This is a 3 page paper I had to write for my humanities class, that it might be interesting to share.
Before coming to Berlin I had travelled to a number of different countries; Spain, Portugal, France, and Denmark, just to name a few. Though all of these countries were different, they also had many similarities, similarities that I expected from Berlin. I was ambitious and naive about coming to Berlin, ready to jump right into the culture and become a Berliner, but I was not ready for what I was about to jump into.
I guess you could say I was much like the character Hope from This Must Be The Place. I quickly found myself lost in a city, a culture, and a way of life. The language barrier probably hit me the hardest and it knocked me straight to the ground. I lost all of my ambition and quickly felt like I had become an outcast; people wouldn’t even sit next to me on the train. The biggest moment for me was mastering the U-Bahn trip from my apartment to my architecture studio space. This is when the tides started to turn.
Though we talked about WWII and the Berlin Wall during history class in high school, there was never mention of how it affected the citizens of Germany, or Berlin for that matter. All I knew about Berlin, and Germany, was the stereotype; their harsh and rough language, their love for beer, and their somewhat cold personality compared to the typical American personality. I knew that the city of Berlin had a lot of history and that architecturally, most of the historic buildings had been destroyed or damaged during WWII.
What I learned when I finally got to Berlin was that their language is very difficult, they do like beer very much, that they are very sharp and direct, but they don’t mean to be cold. But more importantly, I felt that the city of Berlin had a huge weight on their shoulders and that the rest of the world looks down on them for the destruction and devastation caused by WWII. It may have been the dark clouds and rain that helped fuel this feeling, but the presence of the past is hard to overlook as you pass buildings that are partially demolished and signs of was use to be the Berlin Wall. These things are hard to overlook, but once you do, you begin to learn about a pretty amazing city, and that is exactly what happened to me.
Like I mentioned before, the turning point for me was learning the U-Bahn. As foolish as it sounds, it was the first thing that finally made me feel like I was “at home.” What a strange term to use, “at home”, when you are thousands of miles away from home, but that is exactly how it felt. That was just the boost I needed to jump-start my original ambitions of becoming a Berliner. From there, it wasn’t long until I starting to pick up on the little cultural differences. I stopped acknowledging people I met on the sidewalk with a nod, I slowed down my life and took each day one step at a time, I even styled my hair and dressed like a German. Before long there were people approaching me for directions, people would make quick comments to me on in German expecting me to understand, and people actually started sitting next to me on the train.
It felt great to be accepted, the cultural barrier had been overcome and the only obstacle left was the language barrier, which I have yet to crack. But language or not, once I felt comfortable in the culture and felt at home, I began to see the real Berliners.
My stereotype was wrong, the Berliners are not cold hearted, they are just nice in their own way. More often then not, they spoke English. In fact I spoke with one gentleman who responded to “sprechen Sie Englisch?” with “Well of course I speak English, I live in Berlin.” But I was right about one thing; they do love their beer.
More importantly, I feel in love with the history and spirit of the Berliners. Though they do feel the pressure of WWII, they rise themselves above it. This is a culture who overcame a Communist Nation by creating social movements and protesting again a government, something they are, and should be, very proud of. It is that kind of history that makes it hard to not love a Berliner. In school we, Americans, are always taught about the bad and we never learn about the struggles the people went through to overcome the bad.
As my views of the Berliner changed, so did my views of the city. It wasn’t a dark and gloomy place anymore; it was a place full of history and mystery. The historic buildings that still stand have more meaning, that plaza that I walk through everyday went from being a destination to a place where rallies were held and where protests over threw the government. Check Point Charlie was no longer a hut on a street, it was a major historical element had significant importance, and I was standing right in the middle of the action. It was as if the city opened up and became a place of exploration with something new and exciting around every corner. After living here for three months, I feel as though there is still more to see and there is not enough time to see it all.
In the three months I have been here, and maybe a little before I arrived, Berlin went from being a new adventure, to dark and cold, to inquisitive, and finally to how I see Berlin now; amazing. If there was ever a time I looked to move to Europe, Berlin is where I would want to live. I feel with more time, that language barrier is something I could overcome. But with that aside, Berlin is not a place full of tourist like the other major European cities, but it still has just as much history, and more importantly, the pride and passion of that history is so strong.
It wasn’t until recently that I really saw this other side of Berliners during the 2009 20th Anniversary of November 9, 1989; the day the Wall came down. The concerts were great, the atmosphere amazing, but what really caught my attention was what I felt to be the main attraction of the ceremony; the domino wall. As the blocks fell and the way came tumbling in my direction, the crowd grew more and more impatient. The windows of the buildings that lined the streets filled, the people on the streets put their hands in the air as you could hear the roaring of the crowd get closer and closer.
After the wall had fallen and continued past, smiles, laughter, and tears followed. There was joy for the accomplishment of the Berlin citizens, joy showed in the forms of laughter and hugs, but also in the forms of tears. That is when I realized just how proud this society was of the battles that they, as citizens, fought in and won. The people lost along the way, the family split and reunited years later, the history they have had to overcome. That is what you do not learn in history class, but that is the true Berlin and all of that is masked by the immediate sights and stereotypes placed on the city and its citizens.
I would say that my view changed greatly during my time here and that this is a place I pride in calling “home.” After learning so much about the city and evolving myself in the cities history it is hard not to feel attached to the people here and call this home. I will forever live with a piece of Berlin with me.
