I know a really nice apartment that's standing empty, actually. Email Mr. B. (or me, and I'll pass it along) and maybe we can arrange something for you.
ben, go to the goethe institut.
it's by far the best language school in berlin. forget price.
berlin is really cheap and affordable.
as long as you don't live in prenzlauerberg you'll be okay, given those criteria.
You want the intensive crash course with smart diligent teachers. Ignore price.
You also want in live somewhere in East Berlin.
the first part of 3 is spot-on.
But the last sentence is just wrong. Kreuzberg is fantastic, and that's not in East Berlin.
It's just way too big a generalization. With advice like that ben could end up in Marzahn with all the skinheads, or in Lichtenberg.
are my comments showing up? internal server error.
go for kreuzberg, mitte, friedrichshain, treptow, or prenzlauerberg, pretty much in that order (unless you do like fashionable neighborhoods composed almost entirely of 20-39 yr olds, in which case try prenzlauerberg).
and, have fun. i'm jealous. might show up in berlin at the end of july for a conference, though.
i'm jealous
Dude, you live in Paris.
All I know is that Ben doesn't want to live where I stayed--out by the Zoologische Garten with all the stodgies and businessmen.
Wait, you can go to Germany, and someone else will pay? I need to look into more of this kind of stuff (though I might prefer France, since someday that translation might come out, and I'd look like a total jackass if I couldn't speak French at all).
Sorry, Adam, the DAAD thing appears to have an age cutoff of 32. Reading things like that always stresses me out -- what if I don't figure out what I want to do with my life for another 5 years?
You want the intensive crash course with smart diligent teachers. Ignore price.
They're all "intensive" courses. Which one has the smart, diligent teachers?
ben, the goethe institut is great. not only do you learn very very quickly, but the people who designed the curriculum had a quirky sense of humor so it's fun too. i haven't taken their classes because i learned german elsewise (immersion by moving there with one's family and having no choice) but have always been sort of jealous based on the stories i hear.
6-it's true. but berlin has an amazing population of young artists and galleries and performance art and things alive and happening right now - it's just a great time to be there. real estate is very very cheap so people move there because they can afford studios and gallery spaces so easily...it's so much fun.
please drink a negroni for me at one of those bars on the edge of the spree river that trucks sand onto the riverbanks so it feels like you're on the beach when you drink there at night. or go to outdoor movies on the museuminsel & in hasenheide...
I will gladly drink several negronis for you.
also look in the classified section of Zitty, which is berlin's super "what's happening in the city this week" magazine.
jackmormon, you're right about the bahnhof zoo area. though there is a good very deadpan stereototal song about fourteen-year-olds going to a disco at zoo that gives the area some retronostalgia, over here at least...
p.s. wg means wohngemeinschaft - a group living arrangement. and that can very from a normal housemate situation to a semi-coop semi-commune kind of a thing. i love berlin.
Ben totally needs to go for the "semi-coop semi-commune kind of a thing". Blogging gold. I can just imagine the hijinks ensuing.
very s/b vary, above.
insomnia is bad for your brain.
Ben, I have family in the Charlottenburg area, actually I have more family on my mother's side in Berlin than I have ever been able to list: Some close,lots distant but all networked. If you need help there, give me a shout. I' ll send you a valid email address when i change jobs (01.05).
Have you lined up digs yet? I have just seen this as I have been on holiday etc. If you like I could ask family and colleagues in my firms Berlin office if they know of anything etc.
If it MUST be Berlin, then the Goethe Insitute is probably the best thing. Do ask though if one of the Universities runs a "Sommerhochschule" for language courses. They can be very good. That is how I first learnt German properly when I moved to Vienna. I guess there is no point in comparing the systems though.