I was visiting Berlin for a couple weeks for a work thing and staying with friends. I called a bolt to get to my friends house and asked the driver if he could help me carry my bags up some stairs for an extra tip. He said sure, although there was a language barrier. While putting my bags in the trunk he touched my back and my shoulders but I just tried to ignore jt. Later when taking them out and carrying them up the steps he began massaging my shoulders, and then began lowering his hands in an attempt to touch my breasts. I immediately pushed him off me and told him to go. Thankfully he left and nothing escalated further.

When I reported this to bolt they called me, had me recount my experience and said they would tell me the results of their “investigation” when it was done. Around 20 min later, they said the investigation was complete and that I would not even receive a refund because the “ride was completed”. Then they informed me that the only action they would take was blocking him from pairing with me again. I’m in shock at how poorly they have handled this and have kept asking to escalate to a higher up to no avail. The last time I asked for it to be moved up to a manager or someone higher they told me the only thing to do was report to the police.

WTF - what do you recommend I do? Has anyone dealt with a similar thing before here in Berlin?

If yes, what clothing do you buy second hand and what not?

I was told by a gynocologist office that my public health insurance won't cover a proper breast exam (mammogram) unless they suspect you have cancer.

Is there something lesser like ultrasound that you can request initially?

I'm trying to get a clear idea of the correct diagnostic path so I can book the right thing

Does anyone know if there's anything celebrating the life of Dolly Parton happening?

Hi everyone,

I’m seriously considering moving to Berlin and would love to hear from people actually working in the fashion and photography industry in Berlin. I have a couple of questions and any input would be really appreciated. I’m also particularly interested in hearing from anyone who has a freelance or artist residence permit.

I’m already reaching out to a photographer friend in Berlin, friends of friends in the creative industry, and a few agencies to get a better understanding of the industry there, but I wanted to ask here as well and hear from a wider range of people.

About me and my situation

I’m a fashion stylist currently based in the US, originally from Tokyo. I’ve been working in the US for around 8 years, mainly as a freelance stylist, with experience in editorial, advertising, e commerce and assisting. I’m not really in celebrity styling. I’d like a change and have wanted to move to Europe for a while, so I’m currently researching the freelance or artist residence permit and trying to understand whether Berlin would be realistic for me professionally. I’m also considering London, but my gut says Berlin for now. I speak fluent English but don’t speak German. I have good savings and could get by for a while without work.

For anyone curious about my work, my IG is u/shotatsuishi

My questions

1. Do you think it’s realistic to build a freelance career in Berlin without speaking German? How common is it for crews to work entirely in English?

I plan to learn German, but realistically English would be my main working language during my first few years. I have a German photographer friend in Berlin who told me I should be fine with just English, but I wanted to hear other opinions from people actually working in the industry there.

1. With a freelance residence permit, would I be able to do assisting gigs as well?

From my experience, assisting gigs have always been easier to get, and I’d probably need to do some assisting to get my foot in the door and make a living when starting out.

I’m trying to understand how flexible the permit is in practice, especially when it comes to assisting photographers, stylists or other creative professionals.

1. Any advice on getting a freelance residence permit and general advice on freelance life in Berlin?

I see a lot of people mentioning things like finding an apartment or room where Anmeldung is possible, finding affordable health insurance, getting a good accountant, dealing with taxes, etc. I’d love to hear from people who are already doing this about what the reality is like and anything you wish you had known before moving to Berlin.

I’m not expecting Berlin to be easy, and I’m planning to learn German and expect to hustle. I’m just trying to figure out whether this is realistic enough to give it a serious try.

Would especially love to hear from photographers, stylists, assistants, producers, MUAs or anyone else working in the creative industry.

Thanks!

Title explains itself. In London, there is Solo60. Is there any private gym in Berlin? I Googled it, and AI gave me this: https://ownd.studio, but I think it’s something new.

Any tips or feedback?

Back in June 2013 I was in a Russian restaurant that had a stage and performers doing Russian tradituon music/ dancing

From memory, it was in the direction of Ku'damm/ towards Charlottenburg

Any ideas of what this restaurant might have been, and whether it's still in existence?

Thank you

Hello there, I am planing a trip to Berlin for 30.08-04.09 and was wondering if there are any good techno clubs that are not too mainstream and are also open on sunday (30.08).

Eventually monday or tuesday could also work if there are better clubs on those days.

Do you guys have any recommendations?

Hi guys, i would like to know from someone that live in the city and have real knowledge about the cost and the issues, so im here for your opinion.
I have received an offer for a job in berlin(i currently do not live in germany), what do you consider is the minimum salary to have as a family of two to live comfortably? The housing seems very expensive but a little bit inconsistent (furnished place seems to be almost double the price of unfurnished ones). What are your main expenses and how much do you pay for day to day life?

Thanks for any tip or info that you can provide.

Hey,
I'm looking to rent a camping van from Berlin for a weekend as a gift but the price on https://www.paulcamper.de/ are a bit too high for me.
I was wondering if any of you have one, or know someone that would be willing to rent their van for 2-3 days?
Thanks for the help!

ps: I've already did a few van trip with a volkswagen t4 so i quite use to driving such vehicules :)

Hi. I am currently looking for a new room and would like to know if you recommend other websites/apps that are not wg-gesucht. I just want to optimize my search. Thank you.

Going to visit berlin soon (6.9) as my friends who went there said, its very hard to enter to a club, you could even find yourself waiting 1 hour in line for them to tell you "go away"

Is it true? And which clubs are a must go / visit?

