[Music]
just begun
i'm back so i can confirm that it is a
lot colder
out here than the last time i sat out
here and filmed and i guess that shows
how long it's been
because somehow it is now november i
have been here for
two and a half months in germany and a
lot has changed my perspective has
changed
my sleep deprivation level has
definitely changed we've got two
metaphorical and literal we've got good
energy
we've got a beautiful cloudy day for
some good like
miserable but cozy autumn energy
and yeah i'm literally just gonna sit
and chat and catch up with you guys
yeah i don't know why this catch-up
feels oddly special because i guess it's
me reflecting
on experiences i've had and i hope you
enjoy
so i have lived in berlin for two
nearly three months there's no big plan
to this video but i would
love to discuss the cultural differences
i've found my perspectives on berlin the
adventure that is
living in germany also i don't know
where you are in the world right now i
don't know what covert is like but
for us we're back in mini lockdown it's
a strange lockdown situation because a
lot of non-essentials are still
open but this home is my
office and my chill space and my kitchen
living space sleep space okay so maybe
we'll start with my german
my german is going awfully and that is
because berlin
is the most international city where
everyone speaks english and
there's no assumption that you need to
try and speak german even when i try
i think they hear my accent and they
just revert to english i am
once again experiencing the privilege of
having english as my mother tongue
because it's just the default language
here
and it's crazy how people will
accommodate my language even though
this isn't my country you know the
language here is german technically i
should be trying
my absolute hardest to get better at
german and try and integrate myself but
people don't want to let me they don't
let me try they just
they just default i know this isn't the
same for a lot of germany and i know
german's very proud of their language
which i think is cool and actually
speaking to that i think something that
makes berlin
feel so homey is that there are so many
internationals here
this is a city where it's really hard to
define a berliner
because berlin is made
of everyone i live in koitzberg which is
a luxury i love this area it is it has a
lot of turkish influence
there was a lot of turkish migration to
berlin that means we just have
amazing falafel places really cheaply
everywhere near me which is so cool
you'll just be walking down the river
spree
and you'll hear spanish and then you'll
hear english and then you'll hear german
and then you'll hear
dutch and then i'll just be partying
because i'm so happy to hear dutch
because it's my mom's mother tongue and
i'm like oh i feel like i'm at home
and maybe within the internationalism
another reason that i feel so at home
here is berlin feels
like a weird combination between london
and
like amsterdam or bikey netherlands
cities
and german as a language is really
similar to dutch which means i
can just intuitively understand a lot of
what people are saying
so yeah it just feels easy it just feels
homey
i love it and i'm vegan and this
is the capital of veganism i have never
been so blessed with a city that
understands the values of sustainability
and environmentalism and veganism in a
really cool way
such that every cafe has a vegan option
like a good vegan cake that's actually
moist and not dry and horrible or you're
spoiled with options of vegan
alternatives in shops and there's like
everywhere stocks oat milk often as the
default
it just feels like a city that has just
taken a lot of aspects of me
and it's just just put it in a great
environment in a great vibe city
interesting again because apparently so
many people in germany
make fun of berlin as being one of the
ugliest cities and i think it depends
how you define beauty
they're like rough around the edges
graffiti-ness
of berlin is what gives it such a
raw beauty because this city has gone
through hell and back
there is so much rich history to every
single street
like literally down the road from me is
where the berlin wall used to be like
she's just right there
people couldn't even stand on my street
being this close to the wall
without like guards watching them being
like what are you doing are you trying
to get to the west like what are you
doing sometimes you see a street and
sure you're like okay maybe it looks a
bit mismatched maybe a little bit
ugly if you didn't read deeper but then
you do read deeper there are like
plaques everywhere and you're like oh my
god like
this is where this iconic event in world
war ii happened you have these little
things called stopper steins
story stormstein which basically means
stumbling stone
and they're small plaques and they're in
front of the houses of jewish people
who were in the holocaust
were murdered in world war ii and
it's like bam instantly just through
that little tiny stumbling stone
you are reminded of the crazy events
that happen right here where you are
standing all those history lessons i had
in the uk about world war ii
all the world war two movies i've seen
all the books i've read all the accounts
all the personal
stories i've read i am walking streets
that
hold those stories and a city doesn't
let you forget it
and i think that's special in a weird
way and then it's also a very
politically active city and that's
reflected in the graffiti and the
art and the radicalism and i think
there's a beauty in that too
as a new person in the city i love
trying to understand some of the issues
that the city faces and one of them as
in most major cities is gentrification
if you don't know what gentrification is
it's basically where they take an
area which might seem a bit run down
and make it more beautiful and
build new houses and new apartments and
try and attract
wealthier people into the area who buy
these houses and there are areas in
