Hallo und willkommen zum ersten BMW: Berlin Memories Weekly! I moved to the capital of Germany on September 17th and I have now officially made it through my first week of living in Berlin. I have always been a fan of documentation, so naturally I already have hundreds of photos and little notes from my first 7 days in Europe. I’ve decided that my daily journal won’t be enough for me to keep track of my own memories, so starting today I will be creating weekly highlight reel recaps. As Damian Conway once said, documentation is a future love letter to yourself. Granted he was talking about computer science, but I think the same message still applies…
Well, without further ado… here is a recap of my first days in Berlin!
Making it to Berlin
Making it to Berlin was no small feat, but oh so worth it. My moving day was Friday, September 17th and obviously I chose that date because 17 is my favorite number. How else are you supposed to choose the date when you fly across the world and start a new life…?
Making this move during the pandemic added a bit of spice and a few extra steps to the entire process, but overall it didn’t impact my experience that drastically. In the days leading up to my move I simply had to take a Covid test, fill out the Germany Digital Travel Registration form, provide proof of vaccination and fill out the London Online Traveler form for my layover in London. While it was slightly more work to have to fill out all of the travel documents, I liked knowing that everyone else on my flights would also have to go through the same levels of precaution.
On actual moving day I woke up at my parents house in North Carolina, finished up packing and headed to the airport for our final goodbyes.
Moving with one bag of clothes and one bag of American snacks 
My new green Baboon to the Moon bag fits perfectly on top of my duffel bag.
As a goodbye gift my mom gave me the funniest keychain. For context on this gift, I happen to lose my keys quite frequently. So much so that it became a running joke and for Christmas a few years ago my mom made me a similar keychain that said “Keys I have yet to lose.” Well, naturally… I lost those keys.
Fast forward to the present, my mom gave me this new keychain which says “Schlüssel habe ich nicht verloren.” She thought this translated to “keys I have yet to lose” in German, but it actually says “I haven’t lost the keys.” This new translation is so much funnier and I love how straight forward it is.
Well, happy to report that after one week in Germany, I HAVE NOT LOST THE KEYS!
A long taxi and a stunning sunset to start off my trip across the Atlantic
I spent about 11 hours in transit and slept most of the way across the ocean. Prior to my final destination I had a layover in London and I got to quickly visit my favorite airport lounge, the Club Aspire Lounge. This lounge holds a special place in my heart because it was the first lounge I ever visited alone on a solo trip.
This time I ordered everything on the hot menu and the waiter brought out the food with two sets of utensils… so I felt less cool, but definitely more full.
After the layover feast I jumped on a quick 1.5 hour flight and then landed safely in Berlin at 11am. The trip from the airport to my new apartment was relatively easy and I only took the bus in the wrong direction once…
When I finally got into my apartment Alice had prepared the cutest welcoming surprise. There were balloons tied all over the apartment and there was a sign in the living room that said “herzlich willkommen,” which means a heartfelt welcome. It was all so cute and the best way to start my first day in Berlin! I ram eternally grateful to Alice for making my transition into Berlin so seamless and perfect 🙂
Markthalle Neun
Naturally, the first thing I did on day one revolved around food, specifically Markthalle Neun. Alice and I spent a couple of hours exploring the international food stalls, farmers stands and wine spots scattered throughout the market and it was exciting to see all of the new food possibilities I will have in Berlin. The market was impressive because the options ranged from the typical Obst (fruit) and Gemüse (veggies) to interesting Käse (cheese), Kaffee (coffee), Brot (bread), Essen (food) und alles (everything) in between.
For our first stop we got wine from the Monsieur Collard stall and a platter of meatballs, potato salad and other sides from the Berlin Beef Balls stand. Don’t worry, it was all vegan.
After snacking for a bit I did some light grocery shopping from the different stalls. One important, slightly critical fact I learned about Germany is that most stores are closed on Sunday, so I loaded up on veggies and tofu in preparation for my first day of rest. After I had all my shopping done we met up with Julia and her mom for one more final round of drinks at the Monsieur Collard stand.
Späti Spaziergang
I was obsessed with my local bodega in NYC and I was delighted to learn that Berlin has a slightly similar convenience store set up called Späti. They’re not entirely the same as Bodegas, maybe not that similar at all, but they are open late and they sell beer. I think it’s pretty natural for Americans to be impressed by the lack of open container laws in Germany and I 100% fall into that bucket. After all of my traveling and a full day of exploring Berlin, all I wanted to do was grab a beer and walk around the city streets at night. Thus, the Späti Spaziergang was born. This translates to “Späti” walk, aka I grabbed a beer from the bodega and walked around for hours. I don’t know if this is already a term, but if it isn’t, you heard it here first.
