Life can feel overwhelming for recent American college graduates, and most cope by trying to pick the perfect city for their misery. While many choose major cities like New York City, where they’ll likely maintain a steady job as barista and live an embelished life as told by Lena Dunham for a few years, I took the plunge and traveled cross-Atlantic to follow my dreams. Why, you ask (along with my parents, neighbors and a seeming majority of society)?

Well, I am not alone. As I fall asleep tonight in Berlin, I rest knowing that there are 44,000+ expatriates from Britain, the United States and other English speaking nations doing the same thing. Since the current mayor made it easier for artists to get a freelance work visa that can last up to two years, creatives have relocated to the city by the Spree. Several months after my move here I knew that I had made the right choice; surprisingly, this confirmation was not only because of the cheap rent and clean city. After returning to The Big Apple for the Armory and Independent Art Fairs, I realized that here in Berlin artists have the ability to practice their art on their terms. Instead of being burdened by the industrial dump that is New York, they uplifted by Berlin’s unconvetional optimistic atmosphere. Yes, you read right––optimistic. Indeed, I have no doubt that there is no better place for me rigiht now than Berlin.

The Great Migration

Like most art graduates I have always hoped to live in New York City, where I would hopefully find a great gig creating in the city’s impressive art world. Even while first living in Berlin, I would spend nights looking at the New York Foundation of the Arts site yearning to find a full time job as a gallery director somewhere in Chelsea. With my years of experience working in galleries coupled with two bachelor degrees in art, I felt strongly that I could live in the city and land the career of my dreams. As many Berliners know, it’s extremely hard to get a job here, let a lone a good paying one. So it only made sense that in New York where there are five million more people and twice as many galleries they would practically be giving them out. 

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Painting by Catrin Walz Stein

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