Meine Zeit in Berlin
This is the third part in my series documenting my experience inter-railing across Europe. For those that haven’t seen this photo series before, Europe after BREXIT was a name I gathered inspiration from whilst I was in Amsterdam. As soon as we left the train station, a bar had changed around the letters on it’s shop front to ‘F^CK BREXIT, as it clearly had some feelings towards the way in which Britain decided to vote leave. Europe after BREXIT is in no way a political statement from me. Personally, I respect the 17.5 million people who voted leave and can see why (apart from the immigration reasons) they wanted to leave the EU. However, Europe after BREXIT is about exploring the humanity, beauty and culture of Europe, that unites those within the EU together. A couple of my friends and I decided to inter-rail around Europe after the announcement that Britain would be leaving the EU, was simply because we wanted to experience Europe with ease. Perhaps in two years we would have had to apply for visas for each country, and in general it could have been a lot harder to travel around Europe than it was.
Berlin needs no introduction. Everybody who has been there will tell you how much of a great city it really is. For me it feels like London without the suits and more underground culture. The amount of street art and graffiti puts most other major European cities to shame and the night life is incomparable. We stayed in Kreuzberg, a traditionally Turkish area in Berlin that has been infiltrated by young white professionals. I would make comparisons to Shoreditch, Whitechapel and Mile End and the traditional Bangladesh inhabitants. However, there was one thing that really struck me about this trip to Berlin, the amount of Syrian refugee children and families on the streets and mixing with the locals was the most amazing site to see, I managed to capture a couple of girls playing with each other in the street, right next to quite a sinister looking park. Even on the Berlin wall there is life-size pictures of Syria in ruins which really drives the situation home. Berliners see refugees as humans, and the treatment refugees get in Berlin is something humanity should be proud of. If only London and other European countries followed suit.
