AMD 4 - Deutsch Craigslist und TU Berlin

I just spent the last several hours looking at German Craigslist for Berlin. It is quite interesting that Craigslist is extremely popular outside of the US. I spent a lot of time looking up "Untervermietungen" or sublets for apartments in Berlin. I also spent a fair amount of time looking at links like "Ferienwohnungen" or apartments, and "Immo gesucht" or housing wanted.

Even subletting in Berlin is very expensive. Every apartment I could find ranged from 500-800 euros per month! It seems like the closer the apartments (Germans often say flats) are to Mitte, the city center borough / "Bezirke" (auf Deutsch). I was mainly searching for flats in Mitte und Pankow. Ich suche für eine Ferienwohnung denn ich habe ein Praktikum (internship) an der Technische Universität (TU) Berlin von Mai bis August. Ich denke Berlin ist sehr teuer.

One thing I found that was funny. It seems like people in Berlin even try to rent their flats out for a day or weekend if they leave the city. I guess they want to capitalize on housing tourists, professionals, or students any opportunity they get.

I also read a lot about TU Berlin on their Deutsch Wikipedia page. TU Berlin ist sie eine der ältesten Technischen Hochschulen Deutschlands (one of the oldest technical universities in Germany). The professor and alumni list at TU Berlin includes 10 nobel prize winners. The universität has several official dates in which it was founded; The original site was developed in 1770, but the institute was used for a different purpose (a mining research academy I think). At another time, the university was solely an institute for architecture. The current day technical university for founded in 1879. TU Berlin is the largest university in Berlin by student body population with approximately 30,000 students. Similar to U of M, TU Berlin also has a very large international student population with 20.9% of the total student body.

Below is a link to TU Berlin's website. You can set the language to English or Deutsch for many of the schools webpages. Also, here is a link to the Deutsch Wikipedia page:

http://www.tu-berlin.de/

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technische_Universität_Berlin

I am very excited about getting to be a part of this great institution this summer!

Another interesting thing I was looking at on the Craigslist Aktivitäten/Freizeitpartner (Activities) page was for German-English-Tandem. Many Berlin residents want to meet up with native English speakers and trade lessons in each language. One person wrote:


Hallo ihr Lieben,

ich suche einen englischsprachigen Tandempartner, um mein Englisch zu verbessern. Im Gegenzug kann ich euch bei eurem Deutsch helfen, es zu verbessern.
Ich würde mich freuen, wenn du Lust hast, dass wir uns gegenseitig helfen.

Melde dich doch per Email.
Viele Grüße
Danica

So, while I am in Berlin, to improve my German language skills better, I will likely try to meet with Tandempartners over coffee or drinks. There are many people looking for this same exchange, and it would be a great opportunity for me to continue on from the end of our class.

Below is a picture of TU Berlin's main location, and the second is the lab I will be working at: