My German is going awfully.And that is because Berlin is the mostinternational city where everyone speaks English.And there’s no assumption that you need to try and speak German.Even when I try, I think they hear my accent and they just revert to English.I am once again, experiencing the privilege of having Englishas my mother tongue because it’s just the default language here.And it’s crazy howpeople will accommodate my language, even though this isn’t my country, you kmow.The language here is German.Technically I should be trying my absolute hardest to get better at Germanand try and integrate myself,but people don’t want to let me, they won’t let me try.They just default.I know this isn’t the same for a lot of Germany.I know Germans are very proud of their language, which I think is cool.And I was just speaking to that. I think something that makes Berlin feel so homeyis it that there are so many internationals here. This is a city where it’sreally hard to define a Berliner because Berlin is made of everyone.I live in Kreuzberg, which is a luxury.I love this area.It has a lot of Turkish influence.There was a lot of Turkish migration to Berlin. That means we just haveamazing Falafel places really cheaply everywhere near me, which is so cool.You’ll just be walking down the river Spree and you’ll hear Spanish,And then you hear English, and then you’ll hear German, and then you hear Dutch.and then I’ll just be partying because I’m so happy to hear Dutchbecause it’s my mum’s mother tongue. And I’m like, “Oh, I feel like I’m at home.”And maybe within internationalism,another reason that I feel so at home here is Berlin feels like aweird combination between London andlike Amsterdam or bike-y Netherlands cities.And German as a language isreally similar to Dutch, which means I can just intuitively understanda lot of what people are saying. So, yeah, it just feels easy.It just feels homey.I love it. And I’m vegan.And this is the capital of veganism.I have never been so blessed with a city that understands the values ofsustainability and environmentalism and veganism in a really cool way,such that every cafe has a vegan option.Like a good vegan cake was actually moist and not dry and horrible.Oh, you’re spoilt with options of vegan alternatives in shops.And there’s like everywhere stocks, oat milk, often as the default.It just feels like a city that has just taken a lot of aspects of meand has just put it in a great environment and a great vibe city.Interesting again, because I’ve heard so many people in Germany make fun ofBerlin as being one of the ugliest cities.And I think it depends how you define beauty.They’re like rough around the edges, graffitiness of Berlinis what gives it such a raw beauty because this city has gone through hell and back.There is so much rich history to every single street.Like literally down the road from me is where the Berlin wall used to be.Like literature’s right there.People couldn’t even stand on my street being this close to the wall withoutguards watching and being like, “What are you doing?Are you trying to get to the West? And what are you doing?”Sometimes you see a street and sure, you’re like,Okay, maybe it looks a bit mismatched,maybe a little bit ugly if you didn’t read deeper.but then you do read deeper.There are plaques everywhere. And you’re like,Oh my God, this is where this iconic event in world war II happened.You have these little things called Stolpersteinewhich basically means stumbling stone. And there are small plaques. And they’rein front of the houses of Jewish people whowere in the Holocaust,were murdered in World War II.And it’s like, bam, instantly, just through that little tiny stumbling stone,you’re reminded of the crazy eventsthat happened right here, where you are standing. All those historylessons I had in the UK about World War II, all the World War II moviesI’ve seen, all the books I’ve read, all the accounts, all thepersonal stories I’ve read.I am walking streets that hold those stories.And the city doesn’t let you forget it.And I think that’s special in a weird way.And then it’s also a very politically active city. And that’s reflected in thegraffiti and the art and the radicalism.And I think there’s a beauty in that too. As a new person in the city,I love trying to understand some of the issues that the city faces.And one of them, as in most major cities, is gentrification.If you know what gentrification is,it’s basically where they take an area which might seem a bit run down andmake it more beautiful, and build new houses, new apartments, and try andattract wealthier people into the area who buy these houses.And there areas in Berlin like Prenzlauer Berg, which is a gorgeous area withlovely cafes and kind of more pricey restaurants, but really beautifulwhere it’s like a residential area.A lot of wealthier white people live there, which on the surface seems great.Seems cool. Beautiful area to visit.But one of the main issues of gentrification isin driving up these house prices, which a lot internationalpeople can come in and pay.You are almost intentionally driving out lower income people who can’tafford these new rent prices. Have a lot of squatting communities