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since i lived there
*** anyone interested in living in germany for a bit i recommend looking into the bosch fellowship for young professionals with work experience - you don't have to speak german before applying and it's a great opportunity http://culturalvistas.org/programs-for-students-and-professionals/professional-fellowships/robert-bosch-foundation-fellowship-program ****
my neighborhood in kreuzberg is now berlin-gentrified (which isn't as bad as nyc gentrified) but it does mean that people have moved farther out, fewer turkish people in that area, people who were living in prenzlberg are now moving to my old neighborhood with their spawn and basically thanks to other europeans, real estate is all gone and of course 1/2 of brooklyn is always in and out of berlin thanks to the ny times i was never a fan of prenzlberg but i do get why people like it
my first time in berlin was 99/00 and i generally loved the city on its own because it was so different to me, the insanity of the history and culture that people live with, which i was fascinated about esp in terms of black people in germany, the laid back lifestyle, low key in terms of social life, going out, the arts, and a crazy mix of all kinds of different people quality of life is tops amazingly green city cost-wise great in terms of rent, beautiful apartments, cost of going out for a euro city, food super family friendly which i really miss
i did not like being so far east in europe - winters suck, no sun, grey - if i hadn't decided to move back to n. america in 2007 i would've gotten one of those UV lamps the next winter
it's a relatively poor city and coupled with the multitude of people living there with income from elsewhere who take more from the city than give to it imo -- not a good mix. the local economy pretty much sucks so there are so many ppl who are either just committed to berlin, or freelancing, on fellowships, studying, but i'd guess rarely because a job brought them there - which explains the difference between berlin and the demographics of many other main centers in germany that have a core economic base. all of the major economic initiatives for the city have failed miserably.
i could never get used to going to insert whatever ethnic type concert/festival and it being mostly white folk but there's so much going on -- i say if you have the opportunity to visit, live, work, study, i can't imagine it being not worth it in the short term. but long term it's easy to start missing the diversity of other cities. i loved all of the small venues where i could see folks that were major to me but not of major interest to the general population, and the club life when i was there.
black folk - there's definitely black folk, africans, black germans, americans - the longer you are there, you get to know different groups, people. and great politically active groups, like adefra, isd, refugee rights groups, african student groups at the unis
i hate munich - maybe illogically - one of my best friends from college has lived there for i don't even know how many years (5+?) and i refuse to visit him so i'm the wrong person to ask about it lol if i had to pick a second city i had to live in it would probably be hamburg. i'm just not into the money, exclusivity side of major euro cities and in my mind that's munich.
i own property in germany so i go back often but i did move as soon as i had a child so my kid(s) wouldn't grow up in that environment or have to see me constantly fighting racism as an outsider. germany can barely address its own anti-semitic past, anti-immigrant present, so confronting anti-blackness generally is not even on the agenda. i still think about moving back though. integrating into german society versus hanging out with random group of international people... germany can be really tough. or it was for me - having a close friends group and family who were germans and the blatant racism, xenophobia with limited outlets to change things is draining as hell. i volunteered for awhile with refugees out in potsdam - housed in old military barracks - so i'm sure i also have way more personal/past the surface experience with racism, xenophobia in the berlin/potsdam area than the average american living there.
"i fear no fate" e.e. cummings "No girl. No fried chicken. I'm going back to get some sleep." - Haruki Murakami
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