berlin like prinz lauerberg which is a
gorgeous area with
lovely cafes and kind of more pricey
restaurants but really beautiful where
it's like a residential area a lot of
wealthier white people live there which
on the surface
seems great seems cool beautiful area to
visit
but one of the main issues of
gentrification is
in driving up these house prices which a
lot of international people can come in
and pay
you are almost intentionally driving out
lower income people
who can't afford these new rent prices
have a lot of squatting communities here
there are anarchist rallies there are a
lot of people who are against the system
here there's a lot of police involvement
there's a lot of
graffiti talking about gentrification
and the effects it's having on people
one of my favorite places in the city is
an abandoned airport called temple
hospital
now a massive field with the best vibes
where people do roller skating and it's
and it's fun it's a massive open green
space and i love it
but one of the discussions in the city
is we have
a centrally located massive space where
we could put housing
to help accommodate so many people in
the city who
are having to leave because of these
increasing house prices like should we
build
apartments here or should we keep it as
this beautiful natural open space which
berlin is also associated with
there's a lot of discussions like that
and to my knowledge this year
they froze rent prices i think for like
five years or something like that which
is hopefully meant to help stop
landlords driving people out so that's
positive yeah and it's really
interesting thinking about
gentrification
when the wall fell and how areas like
kreutzberg where i now live
this was a poorer area this was right by
the wall but then when the wall
fell bam all of a sudden we're very
centrally located in the city
and this area has been hugely gentrified
all the things that benefit me and make
it fun to live here
but definitely have darker effects on
the city too oh my god okay and i have
to speak
to racism firstly everything i'm telling
you is
such a surface level interpretation of a
city i've been in for two months take
this with a grain of salt
and do some research but secondly all my
perspectives on berlin
and germany so far are through this lens
of being a white person in berlin and
through conversations with different
locals and trying to get a sense on
racism as it stands in berlin i can't
really extrapolate to germany there are
still a lot of
old conservative values which extend to
microaggressions
against brown and black foreigners here
these areas which do have a huge turkish
influence which so many berliners get to
benefit from
because the food is amazing they share
their beautiful culture they're like
amazing people who just become part of
the city
do experience from some german germans
like german lineage white germans
this uh sentiment of oh
foreigners coming in taking over our
city and
unlike places like the uk germany has
taken in
a lot more refugees but there is still
this anti-foreigner racism
thing which i've heard is still very
present here in germany
just more covert than in say the us
this is just from conversations but i
would love to learn more anything you
have to say on this topic
let me know oh and something else i'm
really interested in is
obviously following world war ii and the
horrific things that were done to jewish
people here
i'm really intrigued what modern-day
anti-semitism looks like and in
conversation
with young germans it seems the school
system does a really good job here
of emphasizing how awful the war
and a lot of the german values in the
war
were and i think it's like mandatory for
school kids to visit
i don't know if it's auschwitz but
definitely a concentration camp but i've
also heard that in older generations
there are still
very anti-semitic values a lot of
synagogues here
don't state that they're a synagogue
very openly
i've heard people actively hiding the
fact they're jewish also i just realized
i'm just rambling a lot i don't know if
this is actually interesting
so i'm so aware everything i'm saying
this is this is not properly research
backed please just realize this is
my perspective and my attempt to learn
but at the same time i think it's
cool to discuss these topics to
hopefully inspire you to
seek out the issues in new places you go
as well as seeing the beautiful tourist
sites oh my god let's talk bikes
if you followed me in my uk quarantine
you would know that
bikes mean a lot to me my bike got me
through uk lockdown
i would go cycle for about an hour a day
and it was my hour of the day i would
just
cycle to beautiful green places and i
loved it this
city is amazing because it's so built
cycling there are bike lanes everywhere
and i remember the first few times i
went on the big roads
like the massive wide roads with cars
going next to you but you're in your
bike lane and like everyone's speeding
along on their bikes
i was terrified it took me a good few
weeks of
always going with people on those roads
to get to the point where i feel very
confident cycling in berlin i
never thought i'd get here i'm from a
small town in the uk like when i think
of cycling i think
going to a field where i don't have to
deal with traffic and cars
and fear but here i understand how the
road works
i get it we're good now me and berlin
rhodes were friends
ish people cycle so quickly here the
overtaking culture i'm like
i thought i was going fast also on that
note
i have never felt this sense of
independence
that i feel in berlin in the sense that
if i want to go somewhere
i don't wait for a bus i don't wait for
a train i get on my bike and i can
cycle for half an hour 40 minutes and
get almost anywhere
like that is so special this feeling of
independence and my
thighs wow you can't get unfit in this
city because if you're gonna cycle
you're gonna get fit your thighs are
gonna be like rocks
okay discussing workload quickly the
workload
