Dear Future Generations of NYU-Berliners,

Weekend Club in Berlin at Alexanderplatz ("Alexa"): A Fun Place to Party and Watch the Sun RiseDear Future NYU-Berliners,

I’ll state the assumptions I’m working with in writing this letter to you forwardly: that you are exactly like me. I know it might seem silly to tell you that I’m writing from my own perspective in such a blatant manner, but I guess I just have no way of telling how any given individual will respond. A lot of people, based on the feelings I’ve expressed in past posts and what I know from conversations with other NYU students, have had differing or even opposing experiences than what I’ve had. I’m sure it’s the case going into any study abroad program, so I guess I’ll make that be my first piece of advice: don’t make the assumption that your reaction to a new place will be the same as anyone else’s. This is along the lines of don’t bring assumptions about your abroad site to your abroad site, as NYU so often advises—but I think I’m adding an important dimension by advising you to also leave your assumptions about how your own culture will react to the place you’re going at home, in your own culture. People grow and change abroad and it’s really beautiful to watch it happen, but it’s important that you know that you won’t all grown and change in similar ways.

Moving on:

2. On the subject of academics, Berlin’s program is known for being more or less lightweight. Do not, I repeat, do not read into this! I consider myself, more or less, to be a good student. NYU Berlin, just like NYU’s main campus, offers a rigorous and challenging, albeit limited, course load. Given the challenging course load and “fair”-but-harsh professors, I’m convinced that the common story of Berlin’s lightweight academics can be attributed to too many students having the attitude that “I’m abroad, so as I have fun and pass, I’ve got no worries.” Well, I like to do more than pass and I’ve found that you can still have plenty of fun too, just don’t be lazy.

3. On finances, I know that Bank of America is an evil, polluting, scary megabank but open an account with them before leaving. Neither me or my mom (my main source of funding for this trip) have any ties with Bank of America and it has made life so much more difficult. Berlin is, quite sincerely, a cash-only city. You cannot even buy groceries at most places without cash. And, I’m sure you can guess (or know) how bad international withdrawal fees get. I really wish I didn’t have to plug BoA here, but BoA is tied with Deutsche Bank (Germany’s own private megabank), and it’s free to withdraw from any DB location with a BoA card.

4. On social life, I cannot tell you how difficult it has been to live with only 22 other students. Don’t get me wrong, I liked so many right off the bat and have grown to like so many others on the trip, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get worn out. I see the same faces day in and day out, in classes and at clubs, and it just gets so annoying, so quickly. This is not a reason to not come, but be prepared and be proactive about meeting new people. Berliners (not necessarily only Germans, but plenty of ex-pats as well) are very receptive, and there are also plenty of other study-abroad programs here, too.

5. On travelling, let me reinforce what NYU says: do not leave your study abroad site too frequently or you will feel like you’ve never gotten to know it. I’ve only left a couple of times, and now I’m stressing about how time is running out and I need to see so many more museums, performances, and bars/clubs.

6. On weather, if you’re emotionally-sensitive when it comes to weather, I would advise to not come to Berlin during the Spring Semester because it it’s like it was these past few months (a so-called “mild Berlin winter”), you will get too depressed to enjoy yourself. I think that I would’ve appreciated Berlin so much more if I had done the summer program here, because right now Berlin is literally a different, better city for me to be living in that it has been for the previous three months. Oh well, I still have one month left and I’m going to enjoy it as much as I possibly can!

7. On Nightlife, my very rough Berlin field guide will be posted on here within the next month. What’s crucial to advise here is that you need sleep. The bars are great and if you’re in the same Kreuzberg (might as well be Williamsburg, Brooklyn) location as our group, you’ll only be a 10-minute walk from the trendiest strip of bars in Berlin. They’re so cheap and so fun, and are usually open until 4am. You’ll also be about a 20-minute walk from Berghain/Panorama Bar which I wrote about in my post on “authenticity.” This club, setting the standard by which all other clubs in Berlin, it seems, follow doesn’t get crowded until around 4am and doesn’t close until the next afternoon, when people drag themselves to cabs having just killed more braincells per hour than anyone’s ever experienced. It sounds awesome, I know, but your body will hate you. Go to bars often, clubs sparingly, and not to Berlin at all (as a young person) if you have no interest in night life.

If you have any questions regarding my experience, email me at jtl281@nyu.edu

Good Luck!
Joshua