First 2 Weeks in Berlin
I arrived in Berlin on a Thursday. It was evening time, after a 7 hour train journey from Stuttgart station. It wasn’t so bad this time—the first train was on time and even got to the next station where I would transfer early—for the next train to be 20 minutes late, but all in all, not a bad time.
It was then where I needed to get to my Airbnb I had booked for the week; nothing too fancy, just a room in a 2 bedroom flat on the fourth floor of a Neukölln walk-up.
After lugging all my belongings up the stairs, I said hi to the girl whose room I would be taking over for the next week. She was super friendly and her room was gorgeous.
Her roommate would be out until later that night, so I proceeded to unpack my clothes into the dresser and onto some of the available hangers on the clothing rack.
I hung up my fairy lights that I brought with me all the way from Canada (I’m a sucker for good ambience) and away I went. There was actually already some lights hanging from the window which was nice; I was officially all decked out in the most cozy vibes possible.
High ceilings. White bedding. Grandiose windows. Minimal design. This was definitely a space I could relax in while trying to plan out my next moves.
After settling in a bit, I opened the bottle of wine I picked up at the train station (thank you, late connection) and made some pasta. I made my usual: fried up some onions in some oil with mushrooms and chilies and then added some arrabbiata sauce and some extra hot sauce.
I cook the fettuccine noodles and add that to the sauce for what would be a delicious and spicy meal.
Afterwards, I am ready for a bath. Shampoo works great as an alternative to bubble bath, really enhancing the experience. It is nice to just have some peace and quiet after a long day of travel.
I stayed up until about midnight, until I could hear the crack of the front door open and close gently. Roomie was home. I will meet her tomorrow.
The morning brought sunshine and much needed warmth to the room. I usually like sleeping in the cold, and I didn't want to mess with the temperature since Germany is having a bit of an energy crisis.
It was a nice morning, and this was the day I would be going to see the one apartment viewing I had set up and was the primary reason of my visit.
Why didn’t I set up multiple viewing appointments? Don’t I know that this is all a numbers game in Berlin? That there are so many people at any given time looking for places, just like me? Not to mention a lot of people who have more paperwork than I do, or perhaps are actually from here and are German?
Well, I really had high hopes for this place.
I was looking for an entire two weeks before coming here within all of the various Facebook groups I had recently joined specifically for finding a room in a place in Berlin.
But I could not find anything else that I liked and that fit my budget. Not to mention, that didn’t automatically scream, “Scam!”.
So after my lovely and long sleep, all I did was prepare for this meeting which would be taking place at 4pm.
It was the day. A lovely, rainy Friday afternoon, awakening after one of the longest slumbers of my life.
I ended up somehow sleeping in until 2pm, and my meeting was at 4pm. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I did want to print off a few things along the way just to have something that I could give to the guy to remember me and also to show that even though I don’t have a job yet, I have enough finances to cover the rent for a little while.
I ended up running once again, because I just always seem to take long for things. Especially when navigation comes into play.
I walked about 15 minutes down the street from my Airbnb in Neukölln, making it to the printing place. I took out my USB and plugged it into one of the available computers, after a nice little half-German and half-talking with hands language to figure out what I was supposed to do.
I print off my documents and end up running to the bus as I didn’t know exactly where the stop was. What sucks with Google Maps in Berlin is that the bus stops never seem to be clear on where they are.
Perhaps I’m also just too incompetent to read maps and figure out where I am in relation to my surroundings, but it is very difficult for me. I ended up making the first bus but missed the second bus as I was at a train station with bus stops on all streets surrounding it. Lovely!
At that point it was only 20 minutes until I was supposed to meet the guy. And it was raining pretty heavily! I did what any panicked person does with a time crunch and no other hope of what to do—opened up the Uber app. Within 10 minutes I had a driver searching for me, yes that’s right, searching—because of course I am so bad at knowing where I am that I just kept trying to walk in the direction of the stopped car by following the tiny blue dot on the app that was supposed to represent me.
I ended up finding the driver thankfully! With 7 minutes to spare, I quickly messaged the guy I was supposed to be meeting that I would just be a few minutes late but would be there shortly.
I then ended up having such an awesome conversation with the driver talking about different ways of finding a flat in Berlin. It was great having some light-hearted conversation amidst the hectic and stressful inner turmoil I put myself in by trying to give myself a one week deadline to find a new place to live in one of the most challenging places to live due to a housing crisis.
After a few minutes we were there, and the next part of my adventure began.
I walked up to the building and messaged the guy. He let me in and we greeted each other; it was quite a fun experience. His place looked pretty nice, the room was pretty small but it was already furnished which is always a plus.
The one downside about this place was that it was quite hard to get to and was outside the ring. No matter what I would have to take a bus, and now knowing how I am with finding busses, was a problem I didn’t want to yet acknowledge.
Of course at this point I was pretty desperate; this was the only place after weeks of looking online that I thought was nice and within my budget.
I also had such a long conversation with the guy, and it was pretty much like an interview, or dare I say, first date.
I guess this is how the hunt is here; you go on meetings and really try to bond with your potential new flatmate, with absolutely no certainty that they pick you.
Looking back it was definitely for the best, but man did I ever feel so desolate and alone after getting the news that he went with someone else.
That’s when I went back to my Airbnb really tried to figure out what I was going to do as a new month was about to start and it would now for sure be too late to find a long term place with such short notice.
I scoured the internet looking now for a sublet for March. Anything that would give me more time and less stress to continue this relentless search for a place to live.
It was the last day of my Airbnb that I ended up finding a place listed on WG Gesucht for flats in Berlin. It was just a sentence but mentioned looking for someone vegan/vegetarian and just had a few blurry photos of the room.
I was a bit sketched out and wasn’t sure, but after seeing the same posting on Ebay, I decided to message the girl on WG Gesucht after messaging my German friend what I should say to her. Because I was so unsure of the situation I really needed that extra boost of confidence to make sure my level German wasn’t too bad, you know?
I put my phone number at the end of the message. Within a few minutes I received a call from the girl about the place! It was actually great. If you know me, you know I am not too fond of unknown phone calls just because I am better with having more time to think and answer later than have an answer immediately. But I was so happy in this case!
The girl was for sure German but we ended up switching to English which was no problem. She said that she was in a tough situation in that she was in this apartment for the past 6 months and was looking for a more permanent place more central, and she last minute found a place but she still had a month left on her contract with this apartment.
So she was looking for someone to take over the last month so that she wouldn’t lose out on any money. Being a broke student in Berlin takes its toll!
This was for 335 euros for the month, which is pretty great for such a competitive place.
It was a room in an alt-bau style apartment sharing with 3 other people. At this point I was just ready for anything that would not break the bank and give me more time to search. So we agreed! And the next day we met up and everything was set. I was in the new but temporary place.
Success!
For continued stories of my Berlin Diaries posts will once again be back on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Stay tuned! Have you ever had a tough time finding accommodation? I’d love to hear about it!
Christina from Canada
