Experiences with living in Berlin

I have been in Berlin for 2 months and this is my experience so far.

1. The people, and life, seems to vary a lot depending on the neighborhood. I have met nice people in Prenzlauer Berg (including some really beautiful women) and Friedrichshain, but others are not so nice. Some are downright rude, intolerant or ignorant.

Question: Are Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain where most of the students live and hang out? Perhaps this explains the "openness" of the people/women I meet there.

2. The city seems to have a large "shady loonie" population. Lots of guys who appear without jobs and roam around. I had a Polish guy and an African guy try to pick a fight with me for no reason, but I was able to defuse the situation by being a "large guy".

3. The women seem much more friendly, educated, and better English-speakers, when they are from Cologne, Hannover, Bremen, Stuggart, Hamburg, etc. It makes me wonder if perhaps I would enjoy it more in the Western areas of Germany much more.

Question: Is there indeed a big difference b/w girls in Berlin and girls from Hamburg, Cologne, etc?

4. The city is very very large. It takes a very long time to walk around if you happen to be somewhat far away from a U or S-bahn station.

Question: Would Hamburg or Cologne be easier places to live in this respect?

How old are you or what is the age, you are looking for? If your older, the reason that some women in Berlin don't speak english very well might be, that they've learnt russian as 2nd language

A lot of them ARE Russian! I am not really into East European women.

It just seems like the ones from Western Germany are a lot more sweet, educated, and open.

are you just in Berlin to hunt for girls then? What took you there?

I live in Aachen, relatively near to Köln. I think that you will find that no matter where you are in Germany people tend to be a bit more reserved and less "open". I am sure that this is due partly to Sie and Du...

When clubbing last weekend I actually had a German woman complain to me about the fact that noone seems to talk to each other unless they already know each other before hand. Obviously I think this problem gets more pronounced the older you are.

As for "nice" and "bad" areas I guess it is a lot like any other town/city. The bigger it is the more "good" and "bad" areas there are, with the bad areas tending to grow faster than the good. It seems that "begging" is not discouraged in Germany and many Germans I know give money whenever they pass one. The beggers however do not threaten and tend to be polite.

Aachen has a large english department at the University and Köln caters for lots of "tourists" rather than "business" which may explain partly why they tend to speak "better"/more frequent English. With Düsseldorf and Köln airports nearby and easy access to the Netherlands and/or Belgium internationalisation is fairly important. I have noticed many Germans trying to pass themselves off as English/American whilst in Maastricht to avoid unfavourable reactions.

Overall I would guess (I have never visited) that Berlin may suffer from the clash of "Poor" East and "Rich" West. I read an article about 6 months ago which stated West Berlin women are more likely to meet and marry a Western "foriegner" than an east Berlinner even if the distance between where they live is only a couple of miles.

if you are american and just up to "open" german girls, I'd move close to an american base and pretend you're an armyguy

there are millions who fall for them

Well you could try visiting Köln, Hamburg etc and see if you prefer them.

I live in HAmburg and I can assure you that it has its fair share of weird people in the inner city areas. But move out to the subs and its lovely:)

Is it true people in Hamburg are very reserved and far harder to get to know than BErlin?

I cant compare to Berlin but I mix mostly with english speaking people. I think people are generally quite friendly though

I think everywhere has its share of good and bad. I live in Remagen and, even for a quiet little place, it has a good stock of weirdoes - it´s not just the cities that have this problem! But it´s more like Little Turkey than Germany. I swear, you´d be hard pushed to find a German on my street. Suppose it´s quite cosmopolitan for a backwater place.

Sounds like you might have tried to sh*g one of their girlfriends!


Not true maybe it's just that they don't fancy you!? Imagine that "More educated"? Doesn't sound like you speak German - does that mean that you are not well educated?


Depends on the girl - Germany is a country not a stereotype!

May I suggest you change your username to "craiginsight_twoyearstoolate".

Oh crikey, we've got another one who's joined the forum just to revive a long-dead topic with a pointless comment.

Arise, thread of old...

[pedant mode on]
...threeyears...
[/off]

Time flies when you're having fun!

well, Berlin is changing its demographics, but is still somewhat a working class town and the people's mannerisms are somewhat "shady, unsophisticatd, skeptical and at time mannerless" hence the "Berliner schnauzer"

but there are truly some interesting, good, well-rounded people that you will meet if you are here long enough.

Candidate for post-of-the-year

Add #16 to the list while you're at it...

Berliner Schnauzer? I've not heard that before!

A Berliner Schnauze is a person that has a strong berlin accent and complains a lot, is not very friendly and very direct.
I am a german native and I absolutely agree that it is harder to meet new people in Hamburg. I have spend a few years there and people are really "nordisch" or "hanseatisch", it means basically that people feel being better because they life in a rich harbor city... And I think the fact that there are so many wealthy people living in Hamburg who care a lot about appearance and "proper" jobs also makes a difference.

its berliner schnauze (dialect but also snout) without the "r". schnauzer means mustache.

If you don't like Berlin , don't expect Hamburg to solve your problems. It's less friendly and it is BORING. The city centre is dull and closes up completely at about 7pm.

as far as i know it is not the person but rather the Berlin dialect called berliner schnauze.

btw, the thread is 3 years old. I don't expect the person who asked is reading anymore..?!?