The Rambler

Let's continue with the wonders of German's flats and after the moveable kitchen, the toilets. Yes, the toilets. As a French, I am very used to have the toilets in a separate room, dedicated to this business. Except in a small studio, toilets are always on their own, even in those very old Parisian building with a weird layout. How on earth can anyone consider hygienic and convenient to have the toilets next to the sink or the shower cabin? I think it is even more ridiculous for a household o...

Like I wrote in my introduction, I never lived in Germany as a "local", but as student in a cheap WG or as an expatriate in a fully furnished and equiped flat for which I would not have to pay the rent. Before I moved in Germany, I knew this particularity about the kitchen, but I heard that recently, most of new rentals would include the kitchen (search for apartments with EBK = Einbauküche), so I was hopeful that I might not need to buy my freaking kitchen. Alas, last year, I had to resign my...

I am a French national, raised and educated in France. English was my first foreign language at school, and German the second. In the late 2000's, I spent a year studying in Berlin, as part of the Erasmus Exchange Programme. I was very excited to go and live in the German capital city, as at that time, it was very "alternative" and affordable. It turned out that Berlin exceeded my expectations, in many good ways. I was blessed with exceptionally open and nice classmates, my rent in my WG was b...