Travel

Berlin: An Introduction

by Dooly O'Sullivan

This is the lowdown on berlin. 1 bdroom apts. are from 4–600$ a month. the apts here are great. 2&1/2 foot stone walls. very solid, very quiet and good sized. This place is a bargain.

The general sense of the city and the people is good. there's very little of the machismo you see even in a dumb little town like Portland [Oregon].

Portland – and america for that matter – is a rip-off. they talk about standard of living, but the standard of living here is way higher in terms of what's around you from day to day. that people pay 600 a month for a crappy apartment in Portland where you can hear yor neibor snore and 400 here for a place built like a castle and and it's dead quiet in one of the great cities of the world points to an incredible propaganda campaign waged by realtors and the us corporations, and to criminal manipulation of the real estate market in the us. Berlin is an eye opener. what applies to berlin and ptld also applies to berlin and sf. sf for the price sucks. sucks, sucks. it's an out and out rip off. those apartments suck. i could never sleep in sf very well. i almost alwazs lived in shitholes and they now cost 1500$ for 2 bedrooms. The qualitz of life is way higher here. I have an enormous and quiet apt for 300$ it's about 750 squ feet. I live in a neighborhood like the mission [The mission district, San Francisco, CA – ed. ] but there's no comparison. it's actually pleasant to walk out side my building's door which is about 8" thick and 15ft high. there is not the squalor and complaint of social victims and of capitalism's wreckage. there's a serenity and a greater sense of freedom here than i've expererienced in any american or english city. it's way better than london.

Even cars are cheaper here. a toyota or something like it with 120 k mi. is about 6–900$ here. the wine is cheaper here, the beer , the food. there is no daily grind, and whole food stores are not everywhere, but there's one down from me selling organic apples for about 1.10$ a pound.

I feel such a sense of relief getting outside america.

But the word on berlin is it would be hard to find a better place for the price. the people in the US are being strangled by the holders of money and property. i don't know what my job prospects are at this point.