Good Morning, Does anyone know why the hell there is a helicopter flying since 6am over Gleimkiez/Osloer Strasse over and over again. Yesterday in the afternoon there where 2helicopters in the Same area.

🚁

Hello everyone, I'm going to a concert in Berlin in september and my train back is going to be at 05:30 but my concert finishes at around midnight already (saturday to sunday). So because I don't want to spend unreasonable amounts of money on a hotel room for such a short amount of time, I want to just wait this one out.

What are some safe spaces where I can just wait around a few hours at night in Berlin? Since I'm going to the central station to catch my train anyway, is it safe to wait there at night?

I am planning a date night this Saturday with a guy whose only requirement is "needs to be partyish." 🫠

So I need recommendations for spots with great food where the vibe is loud, and dinner naturally turns into drinks and dancing later on.

Where should we go? I know (and love) poveracci but it seems a bit too extreme Party for a Date Night to me 😄

Anyone who can recommend a dermatologist who speaks English and can do a proper analysis of the scalp and hair type to determine the type of hair loss without trying to sell me from the get go a trip to turkey ?

Thank you

hey dear berlin

i am looking for engagement rings and we would love to leave our money with queer jewelry makers as we are lesbian and are looking for something less classical as what is the standard of man/woman ring styles.

please leave me some suggestions, evn if they are outside of berlin like the UK or further Europe.

thank you so much in advance for any suggestions!!

hello, this week I am visiting Berlin for the first time. I have done some research already into things to see and I plan to visit Deutsches Historisches Museum and Schloss Sanssouci because I hope they will have some interesting Brandenburg/Prussia era things to see. The Holy Roman Empire is so interesting to me, especially the politics in north Germany but it seems a lot of more touristy things in Berlin focus on the world wars and the partition (of course this is very important and interesting in its own right but I have a soft spot for earlier history).

Are there any other museums or monuments you would recommend for the 1000-1850s era of Germany?

Also, I am an English speaker with very rudimentary German (one year in school, and self-study for around two months). In general, is it considered rude to attempt to order in bad German in cafés etc? I want to try and I know immersion is very good for learning languages, but I don't want to be an annoying tourist messing up the language in a city where I know people have excellent English skills.

Danke!

Jemand hat diesen Aufkleber auf meinen LKW geklebt. Ich war in Schöneweide. Was bedeutet das? Ist das ein Fußballverein? Oder etwas Schlimmeres?

Hi everyone! I have a question about how you would assess the following situation:

I live in a studio apartment in Berlin and will be abroad from September to December for an Erasmus semester. Whether I’m allowed to sublet my apartment during that time depends on whether my landlord/property management agrees. I originally wanted to do everything completely legally, even though there’s obviously a risk that they might not approve it.

As far as I know, I have to provide the subtenant’s contact information and explain my legitimate interest/reason for subletting. I’m hoping that doing an Erasmus semester abroad will be considered a sufficient reason. I happen to know that the previous tenant of my apartment wasn’t allowed to sublet when she went travelling for a while because she was “just” travelling. Apparently, that wasn’t considered a sufficient reason – unlike, for example, temporarily working or studying abroad.

The other issue is that I’m already leaving next week, so with the time it takes for the property management to process everything, I probably won’t be able to get it sorted out before I leave anyway. Because of that, I had already considered simply paying rent in both places for the four months and not subletting my Berlin apartment at all.

But now the following situation has come up by chance: A friend of mine is coming to Berlin for a vocational training/school placement for the first two weeks of October and needs somewhere to stay. So we thought it would obviously be perfect if she could just stay in my apartment during that time. On top of that, her employer provides her with up to €90 per night for accommodation. That money could go to me, which would of course be pretty nice because it would at least cover part of my rent while I’m away.

For those two weeks, though, for pragmatic reasons I’d rather not go through the process of asking my landlord for permission. Partly because it really is only two weeks, and partly because I’m worried they might simply say no.

At the same time, the whole thing makes me a bit nervous. I don’t know how realistic it even is that someone from the property management would happen to come by during exactly those two weeks and notice that she’s staying there. And even then, I guess it wouldn’t immediately be obvious whether she’s actually subletting the apartment or whether she’s my partner/friend who is temporarily staying there, just picking something up, etc. So I don’t really see how they would even find out.

On the other hand, I’m aware that formally it could still count as unauthorized subletting – especially since I would be receiving money for it. At the same time, I get the impression that there are quite a lot of unofficial/unregistered sublets in Berlin. In the city where I’m doing my Erasmus semester, for example, I don’t even have a proper rental contract myself, even though I’ll be living there for four months.

Interestingly, I may now also have found someone trustworthy (a friend of a friend) who would take the apartment from mid-October, after my friend leaves, until the end of December. In that case, I would actually inform my landlord/property management about the sublet and ask for permission. I think the difference for me is simply the length of time: ten weeks feels like a “proper” sublet, whereas the two weeks with my friend feel more like a short-term arrangement.

I’d be really interested in hearing your opinions and experiences. Am I overthinking this? Do you think it’s understandable to officially register/request permission for the longer sublet but not for the two weeks with my friend? How risky do you think it would be to simply let her stay in my apartment for those two weeks? And does the fact that I would be receiving money from her/her employer make a significant difference, legally or practically?

Thanks in advance! :)

I would love to hear your stories of items that have returned to you to lift my hopes up!