here.There are anarchic rallies. There are a lot of people who are against the system here.There is a lot of police involvement.There’s a lot of Graffiti,talking about gentrification and the effects it’s having on people.One of my favorite places in the city is an abandoned airport called Tempelhofer Feld.Now a massive field with the best vibes where people do roller skatingand it’s fun.It’s a massive open green space and I love it.But one of the discussions in the city is we have a century located massivespace where we could put housingto help accommodate so many people in the city who are having to leave becauseof these increasing house prices.Like, should we build apartments here or should we keep it as thisbeautiful, natural open space, which Berlin is also associated with.There’s a lot of discussions like that.And to my knowledge, this year, they froze rent prices.I think for like five years or something like that, which ishopefully meant to help stop landlords driving people out.So that’s positive. Yeah.And it’s really interesting thinking about gentrification when the wall fell and howareas like Kreuzverg, where I now live,this was a poor area.This was right by the wall.But then when the wall fell, bam, all of a sudden we’re very centrallylocated in the city and this area has been hugely gentrified.All things that benefit me and make it fun to live here. Butdefinitely have darker effects on the city too.Oh my God. Okay. And I have to speak to racism.Firstly, everything I’m telling you is such a surface levelinterpretation of a city I’ve been in for two months.Take this with a grain of salt and do some research.But secondly, all my perspectives on Berlin and Germany so far are through thislens of being a white person in Berlin and through conversations with differentlocals and trying to get a sense onracism as it stands in Berlin. Like, I can’t really extrapolateto Germany or still a lot of old conservative values, which extend tomicroaggressions against Brown and black foreigners here.These areas which do have a huge Turkish influencebut so many Berliners get to benefit from because the food is amazing,the shadow, beautiful culture that like amazing people who just become partof the city, do experience from some German Germans, like German lineage,white Germans, this sentiment ofOh, foreigners coming in, taking over our city.And unlike places like the UK, Germany has taken in a lot more refugees althoughthere is still this anti foreigner racism thing, which I’ve heard isstill very present here in Germany.It’s just more covert than in say, the US.So this is just from conversations, but I would love to learn more.Anything you have to say on this topic, let me know.Oh, and something else I’m really interested in isobviously following World War II and the horrific things that were done toJewish people here. I’m really intrigued what modern day anti-Semitism looks like.And in conversation with young Germans, it seems the school system does a really goodjob here of emphasizing how awful the war anda lot of the German values in the war were.And I think it’s like mandatory for school kids to visit.I don’t know if it’s Auschwitz, but definitely a concentration camp.But I’ve also heard that in older generations,there are still very anti-Semitic values.A lot of synagogues here don’t state that there a synagogue very openly.I’ve had people actively hiding the fact they’re Jewish.Also, I juts realized I’m just mumbling a lot.I don’t know if it’s actually interesting.So, I’m so aware, everything I’m saying, this is not properly research backed.Please just realize this is my perspective and my attempt to learn.But at the same time, I think it’s cool to discuss these topicsto hopefully inspire you toseek out the issues in new places you go as well as seeing the beautiful tourist sites.Oh my God, let’s talk bikes.If you follow me in my UK quarantine, you would know that bikes mean a lot to me.My bike got me through UK lockdown.I would go cycle for an hour a day and it was my hour of the day.I would just cycle beautiful green places. And I loved it.This cityis amazing because it’s so good cycling.There are bike lanes everywhere. And I remember the first few times I went on ,the big roadsthe massive wide roads with cars going next to you, but you’re inyour bike lane and like everyone’s speeding along on their bikes.I was terrified.It took me a good few weeks of always going with people on those roadsto get to the point where I feel very confident cycling in Berlin.I never thought I’d get here.I’m from a small town in the UK.Like when I think of cycling, I think going to a field where I don’t have todeal with traffic and cars and fear, but here I understand how the road works.I get it. We’re good now.Me and Berlin roads, we’re friends-ish. People cycles so quickly here.Their overtaking culture, I’m like, I thought I was going fast.Also, on that note, I have never felt this sense of independencethat I feel in Berlin in the sense that if I want to go somewhere.I don’t wait for a bus. I don’t wait for a train.I get on my bike and I can cycle for 30-40 minutes and get always anywhere.That is so special. This feeling of independence.And my thighs, wow!You