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People told me they LOVE Berlin, and I might move. Now I am scared reading this. Are not germans super polite? Omg.
No one here will tell you what to do. Go to Berlin spend some weeks preferably in Summer and have your return ticket ready, there is no harm in that, visit Prague while you're at it. If you really like it then stay, but you've been warned, there are 749 good reasons here already. Don't expect to be welcome in the city.
Better yet, come here in the Fall. Catch a bit of summer - lots of smiley tourists and expats, nice beer gardens, lots of live music, outdoor cinemas etc. Than watch how all of this disappears starting in October and all you have left is: smell of piss, gray buildings, scowling Germans, overcast days with sunlight from 9:30am to 3:30pm (look at this map for a comparison: imgur.com/vYpbh - Europe vs US sunlight hours).
Also yes, Germans are the rudest and meanest people you'll likely ever meet. Don't think you'll find polite Germans in seemingly people-facing positions - some of the rudest Germans work as customer services at the central station in Berlin - who wouldve thought that you need polite people in a central train station in a capital city.
Also, watch out if you have darker skin. Doesnt matter if you're mexican, spanish, latino, american, italian - if you have dark skin, be prepared to be barred from clubs, avoided, etc.
If you have light skin and are American, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, British or any other nationality (surprisingly even Swiss or Austrian) you will also be treated with varying degrees of "sympathy" "the need to educate you" "tsk tsking when your and their culture collide as theirs is superior of course, no question there" "quiet rage when you cross a line usually resulting in the silent treatment for the rest of your life" and other such quirks. Combined they add up to a pretty empty life after you have had time to make and destroy these freindships with your strange foreign ways.
^ I just stopped hanging out with all Germans. If their culture is so exclusive then I don't want to be part of it. I'm already making plans on leaving this place.
Also, ever since I cut contact with all Germans, except the necessary "can I get some coffee" and "thank you", I've become a much happier person.
For me as a German (although not from Berlin thankfully) it's sad to see that people come to Berlin and think that tells them all about German people and culture. Call me naive but I think it does not. Berlin people are special...to me they are all like wannabe Americans (no idea why)- wannabe business (wo)men, wannabe gangsters, wannabe hippies, wannabe superstars...while in reality they are usually just depressed, poor uneducated people who got lost in the past. My advise to non-Germans in Berlin is: Go and see other places. Go to the North, South, East, West and see how different culture can be. Learn about German architecture arts and literature BEFORE the destruction during the war(s). Get away from the major cities and go to the small towns and villages (maybe not just Brandenburg...). I would not say there is too much good in Germanness - Many German people have this thing of having no national identity for whatever reason and that makes them very jealous of people who have...To me it's a nation of people with suppressed issues..but there are still plenty of open-minded nice people out there..So don't make all Germans even. For me, Berlin people are weird and have always been weird, more than people from other places. But I was told this is maybe just because you have so many people here so the amount of everything (good or bad) is higher than somewhere else.
What I hate most about it is the situation with apartments, especially when you look for more than 2 rooms. It's either super expensive or it's something bad about the area...may it be a train, power station, factory, airport or kebab place right next to it. It seems like wherever it could be nice they built something horrible right next to it. If it's not horrible you have like 50 couples interested in 1 apartment and some form of application process as if it was for a job. People are horrible, native Berliners seem to be either "assis" that are constantly drunk and proud of it or people with no manners or no education, or alternatively super conservative and rude. "Don't care" attitude seems to be the only thing that can get you through the day and seems to be the guideline that most Berliners follow. "Internet" is indeed still Neuland if you don't live directly in the city but more at the borders. Not to mention the neverending useless construction works. Also Berlin lost it's identity of being a creative place, now it's more like a city of wannabes of any kind.
I was born in (West-)Berlin but left this town in the mid-90s for a sunny, tropical island. Every year I go back between 14 to 21 days for the reason of family ties. That is very important to me. Usually I am a happy guy in a compulsively unhappy world but Berlin gets me every time: Falling in a circle of deep depression because almost everybody is inept to communicate. The atmosphere is always so hostile--You have to drink a lot there for you mental balance alone.
I am terrified thinking of my upcoming stay.
Culture of Poverty and White Guilt.
Berlin in a nutshell.
Enough said
I don't live ther, I don' t breathe there, I don't love there, I don't go out there!, I don't eat there, i don't feel there, I don't party there, so I have to hate Berlin for just not beinig there!
i will commit suicide in this evil city. it siphoned every hope from me. people are evil.
Please don't leave life, just leave berlin! You have nothing to lose trying something new at this point, and it is probably your situation pulling you down. Or go to the doctor if you can, the city might suck, but the healthcare can be very good! Hang in there dude, I'm sure we can help you get back on track
Man,simple advice its not you .Its this place and the type of people you meet here The fact you are appalled or disgusted shows your mind and heart are open and you react to ugliness ,shallowness,vulgarity This shows that YOU are fine They are not ,do NOT let them steal the part of that is healthy Do not let them steal your energy and become as screwed as them Do not let your soul ,energy ,feeling ,goodwill ,hope ,sincerity ,empathy ,happiness be affected by people who lost all of these qualities a long long long time ago Realise ,you are like a millionaire walking around flashing your cash among people who are penniless so of course they want you to be broke like them Understand the dynamics of how this works , Its a game here ,a childs game where you have something ,they do not ,and will never have ,,Be thankful for what you have ,spend your time here ,be aware of the process but dont give up or give in to these vampires ,because once you are out of here ,your bank of good qualities will be very useful This is a passing phase in your life This is not your life ,You are only passing through ,,This is not your final destination ,Dont forget
I hate the retarded expat community of 'uber cool' vaginas who are about as interesting as watching a toilet flush. Not to mention the miserable locals who frown upon any one has more than 5 euros to spend or likes to dress in clothes that you haven't found in a bin somewhere. Has to be the most overrated, boring and tragic city in the world. I feel sorry for anyone that has to live there, you have my sympathy.
bikes. Even in the trains. Why the hell does everybody have a bike if they carry it in trains? Every place is full of that metal garbage.
