Time for another Points of Interest – this time I wanted to talk about my short stint in Berlin. I don’t believe that this one is going to be as introspective as the last, but I’ll see where my head takes me.
When I was finishing university, I wasn’t entirely sure on what I wanted to do for work. I had just managed to get a 2:1 in Advertising and Marketing and was facing the horror stories of being unable to find a job and spending a year job hunting whilst finding a purpose. My back up plan was to do what it seemed everybody else did – “go travelling”, but I started to realise the more and more I repeated it out loud, that I was only saying that to put those who cared’s minds’ at ease and to let them know I was going to be okay.
I didn’t even think about where I wanted to travel and if I was even prepared to be responsible for myself abroad. This is all without mention the financial side of it all. However, things ended up okay in the end, as around September 2018 I managed to secure a graduate marketing position for a big corporation, which changed a lot of things. On top of the previously mentioned independence and freedom to look after myself, I was also granted a lot more certainties and security – mostly purpose and money. I still feel very fortunate about it all, and as much as I try to fend off imposter syndrome, I can’t help but feel a huge amount of luck was a factor in this.
One thing that definitely contributed to the aforementioned imposter syndrome was that it was a Europe centric role: which meant that I helped look after the marketing for 14 different markets in Western Europe. And with that responsibility came a few instances where I would get to travel to one of these markets! Even in the day-to-day work, I was exposed to new friends and colleagues from different cultures and countries – which only made me want to visit them more.
Around May 2019 – there was a bit of a restructure happening at my workplace, which meant that the mentor & guidance system we previously had was reshuffled a bit. My supervisor had been assigned a new ‘Angel’ as we called it – someone to mentor and champion the person they were looking after. Since I belonged to a new Angel line as well, I was invited to Berlin for a day long workshop so we could meet in person and talk openly about what we all expected of each other when it comes to support in the workplace. I cheekily asked if I could come along too, and my supervisor said that it was a good idea! So, I was going to Berlin, baby!
When I was booking my tickets, I somehow had the confidence to ask my supervisor if I could do the following: Fly out on Thursday to Berlin and attend the workshop, then book accommodation at my own expense and work as a member of the Berlin office for the remainder of the Thursday and the full Friday, then fly back on the company’s expense on the Sunday afternoon. Thankfully – she said yes! And I presume part of it was the obvious excitement I had at being in Berlin.
It was a very strange juxtaposition, as I decided to book a bed in a hostel as though I was a backpacker – hopping into an alternate timeline where I was travelling across Europe. It was mostly to save money and get that experience but going from that to my corporate workplace was kind of a funny idea at the time, and I’m super glad I did it.
So, with my 4 days in Berlin booked, I started racking my brain on what I wanted to do – listen to 99 Luftballons when I touched down in the plane, visit some of the synthesizer shops, oh! And find some of the locations they used in Run Lola Run – one of my favourite German films!
I believe this was the first time I went into a trip wanting to plan it using the Google Maps thingy – make a list with locations on the app which you can save, and go to the next waypoint, a bit like a map in a videogame, except with less collectibles.
The Thursday evening I arrived I headed to my hostel room and settled in to meet my temporary roommates Benhan and Holly, who were interrailing to a few places at the time. They were super nice, and we got chatting about university (they were yet to go) and their hometown of Leeds. After a pretty decent night’s sleep I decided to walk to the office in central Berlin, just to soak it up (it was also slightly spitting rain that morning, which did not bode well). I found the walk surprisingly easy and made me appreciate just how fortunate I am to have something like Google Maps to help me travel. I’m a pretty nervy person, but with this tech it really does help instil a lot of confidence in you to go to places you’ve never been taken to before. I can’t help but think that in a different time, I wouldn’t have been brave enough to go this far without constantly second guessing that I was heading in the wrong direction, or instead I would be naturally more attentive and perceptive to my surroundings and thus paying more attention to signs and directions in a map book. Still, it does keep my mind at peace, and helped me save time.
Arriving in the office, it was very nice to settle in and be greeted by a lot of colleagues that I had only met over a video call – one of the joys of this is always seeing how tall they are, and what kind of shoes they were – since I had never got to witness them at this point.
