Eileen followed me to Paris. She came about a week after I got here, stayed for a night, then went off to Deauville with her mother. Then she was back for a few more days and is now back in Berlin. She came with an assortment of German candy and some Waldmeister syrup. We even made Berliner Weiße! To commemorate that visit (which was...yes, I know...over a week ago—sorry for not writing in so long!), here is a list of things I miss from Berlin.
1) The prices: Paris is so expensive! Berlin was so cheap! Everything, from groceries to restaurants, was just so reasonably priced. Eileen assures me it's because everyone in Berlin is paid less than everyone else in the world, but it's still nice that my tiny graduate student salary goes a lot farther there.
2) The language: Strangely enough, I miss the German language! This is for two reasons. First, I felt like I was finally making some progress and now I never hear it or speak it at all. Second, it was kind of nice being totally incompetent in a language for once. It reminded me of why I like learning languages in the first place—the challenge. It's been a long time since I had such a challenge. Italian after French must have made me cocky.
3) The people: People in Berlin are much more down to earth than Parisians. This might be because of the difference in prices, but Paris gives off a vibe that it is an "exclusive city." If you can't afford something, you are less of a person. There might be similar things in Berlin, but I didn't notice them. Paris is expensive like New York, and enjoying it requires a certain level of money and social standing. And since the French educational system is essentially designed to keep the rich people rich and powerful, it's no wonder that people act entitled even in the streets.
4) John Muir: the amazing bar that makes its own (reasonably priced) signature cocktails! Though, it's closed right now for renovations, so I'm not regretting it too much.
5) Markthalle: I miss that food lover's paradise! Such good ethnic varieties and such reasonable prices. And it was just a lovely way to spend an evening. I haven't ever found anything like that in Paris...
6) Elevators: Okay, Paris has elevators. But I miss not having to walk up five flights of stairs to get home. It changes the way I plan my day. But, my legs are getting pretty muscular!
7) The lack of purpose: It was kind of nice to have a "vacation" and be able to do random bits of work as I wanted to, with no real deadlines. It was also nice to do that all in a remote location where I was a foreigner, especially a place that had no real link to my work. I could say it helped me have the proper distance from my studies, but that would be silly. It was just a nice vacation.
8) The recycling: this building I live in doesn't recycle!!! I've been keeping my bottles in a corner so that I can take them to the recycling bins on the streets, because the place where we put our trash in the courtyard of this building doesn't have any recycling receptacle. After Germany's intense recycling, this is a big change for me.
9) Monday night Karaoke: so cheap, so much fun!
10) Eileen: it's strange not having someone making sarcastic/ironic comments at everything I say, criticizing the way I hang my laundry on the drying rack, and otherwise acting as a European filter for everything I don't know. Yeah, I know I'm used to life in France and don't need a filter here, but living with Eileen was definitely fun.
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