<story><title>On the unexpected joys of Denglisch, Berlinglish and global Englisch</title><url>https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/beamer-dressman-bodybag/en</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>G3rn0ti</author><text>As a native Urberliner I am both flattered and confused by the fact so many young Americans choose to live in my home town. I always wondered what makes it so attractive to you. I mean, winters are miserable, the city is ugly compared to many others in Germany, the people are rather not friendly to each other, the German language is difficult to learn, our history is troublesome, German immigration laws still difficult to surmount and Berlin is becoming very expensive to live in these days compared to 20 years ago.&lt;p&gt;Edit: Perhaps I‘ve got the typical love&amp;#x2F;hate relationship with my home town and don’t see the forest for the trees we keep saying around here ;).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>pimeys</author><text>I moved eleven years ago because I loved the party scene. Took me less than a month to find a huge apartment for under seven hundred a month from a nice neighborhood.&lt;p&gt;Now I cannot move out anymore without doubling or tripling my rent. Also chose to study Rust instead of German, and been having so much work afterwards that I still haven&amp;#x27;t started my German studies. My husband speaks good German so that helps.&lt;p&gt;The weather is awful, our landlord only listens to us if we sue him, the internet seems to always be bad and expensive without hope for any better, the parties are way too crowded and dealing with local bureaucracy is not a great experience.&lt;p&gt;At least the rent is still cheap, if we don&amp;#x27;t move out. Lots of great art is happening every weekend. Nowadays you have some of the best restaurant scene going on in Berlin. The city is super relaxed about beer and weed, and the parks are great. It is easy to travel around the city with public transport, bike or quick rental cars. But now it is impossible to find apartments, all prices are going up and people are getting angrier every year.&lt;p&gt;My feelings about Berlin are super mixed. But, at least one thing makes me a Berliner: I love to complain about the city.</text></comment>
<story><title>On the unexpected joys of Denglisch, Berlinglish and global Englisch</title><url>https://europeanreviewofbooks.com/beamer-dressman-bodybag/en</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>G3rn0ti</author><text>As a native Urberliner I am both flattered and confused by the fact so many young Americans choose to live in my home town. I always wondered what makes it so attractive to you. I mean, winters are miserable, the city is ugly compared to many others in Germany, the people are rather not friendly to each other, the German language is difficult to learn, our history is troublesome, German immigration laws still difficult to surmount and Berlin is becoming very expensive to live in these days compared to 20 years ago.&lt;p&gt;Edit: Perhaps I‘ve got the typical love&amp;#x2F;hate relationship with my home town and don’t see the forest for the trees we keep saying around here ;).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ben_w</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m British by birth, I chose Berlin after Brexit because:&lt;p&gt;1. Friends here&lt;p&gt;2. Alternative countries were Luxembourg&amp;#x2F;Switzerland (more expensive); Canada (worse weather); Ireland (fear I might get blamed personally for the stupid done by British politicians, and the UK Gov was being loudly stupid about Ireland at the time); USA (weird culture, guns); Australia&amp;#x2F;New Zealand (too far from the old country to visit regularly); France (I find the language harder than German); Belgium (saw a police officer with a long barrelled gun at the train station and noped out of even visiting it during an Interrail exploration trip); or somewhere where I hadn&amp;#x27;t even started learning the language.&lt;p&gt;That left Austria, which was an option, but Germany was bigger and I didn&amp;#x27;t want to risk having to move country for work before getting a permanent right to remain in the EU, which I think I need another 6-12 months for depending on what exactly counts.&lt;p&gt;Alternative cities within Germany: many pretty options, but the tech scene is mostly here, and also the friends.</text></comment>