So Many Croissants
As I’m writing this post I have realized that I’ve been in Berlin for a week and I’ve had croissants every morning. That is not an exaggeration, it is a very shocking fact that I too am just now coming to terms with. However, I would like to blame the large influx of croissants into my life on the proximity of my apartment to the best croissant café in all of Berlin. They make the fluffiest, flakiest croissants I’ve ever had AND they let me bring my own plate and cup so the entire experience is zero waste.
11 mile warm up run around berlin
On Sunday I woke up early and decided to jump start my body into the European time zone by going on an 11 mile run around the city. Running is my favorite way to explore new places and with the Marathon in exactly a week, this was the perfect warm up run. I ran north on the canal through all of Kreuzberg and the protected running paths in Berlin are expansive and empty in the best way possible. Maybe it’s because I started my run on the early side of a Sunday, but I’m already loving the openness of this city. After running along the canal to the other side of Kreuzberg I headed further North into Mitte. Mitte feels more like the typical downtown area of a city, with the addition of sculptures scattered all over the neighborhood. After Mitte I ran through Großer Tiergarten for a minute and quickly realized that it was going to be where I spend a majority of my future long runs. The park is 210 hectacres, whatever that metric means, and it’s one of the biggest urban gardens in Germany. I looked up some NYC parks for reference and Prospect Park is 237 hectacres, so they’re roughly the same size. I didn’t venture too far into Großer (Greater) Tiergarten (Zoo?) on this run because I was already nearing my turn around point. Instead I turned south and headed to my favorite part of Berlin, Tempelhofer Feld. Tempelhofer Feld is also a giant park and it’s 355 hectacres. For NYC parks, that is even larger than Central Park, which is 341 hectacres. Needless to say, I’m loving the park scene in Berlin. I did a short run through Tempelhofer and saw a few sculptures, a mini golf course and some circus tents in the upper section of the park, then I headed home and wrapped up my run with a nice warm croissant… duh.
Eine Rose zum Start des Laufs 
Kleiner Schwan auf dem Kanal 
coole Architektur 
House Ball sculpture by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen 
Tempelhofer Feld 
More Canal pictures! 
The running paths go all over the city!
Zero waste festival
After my run on Sunday I decided to bike across town to the Zero Waste Festival in Malzfabrik and dive head first into the sustainability scene in Berlin. Prior to the pandemic I was living an almost perfectly zero waste lifestyle, but as we all saw, a lot of the sustainable resources and reusable cup programs became difficult to carry out in a pandemic world. That’s why I was so excited when I showed up to the Zero Waste Festival and found rows of booths supporting zero waste programs and initiatives in Berlin. It was exhilarating!
Two of my favorite booths were NochMall and Giftd. NochMall is a giant department store filled with used goods, but it is more than just a second hand store. The entire purpose of NochMall is to support a circular economy across all shopping needs. They have furniture, clothing, electrical appliances, housewares, toys, books and more. I will definitely be going on a shopping spree to NochMall when it’s time for me to decorate my new apartment.
The other stall that I really liked was supporting a new app called Giftd. Giftd is basically a platform for sharing “pre-loved clothes” to friends, family and neighbors. The Giftd tent at the festival was doing a live demo of how the app works and I was gifted a cute sweater from Finisterre. It was getting a little chilly towards the end of the day, so the surprise sweater became surprisingly handy.
For lunch I went to the Apemangia food truck and had the best pesto pasta I’ve had in awhile. Once you choose your order it’s made from scratch in front of you and served in a VYTAL bowl, which is yet another cool sustainable packaging brand for to-go food in Berlin. In my opinion, the VYTAL bowls are the best zero waste initiative I’ve seen so far because they’re already available at many of the restaurants and food delivery services around Berlin. They also have a neat app that tracks all of the bowls you’ve used and returned, so fun!
In addition to sustainable packaging and clothes, there were also booths with zero waste cooking classes and food subscription programs. The Benoo food subscription is the product that I’m the most excited to try out. It’s basically a zero waste version of HelloFresh that only uses local foods. The food supplies are delivered in reusable containers and then picked up again once you’re done with the meal. They also include a helpful recipe card to guide you on how to cook with local foods through every season.
