For the past seven months since arriving in Germany, Hamburg has been my only home. Balancing the stress of daily life, my studies, and a few part-time jobs (mini-jobs) has been quite challenging. As the first semester drew to a close, I decided it was time to take a break and explore my creativity, hoping to shake off the monotony of my academic routine, which felt a bit dull (especially since there weren’t many art opportunities). The other day, I received an invitation for an exhibition and speed-interview at the Berlin campus, and I immediately knew it was the perfect opportunity to change my scenery. I packed my bag, checked the train options, and headed to Berlin.
The first thing I noticed was the penalty. The officer discovered I was traveling without a valid ticket (I had mistakenly thought that ICE trains accepted student “Deutschland Tickets,” and no one had mentioned that I wasn’t allowed to use them). The penalty was 150 euros. Thankfully, I was able to keep up with my part-time payments, which made it much easier to pay off the fine.
Later, I had my first interview with the start-up company, and they offered me a job! They called it “an opportunity,” even though they were in Berlin and I was in Hamburg. After my second semester classes schedule was published, I realized it was incredibly tough to keep up with the commute (the free student route involves double, triple longer roads because regional train passengers have to switch trains several times to get to their destination). With 2 days a week, 7 hours on the road, Hamburg to Berlin, my Master thesis, and regular weekly homework for each subject, classes where I should be physically present, it was too much to handle, and I said no.
Even though it wasn’t a known fact at the end of my first interview, I found out that the internship was fully unpaid when I went on my second trip to Berlin a week later. I was very surprised and stressed, but I still tried to ask if they could offer some financial support, especially after all the effort I might have put in. They answered with no. I liked the guys, who represented the company, but we just could not work this way.
So, my Berlin voyages ended up with penalty around 150 euros and with the offer of free internship in Berlin. Thankfully I met my friend Giorgi who helped me to overcome this shit and showed me some beautiful places where I took some wonderful pictures.