When I flew over, of course I didn’t shut up about my master plan and how grateful I was to be able to live the life of a backpacker whilst working a day in the office – my friend Felix came over to the temporary desk I had stolen off my colleague Seb (who was working from home that day) and said he would give me a list of recommendations. He stole a post-it note from Seb and wrote down the below places. It was very sweet of him, as he had a mix of general recommendations of his favourite places as a Berliner and some stuff tailored to my tastes. He had spent some time in London recently on a short-term assignment, which is a nice little project to expose you to new experiences outside of your current role, so it was nice to see he was returning the favour to me on my short stay in Berlin.
Food:
Currywurst was something I had heard about but wasn’t entirely sure what it was. The use of the word curry had me slightly sceptical, as I come from a background which exposed me to a lot of Indian food, and therefore it had a very distinct flavour in my mind. Nevertheless, I simply must have tried one of the foods that Berlin was famous for. I remember Felix hyping it up as a place that’s always popular with queues etc. and to not expect too much from Curry36 other than it hitting the spot of trying the experience. When I managed to get to my spot in the queue and get my food, it was really nice! It was simple and reminded me a lot of fish and chips with the mood you have towards it. Definitely worth trying.
Zola was another place that Felix recommended. On the Friday I worked, it was slightly scary as the walk I made in the morning had been spitting rain and was looking quite bleak. However, during the day it got really sunny and you couldn’t even believe it was the same day. I decided to finish my Friday afternoon by going for some pizza at Zola, which was a short U-Bahn trip away. I recall a really pleasant walk along a small canal and finding Zola in a courtyard where I was soon seated. The mood was just lovely and the pizza was delicious! I don’t think I went for something too adventurous, just a pepperoni. I recall I had to take a moment to take a step back and acknowledge I’ve managed to order myself a lovely meal in Berlin! On my own! Yes it’s a very small thing, but it was such a lovely step to take.
Following the good times,I had with Benhan and Holly the previous evening (more on that later), I figured it would be really neat for us to go out for a meal and cross off the last place that Felix had recommended – Kimchi Princess. It was nice to have a variety in food and although it was something that we could have gotten back home, it was more a sign of trust in Felix’s taste to go. We sat outside and had a nice little Korean barbecue lunch. Soon after, I had to say goodbye and catch my taxi to the airport. This was another big thing for me – making friends with complete strangers on a trip abroad. I had to take another mental step back and think about how past me would have reacted to the situation and if I was ready to do the same.
Probably my favourite eatery in Berlin – Burgermeister was a very strong recommendation from Felix. He mentioned it was a pop-up stall around the corner from our offices and was so good – he was right. I think I first got one as an early dinner after leaving the office on the Thursday? Oh boy – a delicious cheeseburger with bacon and for a very reasonable price. It was based under one of the bridges in the city centre and had quite a lot of people queuing up and enjoying their food on the stand up tables outside. The smell was so good since they grilled them in the open air. I think I went back one day on the weekend and after our night out me, Benhan and Holly got one at another one of the locations. So fucking good.
Fun:
There was a great table sports bar that Felix recommended called Schmittz. It had foosball, darts and billiards too if I recall correctly. Nice place, I got there early and made some great conversation with the bar staff and customers. It’s a great confirmation that you’re in a good place when you have the ability and environment to make friends like that.
Felix asked me what kind of music I liked and recommended a few places for nightlife. The only one that I managed to get to however was a great club called Monarch – mostly playing funk and dance music with a chill atmosphere. There was a weird guy who kept trying to dance with us for most of the evening, but we lost him eventually and still had a great time.
Sights:
During the daytime I managed to cross off a few things on my list that I wanted to see in Berlin. Probably the place I was most excited for was finding Lola’s apartment from the film Run Lola Run. One of the first and few German films that I’ve seen, it had a huge impact on me when I saw it on the golden age of YouTube when you could upload movies in full without it being taken down by copyright strikes.
I first heard of it after The Simpsons episode Trilogy of Error was originally going to be called Go Simpson Go, which was a direct reference to the film. The film has an amazing mix of quirky characters and characteristics, high concept ideas explored in a simple and entertaining way, and gripping tension – plus it just has prolonged sequences of Franka Potente running across Berlin, which are always so cool to watch.
Lola’s apartment wasn’t hard to recognise, as there’s a great jib shot descending from the top of the building as she runs out the front door. When I first mapped it, I was so excited – watching that clip over and over again. I remember it being not too far from where I was staying too, making it one of those points of interest which wasn’t an agonisingly long distance away for me. The area surrounding it was lovely too, with it being quite close to the river and restaurants.