I think there are 2 types of 'bikes in trains'. The one is the type I will never understand- sunny and warm outside and they go from 1 station to the next by bike in the city center-->why??? Maybe it's to show off their bikes?! Or maybe just to take space? Then there is the type that makes sense...the people who live in the Berlin borders and come by S-Bahn everyday. You know this Berlin saying "Plan your life without S-Bahn"? It's true, I also have to take it everyday and sometimes I come to my station and it tells me "oh sorry, due to [insert random reason here] this train is not running today" or "this train is only running until..." and leaves you in the middle of nowhere. How to get home then? It's good to have a bike as backup. Although I would try to leave it at some station then instead of carrying it around with me all day.
Dear ADMINISTRATOR....STOP DELETING MY POSTS WHERE I COMPARE BETTER CITIES IN EUROPE TO BERLIN!! Whats your problem?? I am trying to give ppl options in case they want to move elsewhere cheap from that hellhole and you are being all German about it!
Well my friends.I found myself in a bar in Australia thisevening.I sat next to a table of Germans slagging off the whole environment which they were enjoying.I made it clear to them I understood every word they were saying and I woukd be more than happy to share their views around the club.Needless to say these creeps left the bar quickly back to their youth hostel to interbreed..Gutless wankers.
I'm a South American who had the chance to visit and stay for a while in Berlin this spring / summer. Because, why not, travelling in Europe is something you have to do. First of all I was not impressed by the architecture it was really ugly but I get it, they try hard to show themselves to the world as hip and alternative, the newer parts are sort of nice but plain looking and not a lot of activity besides commercial activity like malls, etc. Second, the people. In one word, rude, the most rude people I've had to deal with. They had no repairs to assume tell me that I was being sponsored economically by Germany in some way, that I had income from the government. Which by the way is not possible. They never believed me that I was spending my own money, which brings me to... Third, money, Germans in Berlin were always so aggressive when I had to buy things and make transactions, like buying clothes, paying in cash (because in Germany credit cards are the devil apparently) going to nice places, renting a decent apartment/hotel and spending cash. Having money and savings is a sin in Berlin. One of them even asked me how much I make a year, when I told him how much, he even called me a liar in a public place and yelled, He asked, and I simply answered, I had no idea that money was such a sensitive topic. Fourth, obviously racism and xenophobia, I frankly I wasn't expecting this as Germans have all their history but it was a big surprise to experience that they still have a ton of their historical and emotional baggage present today. Clubs are poop and their door policies are ridiculous. In restaurants they would even move you to an isolated table, I cannot imagine what would be like to live there. I've travelled to many places in North America and Asia and I can confidently say that Berlin (and most of Germany) was sincerely a disappointment. I hope I never have to visit that stinky city again. (And this website kinda makes sense after visiting Berlin btw.)
Yeah, I wish I saw this site before coming here - a year ago. I would have at least been able to prepare myself mentally against the people here. Feel lucky that you've only visited here in the spring and summer - everything is 10x as bad in the Winter.
This know-it-all attitude always beats me. You will notice that as soon as they meet you, they being asking questions: what do you do? how long have you been here? Did you finish university? Which university? Then, having gathered this data, they will proceed to judge and teach you things. They will either give you the cold shoulder if you come from an Undesirable Place (middle east, eastern europe, balkans, most of Asia, pretty much 75% of the world) or they will begin to boast how much better Germany is than your country (if you're from western EU, US, Canada, etc.). Some of them will even try and teach you things - I've had one German show me an item (I think it was a bottle) and repeat the German word for it a few times. I was confused at that time until he enlightened me that he wanted to "teach me German, because I should know it".
Also, if you were to spend more time among Berliners, you'd notice that one of their favorite topics is how much they paid for stuff. You know how in other places you come hop out to get lunch and come back and people ask you what you got? In Berlin, Berliners will inevitably ask you how much you paid for that - and if it's >5 euro, they will shake their heads in disappointment.
I think this comes from the fact that they are essentially raised by their government. It takes care of them from the time they're born until they graduate at around 30-35. Then they have a brief stint in a highly regulated world between 35-60, and then they go back to the womb - spend their retirement drinking German beer and traveling the world (probably in order to tell other people back at home how everything else in the world is bad). I almost feel bad for them, but they make my life hell, so I don't really feel bad.
Had to job offers in Berlin and Prague...obviously chose the latter as I still have PTSD from living on Berlin....what can I say? Prague is 1 million times better than Berlin in every way: cheaper, prettier, no piss smell everywhere, courteous and friendly people, no bums everywhere...why people go to Berlin instead is a mystery!