Quickly stuffing away my Cuban convertible pesos that I had gotten in exchange for a bunch of Mexican currency, I had saved my Euros for another time, I took a deep breath and started looking for a taxi at the airport in Havana. I had barely any time to pick one of the yellow cars to approach when I heard someone asking me where I was going. It was a fellow traveller,…
Society
Dear Coward From Platform 5,
You will probably never read this because you have no idea who I am. You probably don’t even remember what you did but why not just talk about it anyway? I still wonder what you were thinking, sticking your hand up my skirt. You did it in passing. Casually, like it’s something one would just do every now and then. Not brushing slightly against it, not accidentally touching it because you were…
Happy Halloween
For the last couple of days, on the news feeds of my social media accounts, Halloween jokes have been shared and costumes and make-up presented with a pinch of pride. Growing up in Berlin and never having been anywhere near the United States or Canada, this holiday had always appeared to me as something…let’s just say “rather American”. Even though one can find tons of decorations for this theme, I have never seen…
Germans and Small Talk
I started watching a vlog by a charming American woman who lives in Munich with her German husband. In her cheerful voice full of positive energy, she talks about living in Germany, explaining different aspects of the daily life here to those from abroad while also addressing habits and the lifestyle in the United States. In one of her videos she talked about how small talk is not really a thing here in Germany…
Being a Local in Berlin
A while ago, I wrote about why traveling to other places can be so much more exciting than one’s own hometown. Today’s subject of my random thinking session after I had finally finished my French revision was what makes the difference between living in a country compared to just visiting it for a few days. When you become a local somewhere you notice that the carefree days of being an explorer of…
Scarcity Sells- Thoughts on Medial Injustice
It should be up to us to make a big deal out of things that matter, not JUST mainstream media. There can never be only one guilty party. It always takes at least two to make things happen. Since the events in Paris last Friday, I observe two types of people on my social media newsfeed. There are those who show their solidarity with the victims in all ways that social media…
The German Space Bubble
During Psychology class in junior year of high school, our teacher talked about the psychological “phenomenon” of the so called space bubble. The space bubble defines how close or far away a person stands from you while communicating or interacting with you in any other way or form and the size of the space bubble varies from culture to culture. So some people may stand very close to you while talking and…
How Volunteering Helped Me See the Lavishness of Society
Just as I left the train, the wind got stronger and all of a sudden my jacket seemed like a useless joke rather than something that is supposed to keep me warm. I got out my tablet and turned on my GPS. I have never been any good when it came to finding my way around a place, despite my passion for traveling. My fingers were nearly numb within a couple of seconds while…
Fine Feathers Make Fine Birds…Unless You’re German
We all have heard the saying that clothes make people. That the better you dress, the better you will be perceived by the people around you. As an east European born woman with some of my Belarusian genes left in my system, this is one of the things that still give me a little ‘culture shock’ like feeling upon going out in Berlin, even after so many years of living here and…
Stories From the Airport
Saturday morning. I just finished my last college entrance exam, which I already knew I didn’t pass a few hours ago and now here I was on my way to solo traveling the beautiful city of Lisboa in Portugal. Heavy smell of freshly brewed coffee, clicking of coins, voices of people speaking different languages, rustling of paper. Security anouncements. They are made in German, English and because there are so many of…