photo: Neil H / CC.
When I travel to foreign continents and get asked where I am from, my answer is often: “I am from Europe”. I never really thought about what this means until the Brexit vote. It’s not that I don’t want to say that I am from Germany (because whoever asks is probably going to demand a more precise answer anyway and I will give it). It’s not a lack of national pride; it’s more a sense of international unity within my own continent. I am happy to be German, but I am proud to be from Europe. Being born and raised in an isolated country like the GDR, the sense of freedom after the reunification was amazing.
I grew into an adult benefiting from the bond that the European countries had formed with one another after being in conflict for centuries. For me this became the status quo. I could travel, study, live and work in all of the other countries without problems, which many of my class mates actually did, going to France or the UK after school. When many of the countries even started to share one currency it became even more united. Going to Madrid or to Rome over the weekend to visit friends or just have a good time, this no longer felt like taking a vacation in a foreign country. It felt like something else…
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by Frank | Stories, Travel
photos: Alejandro Arretureta.
Europe, not the continent, but the union, played a pivotal role in how my life turned out to be, and consequently who I am today; Europe, for me, meant belonging to something greater than just your own country, it provided this new identity you now have, you’re not just Greek, Spanish, French, you’re also European. This second identity connects you to so much more than what you could relate before it.
Because of Europe, I was able to travel abroad as an exchange student and also stay abroad as a young adult and work, an experience that has changed me in a million ways. I’ve met cultures I could never dream I would; not only met but thoroughly known, lived with, worked with, been friends with, laughed with. I’ve learnt about others, but also about my own self, got my head out of my own ass a little bit more than if I had just stayed in the perfect homogeneity of my country, where all I can see around me are reflections of me, of how I’ve grown up to think, what I’ve grown up to believe, nothing ever challenged.
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by Stella | Stories
At the last European Elections in 2014, only 46,7% of Berliners went to the voting booth. This number is fucking disturbing because this means that less than half of the population even cared to make Democracy work.
But in 2019 we can’t afford to be that careless anymore. In the last couple of years, the rise of populism and anti-Europeanism made it clear that we can’t go on with our lives and leave the boring government stuff to the politicians. They will fuck it up if we don’t initiate a movement and start a counter-revolution to these reactionary forces that are unchallenged.
Yesterday, we were again proud of Berlin for showing up and making noise for a progressive and positive European Democracy. One week before the elections for the European Parliament over 25 000 people walked through the city to demonstrate for a free, human and ecologically aware Europe.
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by Claudio | Stories
Brexit checklist: a valid passport, Anmeldung, a print-out of your online registration form for the Ausländerbehörde, a paying job, German health insurance, a German bank account, a German driving license, and a year’s supply of decent cider.
The 29th of March is nearly upon us, and after more than two years of “robust” negotiations, it’s looking more and more like we’re headed for a no-deal Brexit. So what does that mean for those of us from the UK who have decided to make Berlin our home? As we get closer to the big day, I’ve accepted that I can’t keep sticking my fingers in my ears and hoping that this whole thing will go away. I decided to finally do a bare minimum of research, pump a couple of clued-up friends for information, and see if there were any shreds of certainty in the sea of Brexit doubt.
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by Guest Author | Stories
