Opinions on living in Prenzlauer Berg

Hi Everyone,
I have posted a blog on here before about living in Germany for a while. I have been doing a bit of exploring and I would like to try living in P-Berg to see if I like it. I wouldn't be able to leave untill August of 08 though. Are there any jobs for English speakers other than bars, childcare, cleaning, etc. I would perhaps like to work in an office. I am very friendly and get along with almost everyone and I would love to try to learn German while I am there. I am in my late 20's so I think that I would be able to at least find a friend or two and this area of Berlin is rumored to be a good place for a younger crowd. I have EU citizenship already but what else could I do to prepare myself to live there? Any advise would help.

Thanks,
Blossom

There's a lot of p-berg backlash lately, but I really like living here, especially as a young single woman. It's safe, it's pretty...it's great!

As for prep, I'd say learn as much German as possible because the more German you know, the higher your chances are of getting a job, especially a non child-care, english teaching or bar job.

Hi Blossom - I lived in P-Berg for a while... It is a lovely place. I lived very close to Alexanderplatz and found that it was easy to get around with the availability of trams which connected me to Ubahn and Sbahn.

The downsides - I didn't enjoy all the graffiti, and I didn't enjoy the constant piles of dog shit one seems to encounter on a more frequent basis in P-berg than I've found any where else.

It did teach me however, to always look where I'm walking (as to not step in poo). God forbid the natives learn how to pick up after their dogs.

On that note - Learn some German before you get here - and practise with a native speaker. It's one thing to learn how to speak it and another to understand a native speaker babbling at full speed.

Have fun

I too lived for many years in PBerg. Liked it on the whole, but the same things you mention got to me in the end as well. Another thing that irked were the groups
of gruffvoiced drunken alcos and their mangy dogs who populate the public squares and the terraces of those newsagent kiosks. Plus the self-styled Anarchist beggers at the U- & S-Bahn entrances and the cigarette-poncing (especially irritating when you arent even a smoker). And the skinhead Neo-Nazis you occasionally came across. Then there were the knots of Vietnamese contraband cigarette sellers who used to hide behind the dustbins whenever the police (or the skinheads) passed by. Other than that it was quite a nice place. Are the cigarette sellers still there I wonder, or have they all opened Imbisses in the meantime...

I lived in Prenzlauer Berg some years ago. Keep in mind, that it's not a homogenous area! There are about four or five different "Prenzlauer Bergs" and most people tend to notice only one or two of them. The southwestern area (Kastanienallee, Eberswalder Straße, Schönhauser Allee, Helmholtzplatz, Pappelallee, Lychener Str.) is the "party"area with many bars, restaurants, clubs, alternative 20somethings - this area borders the wealthier area around Kollwitzplatz, Knaackstraße and Rykestraße with 30somethings having children and living in very comfortably renovated old building flats. Still many restaurants, a bit pricier, less bars... east of Prenzlauer Allee, it's getting more quiet, and further east (of Greifswalder Str) the Bötzowviertel houses again wealthier families, but it's a relatively quiet area with only some restaurants and some nice shops.
Northeastern Prenzlauer Berg (especially north the S-Bahn tracks) is a relatively poor living area. especially in the whole northern area you'll meet the phenomenons rick_de mentioned. I lived in the northwestern area (around Arnimplatz), which is a relatively quiet, but also a bit poorer area. I liked most of the areas in Prenzlauer berg, except the northeastern part (east of Prenzlauer Allee and north of the S-Bahn tracks).

I live in that northeastern part you mentioned (that you don't like), and I have to say I do like it here, especially since I'm only three minutes away from the S-Bahn (Greifswalder Str.)! I love how quiet it is here and how it only takes me a couple of minutes to get to the areas that are more lively if I am in need of some 'action', like Helmholtzplatz and Kollwitzplatz etc.

hey blossom. i've been living in the south western part - just off kastanien allee & i love it here. 20 mins walk to alexanderplatz, ten minutes to hackerscher markt. it's great!

what kind of work experience do you have? i've found it really hard to find a non bar, childcare, & cleaning jobs. You could work for a tour company (message me for more info on the better ones...). That way you don't have to have top german skills. It might be hard to find an 'office' job unless you're really qualified and it's for an english speaking company...

