I'm Moving to Berlin

It's true, I decided a week or two ago and have been hastily making plans ever since. I'll be in New York 8/13-19, Houston 8/19-24, back to New York 8/24-28 and then on to Berlin.

The first question you're probably asking is, why? Or perhaps, what are you going to do there? Well let me do a little explaining.

After graduating from college in May, my plan was to visit Germany for the summer and live on a couple different farms in different parts of the country. The idea was a combination of incentives. I wanted to work on my German; I'd studied it for two years in the classroom and wanted to put it to practice. I wanted to take some time off from city life and get away for a while before planting myself in New York. I wanted to travel a little bit and visit a continent I hadn't been to in the year and a half since I had studied in Berlin. And I thought it wouldn't hurt to learn a little about farming. So. In many ways spending a year in Berlin is an extension of several of those ideas. Rather than just be better, my German will be excellent. I will get to travel on the continent more (in fact, I already have a job with my friend Shwahh in Amsterdam at the beginning of September, excited to have that kind of opportunity). But most important is the opportunity of the moment I'm in–this time between college and work (or whatever is next)–to take a break from New York. Because the truth is that I still want to be in New York for a while. That's an ambiguous word, but it has to be because I don't know the future. So in some ways right now feels like my last chance to do something like this before committing deeply to New York.

So, with that out of the way I can be more specific. Here is the situation right now: I already have an apartment. I know a few people here and my German is good enough to get by. There are multiple ways to get a visa to stay in the country. I'm starting to look for a job in a few different places. One option is the film world, the place I have the most qualifications and experience. The next is in a coffee shop, something I'd like to do at some point as research for a documentary I might one day make. I feel like I have a good shot at getting something in one of those fields, if not both (I hope I don't have to decide, I'd like to do both!). But, worst case scenario is that in three months I'm jobless and my traveling visa is up and I move back to New York. I don't see that happening, but I don't think it's such a bad worst case.

I'm going to miss all of my friends remarkably, but I'm already looking forward to our reunion(s) a year from now. I hope this is a good beginning to the many conversations we are sure to have in the coming weeks. Bis dann!

ps. I might post about the last farm I was on and my trip to Zürich soon, but wanted to get this out of the way before it got any later. Long story short, the second farm was amazing and Zürich is a cool town.