tube...)
I think the reason why many artists love Berlin is the fact that it is a developing city. So many parts got completely renovated the last years. Its interesting to see how the city changes.
If you want to check out Berlin, i would definitely come in the summer. Berlin in summer is just great! Its a different city. I think in summer, Berlin can compete with any other city in the world.

And last but not least, there is such a big Canadian community here. Since i got to know Campbell personally, i got the feeling that half Canada migrated to Berlin, following Campbell and Ricardo Vilalobos...

Personally i would prefer Berlin to Barcelona, i am just not a beach/sun guy. I need a more dirty metropolis like atmosphere. Barcelona is nice, but for me it doesnt have this atmosphere. Of course Berlin is not NY, but if you want to move to Germany, its definitely the only choice...

[maggieontherocks]

I'm studying fashion design in Barcelona and I've lived here for 5 years now so I'd be pleased to give u any kind of help u need. I've also been to Berlin several times and think it's one of the most amazing european cities, as have been said is cheaper and also has great parks and people. Anyway even if settling down in Barcelona might be a bit rough at the beginning, once u've done so is a great city to live in


(by the way there are plenty of sushi places)

[theaddict]

Just make sure to visit darklands first. Campbell will telly ou all the places to go to, starting with galleries, restaurants, parties...he knows the spots better than most native Germans...;)
if you need advice on restaurants I can help out too of course. In summer, there are endless open air parties anyway, get ready to hear some serious electronic music, hope you are into it bc otherwise it will be tough to find a "good" party;)

[ahlefeldt]

Berghain ftw.

[theaddict]

Haha, yeah no Berlin visit is complete without going to the berghain...;)

[Wiggles]

I'll go right ahead and re-revive this thread. I'm going to be in Berlin studying from September to December, and I've never been there before, so tell me what I must do (especially things that are off the beaten path). Where to eat, shop, drink, what I must see, museums, everything. Anyone I should talk to there? I'm a student, so I don't have unlimited funds, but that doesn't seem like it should be the issue it would be in other large European cities. I'm living it the Mitte district, in case that impacts anything. Also, I'm planning/hoping to go to Oktoberfest, anyone have any recommendations about hostels/staying/getting there? Many thanks!

[Arcane]

If someone could give me a insight in how hard it is for a english speaking individual with basic german skills who's been living here for six months to get a job rendering a salary of 1000 euro or more? I'm an architect (halfway into my master) but internships aren't worth the effort as they will give me 400, tops. I'd do whatever but I'd rather not work in a restaurant/kitchen.
.
Would be really nice to hear from someone who's been in a similar position as I'm not really familiar with how shit like this work here. I obviously know about Craigslist and Toytown but this far they haven't been very fruitful.

Cheers