Graffiti isn't as bad as it was like 5 years ago (though I think it will always be around because it's in the city center) and there isn't so much dog shit now at all, not any more than anywhere else in Berlin.

They're also mostly gone, especially from the southern part of the district. They all moved to Kottbusser Tor in Kreuzberg. STill the odd kid selling train tickets, but no drunks in the parks...just moms with strollers!

Venus - i lived there up until December 15, 2007 - The dog shit is still very much there. The Graffiti, I don't know what the levels where 5 years ago... but it is still common blight in these parts, especially on the trams.

Rick - The Skinheads hang out in the square at Alexanderplatz in front of Saturn, and in the Dunken Donuts internet cafe. During the time for the Christmas markets there was more of a police presence so you would see them scatter like flies when they showed up. Since the weathers been bad I see them more and more in the Sbahn stations with their dogs . I guess they don't want to get their leather jacket with metal spikes wet - might rust. I will say this about them though - they seem to take care of their dogs and for the most part just hang out and drink their beers. They aren't the ones that annoy me. Then again I'm lily white and blue eyed. The ones that Annoy me are the people who come on the trains singing in english begging for money, and have really nice guitars or accordians. I usually hand out about 5 euro on any given day to those guys selling the magazines - but the buskers - to hell with them. I have not had the pleasure of seeing the cigarette dealers - then again when I'm approached by annoying people in the trains stations I speak to them in English and they get the idea.

I live near the Landsberger Allee S Bahn and the cigarette sellers are there every day, I am surprised they arent moved on!

Dunkin Donuts! Dunkin Donuts!! In Berlin!! In Alexanderplatz!!! Whats the place coming to. Is nothing sacred... I think Id rather have the kiosks and the winos than Dunkin bloody Donuts.

Yeah Id forgotten about the beggars on the trains. That and those damned Obdachlosenzeitungs people. At one time there were three different ones being peddled!

dogshit, people selling the local version of the big issue, highly dangerous men with gruff voices etc are everywhere so that's no reason to avoid pb. I think it would be good for a 20s something although the rents may be a bit higher than other places/ flats can be noisy with music/parties etc ie there is a lot going on, unless you want to live somewhere more downbeat. By the way skinheads don't generally wear metal jackets with spikes, punks do inc. the ones that hang out on the saturn steps.

Well, they are more punk/skinheads - nothing to do with aggressive racist skinheads.

Hah! Prenzlauer-Berg. It sounds so petite bourgeoisie... I live on the very border of Kreuzberg and Nord-Neuköln. I'm gonna get a gun as soon as I get my first pay check!

this whole country is pretty petit bourgeois, buy two.

Interesting... but I do not speak much German. I suppose I could form a few sentences if I really try. I would love to find an English speaking company to work for. I would also consider working for a tour company. But would I make enough to pay rent and living? I would consider teaching English, I just don't know if I would be a good teacher...never gave it much thought. Are the classes large? I have looked on the Craigslist for Berlin and found a few nice places ranging from 380-500 Euro's a month. I just need a job. I don't care about graffiti or weirdo's as I am used to them both. Guess I'll have to keep on looking...

LOL! The gun is to protect me from getting mugged or beaten down, since the police cracked down the drug dealers on my block. Like in all ghettos, the dealers provide safety .. ie. they will not allow any trouble that would adventure their business. And (for) now the dealers are gone, so all kind of crazy wackos are running around causing trouble.