When I first turned the corner and saw it, I was blown away. It was so cool for me to be in such a recognisable area. I soaked it in for a moment and took a picture for reference and compared it on my Instagram story. I then left with a big smile on my face.
Of course, I couldn’t help but explore the geopolitical history that Berlin had too, with the history of the Berlin wall a constant reminder of displacement and division. I first heard the phrase Checkpoint Charlie from The Thick of It, when someone describes cagoule clad civil servant Terri trying to get away with doing party political business on her day off, so it was very fascinating to expand my knowledge with the information plaques dotted around the areas.
My own spy obsessed mind couldn’t help but wonder if there was an espionage museum and to my joy, there was! I managed to check it out on my last afternoon before the goodbye lunch with my room mates and it was very much down my alley. I’m a sucker for spy stories and I’m the sort of person who spent 7 out of the 8 hours of their history GCSE controlled assessment reading the textbook passages on the Cold War instead of working on an essay about Weimar Germany. The museum was fascinating, reminding me of Deutschland 83 and James Bond. It detailed the history of espionage and famous spies, from ancient times, the two World Wars to the present-day form of spy craft. Interesting installations on ciphers, code cracking, weapons, and even a whole exhibit dedicated specifically to Bond were present, with the most fun one being a working laser field security tunnel that you were challenged to try and complete, all playing the same music from Vincent Cassel’s laser scene from Oceans 12.
A few other landmarks I crossed off the list were the Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag Building. I think I recognised the former from some off-brand Choco Leibnz biscuits Aldi made which featured buildings and landmarks on them, I could be wrong though. The Reichstag Building was an interesting find too, since I had read much about its history during the lead up to the Second World War – connecting all this history to the physical location I was in was a solemn reminder of the reality of the world we live in.
Of course, I got myself a ticket to the viewing platform of the TV tower – after a bit of a wait around Alexanderplatz, I eventually got the elevator up and it had been quite a while since I was on a building that tall. The history and information to read was great with the visual aids, and of course the view was breath taking. Spotting places that I had been to just a few hours before didn’t seem real with how small all the people were. I wish I had brought some binoculars. The architecture of the roofs reminded me a lot of the intro sequence to Willy Wonky and the Chocolate Factory, as it was always a bit difficult to pin down a town with that kind of design, but I sensed it was somewhere in Europe (I just checked, it was Bavaria!).
I of course wanted to look at some of Berlin’s electronic music roots, but really all I could find were some interesting synth shops that I could play around with a bunch of Eurorack modules that I’ve never had a chance to play around with yet.
Finally, one of the most pleasant experiences I had in Berlin was fulfilling the promise to myself that I would do a Park Run on the Saturday morning. Of course, this took a bit of motivation and convincing, but it was such an exciting idea. I had done a few of these free community park runs back in the UK, and I soon learned after starting how welcoming, friendly, and international a lot of these events were. I also found the idea that they were dotted all over the globe to be brilliant, and it was such a wonderful idea that I could take my trainers, Park Run Lancaster shirt and turn up and take part. I found that Hasenheide Park was the closest one to me, so that morning I caught a quick subway train to get there and joined in. There was a briefing in English and German at the start, so I got a round of applause when replying with ‘London’ to the question of ‘have we got any visitors today?’. The one thing I love about Park Run is how hugely supportive of an environment it is, it always gives me additional motivation. But that wasn’t necessarily in short supply this morning as Hasenheide Park was lovely with its scenery and weather. I can remember the sunlight shining through the trees not being too warm to run in yet pleasant enough to leave me with a healthy glow for the rest of the day. Afterwards, they had an Instagram photo frame someone offered to take my photo with, so I have a pleasant memento of one of the best running experiences I’ve ever had.
So that’s my time in Berlin! I’m hugely appreciative that I get the chance to go and visit these places and have these kinds of adventures – I resonated a lot with Berlin since it’s rich cultural history and personality helped build my travelling confidence and persona – that I managed to make friends and have such a wonderful time, even after working a few days there is something that I’m super proud of, as it broke down a lot of scary barriers I had with traveling on my own. I just like to imagine how a younger me would think after reading this… and I guess that’s progress.
minutiae+musings 