Berlin At Night

Finding out that Berlin night life starts around 2 am and ends at noon the next day, I knew it would be a challenge to participate. I'm used to Indiana bars closing around 2 or 3 am not starting at that time. But challenge accepted!

Since being here I have experienced a good amount of bars around Mitte and Kreuzberg and it's definitely been an adventure. Not that many people in the group are up to go out on these adventures but we manage to get a group of us together.

I did some research of places we could all go. I read online that it is extremely hard to get into big clubs here. I wondered what could be so hard, I am 21, I thought drinking was more laid-back in Europe. I found tips to get into Berlin's best bars, some of these tips included: speak german, travel in small groups, must be 21, don't dress to impress, and convince the bouncer you know a DJ playing that night. Yikes. I can't speak German.

One night we went to a bar here in Mitte to get a few drinks, their were some locals out front that spoke english and were very friendly. They told us some good place to go to with people our age.  One being Watergate the other being Berghain. Both clubs I read about online. We asked if there was any chance we could get in, they said we could totally get it. One guy told us if the guard asks questions we should reply, "Shut the fuck up I'm on the list!" Not sure I could say that to a scary bouncer and I'm not fully convinced I won't get denied, but it is nice to know there is a chance. 

So far I have not tried going to these crazy hard to get into bars but I plan to go for Maggie's birthday. Aside from the most famous clubs I have been to a few smaller clubs/bars and the atmosphere compared to American bars is noticeably different. 

I like how it is more casual here, unlike at IU most of the girls are wearing high heels and fake nails. I tend to dress casually so I feel like I fit in pretty well. The music is a lot different. One club called Gretchen was playing only techno music. I usually like techno, but it eventually got boring and all the songs started to sound the same. The dance moves aren't too crazy either, you definitely don't have to be a good dancer to let loose in Berlin. Which is another thing I liked, you don't worry so much about not knowing how to dance and instead just have fun. Another club we went to was similar except the music seemed more circus like and turned out to be a gay bar. We did not realize this despite being there for a few hours, it was so strange but very comical. 

I enjoy going out and experiencing how people my age spend there nights out here. It has been a struggle to find the best places to go but I look forward to adventuring more during my final week here and hopefully getting into one of Berlin's most famous clubs.