can’t get unfit in this city because ifyou’re going to cycle, you’re going to get fit.Your thighs are going to be like rocks.Okay. Discussing workload quickly.The workload at Minerva.I know I say it all the time. And I don’t mean to just be like feelingI’m trying to defend my uni and make comments aboutother people’s unis not being hard. No, I’m just complaining.It is hard.It is so, so, so hard.I have classes till midnight because of COVID and we’re tryingto accommodate time zones just this semester. That is mentally draining.And I do six hours at least of reading, like genuine, hard readingand notes and going over things a day and then the classes, but the thingthat’s so hard is the assignments.And I get so many essays a week, three essays in a week is a joke.It’s a joke. It’s the first time I’ve looked at my uni stare my uni down at theface and thinking this is too much.Sometimes this is too much.And in general, I love my course.I feel like I have learned so much in the last two months, especiallyabout the startup landscape and businesses and how the world functionsand stocks and investing always I’m like no thought I’d have a clue.And now I’m starting to get a clue. And cause I do Cognitive Neuroscience,I feel like I understand so much more aboutthe way I’m viewing the world and how my brain works.And developmentally how my perspectives on the world are being shapedand evolutionarily why I do things the way I do it, like fascinating, but so hard.And so mentally draining.And I feel like I am watching my friendsdeteriorate throughout the term because the workload is just unfair.We get deadlines at the weekends.You’ve got a deadline at 7:00 AM, so you’re, you’re pulling a bit ofan all-nighter sleeping, waking up at 5:00 AM to finish early, to getup the next day and repeat with your three classes, your six hours ofreading your essay due the next day.It’s just, it’s a lot, which is why I quickly want to speak to thebeauty of small moments in life.Because truly what gets me through the essays and the assignments and thelong nights of work is people. And is this habit of casual magic, right?Where even if you’re in lockdown, what can you consciously find even when youare stressed to be grateful for and to try and be optimistic and to try and be happyand just be like, Oh my God, my roommate.It’s letting you know, they just couldn’t be a bit of dinner. That’s so sweet.I’m stressed. Thank you.Or like the light comes in when it’s sunny for once and just reallytaking a moment to appreciate that. Life is what you make of it.And if you really focus on the good little things they make the hard timesworth it, I’ve also been doing this thing where, when I meet up with peoplefrom my uni, I will almost always make an effort to divert the conversationfrom schoolwork and from stress to some kind of depth that I think people needright now. My thought and invitation to you is, can you ask people questionsthat require them to tap back into what matters, their values, their perspective?I don’t know if you guys feel it, but I think there is suchheavy energy right now, or at least around me. It’s getting darker.It’s getting winter. You’ve got the US elections.You’ve got COVID and locked down and loneliness.And people struggling so much with mental health.You’ve got stress and you got work and you’re worrying about family.And that is so much heaviness.And truly I spent most of last week being in that heaviness and every single dayjust feeling so down and so low for no tangible reason. It just feels likethe world is just really not great.And that’s hard. So how can you be cognizant of that?And when you meet with people, can you be that weird person who goes,tell me three things you’re grateful for today?Tell me. I know it’s a weird question, but just tell me anyway.you can laugh and be like, Ohhaha.That was a bit out of context.But then it forces people to sit down and think what’s good. What’s good right now.And surely there’s something, something small.Ask people, what made your week?What is your favorite thing about yourself?What’s your favorite thing about your culture?If you were your friend, what would you tell yourself tosupport yourself right now?What do you need to hear?Mental health is everything guys.Physical health and mental health is everything.Stress, hustle, culture, work,we’re all trained to believe that other stuff matters more than ourselves.More than the health of our friends and family.It’s a lie.That is a lie to make you make money.I am less consistent on YouTube.Not because I don’t love you guys, but because I love myself more.And because with all the workload here, when I have free time,I’ve got to invest back in this, you know. This thing up heretakes constant work.At least it does, for me.It takes constant good habits. It takes prioritizing yourself.And I invite you to do that, even if it means saying no to people and beingless of a people pleaser.To end off the most roundly weird little catch up video,I just really hope you’re okay.And if you’re not okay,that is okay. This is a heavy time.And I think even admitting to yourself that you feel the heaviness of nowis so cool
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