I’m so happy that I went to the Zero Waste festival and got an insider scoop on all the current and upcoming zero waste products and initiatives in Berlin. Knowing about the small waste free shops and services around the city makes feel like I’m already living like a local. I can’t wait to see it all IRL!
First day in the Berlin Office
On Monday I went into the office to set up my new laptop. My new office is in Charlottenburg, which is a totally different vibe that the east side of Berlin where I live. A majority of the buildings are pre-war and the architecture is picturesque. I love it!
Dinner at Umami in P Berg with Caroline
After work on Monday I met up with Caroline for my first dinner out in Prenzlauer Berg. We went to Umami, which is a popular Vietnamese restaurant with cute outdoor seating. I got the Invisible Fish cocktail and the Golden Harmony bowl, both I would highly recommend. In fact, I went back to Umami later this week just to get the Noble Harmony bowl again…
After dinner we walked around the neighborhood for a few hours and caught up on all things Berlin. Dinner and exploring P Berg was such a lovely way to end my first Monday in Berlin. I have to give a big shout out here to Krisitan for connecting me with Caroline, thank you again! She’s amazing 🙂
Zero Waste Original Undervert
As I’ve already said many times, one of the things I was most excited for in my move to Berlin was the increased options for living a sustainable and green lifestyle. Back in NYC I was a member of 4th St. Food Co Op and in my move to Berlin I was hoping to find a package free shop with equally as many options for cooking supplies, bathroom products, snacks, bread and general groceries. Luckily, I did! This week I went to check out Original Unverpackt in Kreuzberg and it was perfect. They have all the grains, beans, fruits, nuts, chocolates, oils, shampoo, laundry detergent, etc. that I need for kicking off my zero waste lifestyle again. I can’t wait to try out all of the different foods and make meals based on what’s available in the little clear containers. This week I was inspired by the pesto pasta from the zero waste festival and I decided to make red beet pesto pasta with broccoli and garlic bread 🙂
Berlin Marathon Expo
In addition to moving to Berlin, I also decided to run the Berlin marathon at the end of my first week. I love a good challenge and training for a marathon while also starting a new job and moving to Europe was definitely that, a challenge. I went to the Expo on Thursday after work and I’m so glad I did because while I was waiting in line I randomly met two other expats from North Carolina! They’ve been living in Berlin for a year now and we already have plans to get coffee and talk about our old home (North Carolina) and our new home in Berlin!
The expo was in the Tempelhofer Feld and it was really cool walking through the old terminals to get to the main section of the Expo. The Expo had all the typical things you expect at an Expo, huge booths for Hoka, Garmin, Cloudboom and all of the other major running brands. There was also a giant section for official Berlin marathon race merchandise and I’ll damned if I didn’t spend a pretty penny on the race jacket and finisher shirt. I mean, look at that jacket though… the purple, orange and yellow sleeves… how could I not?
Using Vytal Bowls IRL
On Friday I treated myself with take out from Holy Flat and I used the VYTAL bowl option to make my Friday treat a little more sustainable. Using the VYTAL bowls also just keeps the food nice and warm as you travel from the restaurant to home.
At Holy Flat I got the Bibim bowl and it was fuego. The bowl is a combination of fried tofu, mushrooms, thai veggies and a poached egg. It will be hard venturing out to try new foods now that I know the Holy Flat bowls are so close and so delicious.
Hosting my first guest
On top of moving to Berlin and running the marathon, I also decided that my first week in Europe was the best time to host my first guest! Pat landed on Saturday, the day before the marathon, and we went on a little adventure through Kreuzberg to check out the niche food options. He ended up getting handmade Turkish mini dumplings from Manti Berlin and I got more pasta to keep carbo loading before Sunday. We also got beer from Big Stuff because beer is also carbs and that seemed like good prep work before the big race.
Berlin Marathon
I did it! I finished my first week in Berlin by running 42km around the city and I’m so happy to finally be done with training. Not going to lie, I kind of let my marathon training fall by the wayside during my last two months in NYC / America. I was prioritizing hanging out with friends and family over training and I don’t regret any of it for a second. With that being said, the last 6 miles of the marathon were definitely rough and I was kicking myself for not running just a little bit more than I had in the months leading up to this. I still have 4 more world major marathons to go before I can hang up my running shoes, so I guess I’ll have to be better at training for the next race 🙂
Lots of Logisitcs
On top of all the fun I had during my first week in Berlin, there was also so many logistical tasks that had to get done. I signed lots of paperwork and had several meetings, but now I officially have a bank account, health insurance, liability insurance, phone plan and an anhmeldung!
