FIRST CONTACT

August, 29th 2008
I am here!!! Heidi, the realocation lady came to pick me up from the airport. I expected some “HERR CARBO” sign… but no, she just was hanging a bag with the name of the Reallocation company on it… what a deception… no, I’m not going to complain! She came to the airport and brought me to the temporary apartment I have on the 1st month. Her plans were to show me a little bit the surrounding to know a little bit more the area, where to buy grocery, where to eat out and so on but I had an appointment to see a room at 9pm, and I arrived at Berlin airport at 8pm… so we had to do everything very fast. She gave me as a welcome present a Lonely Planet guide of Berlin and a map-book, or whatever is called this books you have a directory with all the streets and then a lot of pages with maps of the areas of the city that links one with each other (c’mon, you know what I mean!!). I think that this little book has been like my bible since I arrived, carrying it everywhere, reeeeaally useful!

Ok, I am here, but I have to find somewhere fix to live, because I have this temporary apartment for one month, but on the 8th I am flying to the US and then to Canada… so actually I have a little more than one week to do it…
And trust me, this room searching it’s being very hard! There is a lot of shared apartments, that’s true, but it’s fucking unbelievable all the guys that are also looking for a room, just like me. It seems that everybody in Europe has decided to live in Prenzlauer Berg, bloody hell!
This war I am having is even worse and far more difficult than to find a job!

Another thing to spot on these first days is Berliner public transport, the underground to be more specific.
You think that in Germany everything works fine, on time, good signs and information everywhere, even in English, and so on, right? WRONG ANSWER!! At least with Berlin underground! It’s a disaster. On the first day, after coming back of visiting the room in Prenzlauer Berg (the area I am looking for a room) was already 11pm (the underground works till 1.30). In the middle of the way I see that almost everybody gets off the train, but as there were some guys left I didn’t worry about it. One or two minutes after the dazed guys just get off the train… “ok, that’s not normal at all” I though, and obviously I get off the train as well. I see some signs in german. I don’t understand anything but “bussen”, that means Bus ;-) I understand that we do the rest of the way by bus because some constructions whatsoever…
But when I get to the street, I can’t see any bus, any people neither, nothing, in the middle of one of the darkest areas in Berlin… without underground, with no bus, with no way of getting back home, but with my fantastic book-map! I had to walk for 1 hour and a half, swearing on all the family and saints of U6 underground line…
The Next day I also went back late to the room. I was ready. I got off with everybody else, and YES!! A bus was waiting for us… great right! WRONG! After two stops I stay alone in the bus and there is a sign saying “this bus ends here” in german. Of course this is not normal again. I get up and when the driver sees me he just yells at me something in german and opens the door. I was able to understand I had to get off the bus… and now what! I am just one stop away from home, so it’s not a big deal to walk back… but it’s annoying and frustating!! Next day and the day after, the line worked perfectly till my stop… but the day after again, get off the train, go to the bus, and then, I was quick enough to follow everybody and realise that I had to get on the underground again… so, I finally did it!! As you can see, it’s not that easy!! It’s not a joke, it’s a warning for the tourist and newcomers to Berlin, be VERY CAREFULL. The changes between the two kinds of trains (S-bahn and U-bahn) are not that direct, sometimes you have to walk over the street a little bit to go from one to the other… so, WATCH OUT!!