house of small wonders

House of Small Wonders, Berlin

These snaps are from a cool Japanese cafe in Mitte with super good breakfasts'. My only complaint was when I asked for a double shot latte, they gave me this massive coffee, the size of one of those gross Starbucks Venti cups. Anyways...

I'm still without internet, which is starting to bug me a little bit considering there is no data connection in my apartment. In its absence, I have binge watched all of Making a Murderer, Narco's & Gotham in two weeks, finished Lena Dunham's Bio and studied a lot of German. Hopefully it is installed today, because living alone is lonely enough without the whole of the interwebs to keep me company. When it is installed, I hope to update here 3x a week. I've just finished a month of my German classes, with two more months to go. I've been able to practice my German a little bit more because my friend group now consists of an amalgamation of several nationalities, where our only mutual language is German. Conversation is fun, and it helps me speak quickly. Its still a shame that my German won't ever be as good as my French, purely because I speak so much English here, but then again, it's much nicer being understood and being able to chat to people.

white as snow

Volspark Friedrichshain, Berlin

Apologies for my absence this week - after spending last weekend looking for apartments I finally signed a six month contract for a studio apartment in the east of Berlin. I moved in Tuesday, and spent most of my evenings after class at Ikea and Muji finding bits and pieces for my place. It is in a super cool location, with shops and cafes downstairs and the Boxhanger Platz Markets across the road. My wifi isn't connected for another week, so I have to steal wifi from cafes where I can (hence my absence). Its furnished - which is simultaneously good and bad - the decor is not quite my style but at least I don't have to spend another week (and a months budget) furnishing the place. Hopefully I will be able to jade-ify it with bric-a-brac from the markets.

Aside from my house dramas - school is going well although my learning has slowed down a bit. There a quite a few Swiss-French at my school, which is nice to practice my French but confusing to swap between two languages that aren't English. I haven't had much time to explore Berlin still, so many museums to visit and cafes to drink coffee at. Maybe I'll save that for visits from friends. These photos are from a couple of weeks ago when it verged on -9 degrees, and the snow was 20cm thick. As wonderful as it was, it has all melted away which makes walking around the city just that much easier. And also riding, which is my next task - to find a bike!

back to the drawing board

Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin

So, it turns out good news doesn't really stick for long in Berlin. Yesterday, I received a message cancelling the agreement I had to move into a flat in Feb. It has sent me back into a pretty big spin again, seeing several houses a day with the slim chance that I'll be offered something by next week. I've had to miss class to write emails, and arrange viewings which has not left a good feeling in my stomach, and my German is getting behind. I've met some really great Germans through the house hunting process, but it would be great just to have my own room so I could buy a plant and decorate to make it feel more at home while I'm here... so any prayers or good vibes are well appreciated right now.

bonanza coffee roasters

Bonanza Coffee Roasters, Berlin

I wasn't feeling the best today so I went home after my first class. On the way home I stopped of at Bonanza Coffee Roasters to pickup some beans and treat myself to a piccolo. It was divine! I've really missed a good cup of coffee, and even forgot what it tastes like after a week of percolated canteen coffee. Its right around the corner from my school, so I will most definitely be frequenting here more often.

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Mount Wellington, June 2015

Wishing this one was here so we could explore Berlin together.

Flohmarkt im Mauerpark

Flohmarkt im Mauerpark, Berlin

Today I ventured to the very famous Flohmarkt im Mauerpark (the markets in Mauerpark) for some bric a brac goodness, and it did not disappoint. I left with a very cool Russian fur hat and an old school map of Bordeaux (my old city) from 1911. The markets were filled with tea pot sets, plenty of cool film cameras and vintage clothing from the 90s, and if it wasn't so cold I probably would have tried on more things. The temperature hovered at about -1 all day, which left me chilled to the bone. The only plus was the warm mulled wine that tried feebly to warm my body up. All in all, a pretty awesome market and I am sure I will be back when the weather is more appropriate.

my first week in berlin

Distrikt Coffee, Berlin

I have had a blog for some time now, often publishing photographs here, there and whenever I feel like it. But now, now I'm actually doing something exciting with my life so I thought this would be a nice platform for everyone to be updated on my life's happenings in this cool city that I'm currently living in.

I arrived in Berlin late last Sunday, and was greeted with 0 degree weather as soon as I walked off the plane. Yes it is cold, no I don't hate it. I like the idea of coats and boots and scarves and socks, there is something quite romantic about it. Anyways, I arrived on Sunday and started German class promptly at 8am the next morning. The first week was anything but a holiday. My classes run from 9-3pm everyday, so I spent most of my first week either in class or traipsing all around Berlin apartment hunting. Berlin is rent-controlled, which is good but also means that it doesn't let the market work efficiently, creating a very serious housing shortage. So in my first week I had emailed over 60 people, and visited 10 apartments only to be offered one. I've heard that I was lucky, which really goes to show how serious the crisis is. As stressful as it was, looking at apartments was a pretty good crash course into the geography of Berlin - the amount of times I caught the tram in the wrong direction (because the cars drive on the other side of the road here) has definitely exceeded the single digits already. I find it hard enough to remember what is left and right in Australia. Aside from apartment hunting, language class is super useful and even after a week I feel as though my German has improved ten-fold. I can still barely order a coffee, but I'm getting there.

Today was my first day off since I arrived, so I decided to go out to Distrikt Coffee for breakfast. Usually I'm a savoury girl, but I took a risk ordering the sweet option, which most definitely paid off. The coffee was top notch too, although the waitress' did think I was crazy for ordering 2x 3 shot lattes (my usual in Australia). Then, I went to my weak spot - Acne Studios and couldn't resist a jacket that was 40% off (pictures to come). At 12, I met up with some friends from language class and we headed to Friedrichstraße where I discovered a super cool Swedish label & other stories. I bought a cool black shirtdress, but resisted not buying the whole shop. As for now, I'm back home at my cosy apartment in Prenzlauer Berg about to head of for some shisha with friends, tschüß!