I’m Moving to Berlin

I’ve dreamt of moving to another city for a long time. Not literally, my actual dreams are far more bizarre and less romantic, things I’d rather not actually live out or wish upon myself. Metaphorically though, my dreams are forever led by wanderlust and adventurelust, an ongoing desire for discovery.

Following a five month trip around South East Asia I became determined to experience a new city as more than just a tourist. Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Yangon, Tokyo, Osaka and Seoul had all left an impression on me, they’d left me wanting more. It was as if we’d been on a few dates, coffee, dinner, drinks, we’d even seen each other first thing in the morning, and after all of this we still wanted to see each other again. In the words of Patti Smith, “[she] contained a whole universe that I had yet to know.” But this universe wasn’t to be discovered by remaining casual, we had to open up to one another.

I considered training to be an English teacher just to live in one of these cities and experience them as more than just a casual tourist who passes through before moving on to the next. I didn’t really want to be an English teacher but I did really want to start a relationship with a new city. Long story short, I was fortunate enough to be offered a great job in London and my relationships with those cities would remain flings.

Fast forward fourteen months and I’ve accepted a job in Berlin, it’s literally happened that fast. Have you ever put yourself forward for something never really thinking it’ll manifest into anything? Next thing you know you’re sitting with your legs dangling from a plane door, 14,000 feet in the air with someone behind you counting down from five. The person behind me is currently on three and a half, that’s how many weeks I have until I move.

I’ve been to Berlin once for a two night stay. One of those nights my friend and I agreed to never talk about again because we got so drunk that we… well like I said, we don’t talk about it. I did however come away thinking that it was a city best experienced with the help of a veteran Berliner. I didn’t even scratch the surface during my short stay, I wouldn’t even call it a fling, Berlin and I just about exchanged glances at the bar.

London will always have my heart and I think I’ll always return to this city, in order to continue appreciating one another though we need some time apart. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? A separation like this will never be easy but the experience of living apart will be a valuable one. It’ll be stressful too, I’ve got less than four weeks to find a place to live in a city where I don’t yet know a single soul. I have a weekend between leaving one job and starting a completely new one. Plus there are a lot of things that don’t fit into a suitcase, like family, friends and the comfortingly familiar feeling of being at home.

A picture of the night sky with some typical typography overlaying it once told me, “replace fear of the unknown with curiosity,” and being the type of person that takes advice from internet quotes, that is what I’ll aim to do.

So for everyone who’s going to ask if I’m scared (and I know a lot will), I’m not, I’m curious; and considering the infinitely vast universe within and beyond yourself, you should be too!