Berlin: summer feelings, here and home
There really is nothing like the Finnish summer.
I’ve had the chance to travel quite a bit and even work abroad for some summers, but nothing has ever kept me from longing home to the gorgeous sceneries and people overwhelmed with the light and warm season. I’m now living in Berlin, where I studied fashion design for an exchange-semester before I graduated in Helsinki. This will be my 2nd midsummer away from the midnight sun. But, I don’t intend to sulk about it, I’ll just have to make the best out of it. My sister has lived here for 15 years, and she should know how to throw a decent Finnish juhannus -party.
Summer in Berlin is hitting its peak, and I’m happy to notice, that plenty is still to come. The city is flooded with events, multicultural and entertaining. Only a few weeks ago we had the Carneval of Cultures, next up we have the European Music day with bands and DJ’s allover the city and the Cristopher Street Day Parade with gay people parading with their illustratively shaped vehichles on the streets.
DJ’s playing in the street in Kreuzberg, 1st of May party, 2009.
As a very tolerant and welcoming city, Berlin also encourages you to join all this festivity in your own individual way. I’ve made my own approach to Berlin with my extremely patriotic and somewhat crazy sense of imagination. So I went to the Carneval of Cultures to sell some self baked cinnamon rolls and karelian rice pasties wearing a Väiski-hat on my head. People were really cool about it, no doubt, and bought me off all my bakings with a smile on their faces. No better way to enjoy summer events and contribute culturally meanwhile.
This city really has a cool affect on its people. As much as I look forward to coming to Finland in the end of the summer (and there’s yet many weeks of summer ahead), I really don’t have anything to complain about here. We’ll see how the ‘fake-midsummer’ goes. Meanwhile, I wish you the best authentic one, how ever you choose to spend it!
P.S. A few words of why I choose to live in Berlin: as a fashion city it is by far the most interesting in many ways. It’s not about jet set or glamour at all, but it’s got a groovy mixture of streetwear, music, lifestyle and individual people that create its fashion. I like to write about it all, because it really isn’t all about clothes, is it? I appreciate your ideas, tips and comments, so shoot! :)
love, M