I thought you were more worried about the dunkin donuts crowd (there's at least dd one in neukoelln). after I posted it, I thought it's probably not a good idea to make comments about guns here, even harmlessly-meant comments, as who knows what a google translation might look like.

so would everyone else. not to be rude, sorry, but this is berlin

Yeah, and don't mention the war!!!

..if you look at some of the discussion themes here a lot of it is often bitter complaining about germans and germany, which could be (mostly mis-) construed as being part of an anti-german 'hass-seite' ..keep in mind that the threshold of incitment is lower in germany (you can't get done in the UK for wearing a thor steiner jacket, for example)..and now you talk about 'defending yourself'.. all innocent of course, but..

I just mean that I have it on good authority that it used to be a lot worse. The center of Berlin has graffiti everywhere, except the super touristy streets that they clean off more.
Not that I don't find dog shit, but I find a lot more of it in other neighbourhoods...it's a European thing though...ever been to Paris?

OMG do NOT rent off Craigslist. Most Germans don't even know about it. It's mostly English speakers and well travelled Germans and in most cases you will pay more for your apartment than you normally would.
PS if you're here after October you can take over my lease

You can give private lessons in English if you want. You can make some decent money touring if you're good at it. You usually work mostly for tips.

Yepppp

I lived in London before Germany, I've spent time in Berlin, now Leipzig. All I can say is if you're used to a place like London and you're not from Kensington or somewhere, most of Prenzlauer Berg apart from the far northern bit around Schonhauser Allee station will more or less seem like heaven at least until you've forgotten what London's like. As for jobs, it depends what you want and what you skills are, but the Berlin economy isn't that dynamic and jobs can be hard to get and extremely craply paid. Have you thought of doing a TEFL course so you could pick up some teaching work if all else fails?

^^ good advice. Use what you have to your advantage, and that is English. Unless you can work independently in some manner that brings in money from your home country, you might have a hard time finding a "normal" German job, not only because unemployment is high and they understandably give priority to Germans, but because German is the language spoken here ...

a tefl cert would help you get into teaching english, but from what I've heard it's not absolutely necessary... you'll just make less money without it and have a more difficult time finding a job. but lots of people find creative ways to survive!

if you need some legal assistance, I can connect you with my immigration lawyer who has been extremely helpful to me and a few others in getting a visa. pm me if you're interested in more info on that.

good luck!

@matthewsmith: how do you like Leipzig? I've been there a few times, seems like a cool city, but haven't heard much about living there from an auslaender's perspective. I wonder what brought you there from Berlin?

I worked near Berlin as a language assistant at a high school in the mid 90s and then came back to Germany a few years ago to work. You can't compare Leipzig to Berlin really, Leipzig's a pleasant city though which is getting back on its feet after the reunification. There's a big university and a good musical tradition so it's quite lively. The negative side, especially for expats, is that it isn't a very international city and parts of it are of course really poor with the resentment etc. that follows. My original intention was to work in Berlin but I haven't managed to find a suitable job there with satisfactory pay or conditions.

I will be coming to the city in May, alongs with thousands of goths and rock fans from all over the world

Hi all, has Prenzlauer Berg changed much from say, 4-5 years ago?
When I was 17/18 ish I was backpacking around Europe and I didn't realize the area I was staying in Berlin was P'berg area (hostel near Rosenthaler Platz). I remember liking the neighbourhood a lot.. is it still the same?? and I don't remember so much of the dog shit that everyone keeps talking about when it comes to P'berg.. (i did a lot of walking btw)

anyway, I was just wondering, because I am taking a language course near that area this summer and am also looking into finding housing there..

I've heard it's changed a lot in like the past 10 years (used to be rougher around the edges) but I don't know if it's changed so much since 4 years ago. I was first here almost 3 years ago and the only difference is that there are more renovated buildings and it's gotten a bit more expensive

not changed that much... a little less dogshit (which is and was more a problem in the northern area) , more yuppies, more expensive, more renovated houses. btw, the area where you stayed was presumably Mitte.