The other day, as I was sitting in my A2.1 class at Kapitel Zwei, I learned a word that perfectly summed up the process of settling in Berlin: Vollzeit. The word translates to „full-time,“ as in having a full-time job. Since moving to Berlin from Brooklyn about two months ago, I can safely say that navigating German bureaucracy as a fledgling German-language learner often feels like a full-time job (I mean, Vollzeitstelle!). However, despite occasional frustrations and challenges, including the language barrier, the feeling of accomplishment and the opportunity to live in this unique and beautiful city makes it all worth it. 

 

For those of you who are also brand new to Berlin, I hope my experience sheds some light on the process of settling in. In the posts to come, I will detail some of the crucial first steps in making Berlin your home. 

 

Step #1: Finding a place to live and registering your address.

 

I moved here from Brooklyn with my girlfriend, and we knew that we needed to have a place where we could register our address with the local Bürgeramt. Registering your address is crucial for living in Berlin — without the form proving that you’ve registered, it is often impossible to get a bank account, receive health insurance, or apply for a visa. To make matters more complicated, in order to register your address, you need a letter from the landlord proving that you live in the apartment. This rules out a lot of informal sublets, which made finding housing from overseas tricky. 

 

We ended up going through an organization called Wunderflats, which provides legal, fully-furnished rentals. These rentals can be booked online with minimal paperwork, which makes settling in and registering at the Bürgeramt easy. Our apartment has a lot of character, and I really like living here. In the attached photo, you can see me with one of the mischievous plant gnomes living in our courtyard. It’s still a little cold for me to bike in the city, but you can see that I live in a very bike-friendly building!

 

To anyone planning on registering their address, I would recommend making an appointment online a few weeks beforehand. Bring a filled-out application (also available online), your passport, and your rental contract/signed letter from the landlord. 

 

We arrived at the Bürgeramt about ten minutes before our appointment, and we were finished within half an hour. The agent who helped us was kind and helpful, but I left feeling frustrated that I couldn’t communicate in German. Later that week, my girlfriend and I signed up for an intensive course at Kapitel Zwei, with the hope that we would be able to better navigate settling into this wonderful city. 

 

Next time, I’ll share more about my experience learning German, applying for a freelance visa, and exploring Berlin.