at minerva i know i say it all the time
and i don't mean to just be
like feel like i'm trying to defend my
uni and and
you know make comments for other
people's views not being hard no i'm
just complaining
it is hard it is so so so
hard i have classes till midnight
because of cover and we're trying to
accommodate time zones just this
semester
and that is mentally draining and i do
you know six hours at least of reading
like genuine hard reading and notes and
going over things a day
and then the classes but the thing
that's so hard is the assignments and i
get so many essays a week
three essays in a week is
a joke it's a joke it's the first time
i've looked at my uni i've stared my uni
down at the face and thinking
this is too much sometimes this is too
much and in general
i love my course i feel like i have
learned
so much in the last two months
especially about
the startup landscape and businesses and
how the world functions and stocks and
investing
all these things like never thought i'd
have a clue and now i'm starting to get
a clue
and because i do cognitive neuroscience
i feel like i understand so much more
about
the way i'm viewing the world and how my
brain works and
developmentally how my perspective on
the world are being
shaped and evolutionarily why i do
things the way i do it like
fascinating but so hard and
so mentally draining and i feel like i
am watching my friends
deteriorate throughout the term because
the workload
is just unfair we get deadlines at the
weekends
you've got a deadline at 7am so you're
pulling a bit of an all-nighter sleeping
waking up at 5am to finish
only to get up the next day and repeat
with your three classes your six hours
of reading your essay
the next day it's just it's a lot which
is why i quickly want to speak to
the beauty of small moments in life
because truly what gets me through
the essays and the assignments and the
the
long nights of work is people
and is this this habit of casual magic
right where even if you're in lockdown
what can you
consciously find even when you are
stressed to be grateful for and to try
and be optimistic
to try and be happy and just be like oh
my god my roommate
is letting you know they just cook me a
bit of dinner that's so sweet i'm
stressed thank you but like the way that
the light comes in
when it's sunny for once and just and
just really taking a moment to
appreciate that
life is what you make of it and if you
really focus on the good little things
they make the hard times worth it i've
also been doing this thing
where when i meet up with people from my
uni
i will almost always make an effort to
divert the conversation
from schoolwork and from stress
to some kind of depth that i think
people need right now my thought and
invitation to you
is can you ask people
questions that require them to
tap back into what matters their
values their perspective i don't know if
you guys feel it
but i think there is such heavy energy
right now
or at least around me getting darker
it's getting
winter you've got the u.s elections
you've got
covert and lockdown and loneliness and
people struggling so much with mental
health you've got stress and you've got
work and you're worrying about
family and there is so much heaviness
and truly i spent most of last week
being
in that heaviness and every single day
just feeling so
down and so low for no tangible reason
it just feels like the world is
it's just really not great and that's
hard so how can you be
cognizant of that and when you meet with
people
can you be that weird person who goes
tell me three things you're grateful for
today
tell me i know it's a weird question but
just tell me anyway
you can laugh and be like oh that is a
bit out of context
but then it forces people to sit down
and think
what's good what's good right now and
surely there's something
something small ask people what made
your week
what is your favorite thing about
yourself what's your favorite thing
about your culture
if you were your friend what would you
tell yourself to support yourself right
now
what do you need to hear mental health
is everything guys health physical
health and mental health
is everything stress hustle culture work
we're all trained
to believe that other stuff matters more
than ourselves more than the health of
our friends and family
it's a lie that is a lie to make you
make money i am less consistent on
youtube
not because i don't love you guys but
because i love myself more
and because with all the workload here
when i have free time
i've got to invest it back in this you
know this thing up here
takes constant work at least it does for
me
it takes constant good habits it takes
prioritizing yourself and i invite you
to do that even if it means saying no to
people
and being less for people pleaser to end
off the most rambly
weird little catch-up video i just
really hope you're okay
and if you're not okay that is okay
this is a heavy time and i think even
admitting to yourself that you
feel the heaviness of now is
so cool because in admitting it to
yourself you can think
okay how can i evaluate what i'm doing
with my life right now and how can i
change it a little bit
to support myself more i'm i'm recording
a video
have a good day check in on someone
check in on yourself have a good tea
and that's all from me have a beautiful
rest of your day if you got to this
point in the video
i don't even amazes me that people would
watch this long of a video
of me just rambling on my balcony if you
like this chatty former video
please give it a thumbs up because
already now that i've filmed this i do
this thing to myself
this perfectionistic stupid thing where
i'm like should i just not post this
was this just a ramble that i isn't
actually useful
the number of videos i have filmed and
never posted
is insane because in the editing process
i just convinced myself that i don't
need to share it or that it's not worth
being watched or that it's not good
enough
so if you like it tell me a beautiful
rest of your day
bye