One of the things I love about living in a new place, is discovering the different versions of universal institutions, like the pub. Pubs are huge in England, and they are a big part of life. Here it’s slightly different, there is the ‚Späti‘, a shop you can sit outside and drink, which doesn’t exist in England. But there are also Kneipes, which are the German equivalent of a pub. I live above one! I like that in a city so full of young and trendy people, there are still places for the older locals to go and spend time. Next on my list is find a good bar for the young Berliners in Wedding…

I am really enjoying living here in Wedding, its a vibrant area and very different to the more tourist-ey areas of Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain. There is a large Turkish community living here, and lots of great places to eat and buy food. I have been shopping at El-Fi recently, which is dangerous if you’re on a budget. It’s very easy to get carried away at the deli counter buying olives, cheese and Turkish sweets. My friend and I bought these at the weekend and they disappeared VERY quickly.

After class on Tuesday I went for a walk around Mitte, visit a boutique that my flatmate recommended to me. It sells men’s clothes, and is SO brilliant! As a shirt designer and maker it was really inspiring to see their beautiful selection of stylish and smart menswear.

It’s called Trüffleschwein, which literally means Truffle Pig. I like the idea of clothes being as precious as truffles!

There are lots of other beautiful shops in Mitte, for womenswear and menswear. One of my favourite’s for womenswear is called ‚Garments‘, on Linienstraße. It’s a vintage shop, but the pieces are all very carefully selected an organised. There is another one on Linienstraße, but I can’t remember the name! They have a picture of Snoopy the Dog drawn on the window, and I wish I could buy all of my clothes there!

On Friday after my class at Deutsch Akademie, I cycled up to The Hamburger Banhof in Mitte. It’s one of my favourite galleries in Berlin.

It is huge and always has a really wide range of shows on. At the moment there is a great exhibition about everyday life in Berlin by various artists, as well as the wall works which is a day out in itself! Always worth giving yourself lots of time on a rainy day here.

The Sarah Wiener Restaurant at the Gallery also does some pretty spectacular Kuchen!

It’s been a couple of weeks since I moved into my new place and I’m loving being at home here.

I’ve been having a bit of an explore around Wedding, and making my room a bit more homey. I’ve also been doing a lot of sewing, which is what I love. I went to university in London where I studied Costume and learnt how to make historical clothing. Now I like to make bespoke shirts for men. This is where the magic happens…

One of the things I love about this city is the history it has and how you can see it everywhere. I’m reading a book at the moment called Stasiland by Anna Funder. It’s a collection of stories from the times of the DDR, and the author’s own story of how she found them.

Some of it is incredibly disturbing, but at the same time very empowering to read about how people survived and overcame living in a world closed off from so much. There are lots of places you can go and find out about the DDR, like the museum in Mitte which is quite small, but really interesting. They have models of what a typical home would look like and footage of TV from the time. http://www.ddr-museum.de/en

One of my favourite things to do in the week is to visit the Turkish markets in Neukolln.

It’s held on Maybachufer, near Kottbusser Tor and is on Tuesday and Fridays. There are lots of stalls selling fruit, veg, deli food and fabric. A great place for a bargain and wide variety!

Last night I went to a round table meeting run by The Upcycling Fashion Store in Berlin. It was held at Lebenskleidung, which is an ethical fabric store based in Kreuzberg. The meeting was attended by various people in the eco fashion industry here, and was a great opportunity for me to meet people here who have similar interests. I hope to work in this industry and met some really interesting people. I also got some lovely fair trade fabric from the Lebenskeidung remnants box for free!

There are some great places to eat in Berlin, and I somehow have already got a strong list of favourites after being here for such a short time.

I visited Vietnam 2 years ago and discovered some amazing dishes there so was pretty excited to check out Miss Saigon in Kreuzberg. It’s right by Gorlizter Banhof U-Bahn (U1), and they have a wide selection of dishes from Southern Vietnam, and lots of vegetarian options. I’d also recommend their Sinh-To (fruit shakes), they will perk up any groggy morning!

Another place I found last week was MEN MEN in Neukolln, it’s a Japanese self-service restaurant. They have a small menu, but I really liked what I had and the prices are very reasonable. Once you have ordered your food, they give you a plastic ticket which vibrates when your dish is ready!

Vibrating ticket

With Summer on the way, and the amount of ice cream I eat, I thought I should invest in a bicycle to get around the city….

I went onto craigslist to see what was on offer, and found an ad for a 2nd hand bike shop in Friedrichshain. They sounded friendly and like they were the right price range so we went over to say hello. The shop is called Bike-A-Way, it’s on Kochannestr. they have a good selection of road, mountain and town bikes and they will help you find the right bike for you. I even went back to swap mine after 2 weeks for something a bit faster, no problem.

Stella with her beautiful bike, Cnl. Mustard