Baby, After This Pistachio Roll, You’ll Leave Berlin🤔

Today’s your last day in Berlin—and it’s been a day of small frustrations and quiet little moments, just like most of your time here:🕰️. The hair dryer in the hostel was broken the second you checked in, and it’s still broken as you check out this morning. Before heading out, you used the hostel’s spotty WiFi to book a Museum Island combo ticket. Then you braved wind and rain to get to Curry 61, only to find it doesn’t open until noon. You wandered around Alexanderplatz Station, but every eatery looked worse than the last—so you ended up visiting Neues Museum on an empty stomach. When you spotted the museum’s café, you just wanted a hot latte to warm up. But when you walked to the counter, the white male staff said bluntly: “You have to sit down” (translation: find a table and wait for me to come take your order). You still can’t tell—are Berliners just bad at English, purely rude, or both? All you wanted was a coffee, not a full dine-in meal. Even if dine-in was mandatory, he could’ve said it nicely: “Would you like to have a seat first? I’ll come to your table.” But by now, you’re used to this sort of thing🕰️. The first book you picked up in a Berlin bookstore was written by an Asian woman: To Live As An Asian Woman. It’s a collection of things Asian women often hear in Europe. The first page: “Is she a virgin?” The second: “Is it really tight down there?” You didn’t need to read further—you’ve heard every single one before. Those study-abroad bloggers on post sunny, happy photos of Europe, but you know the truth: being an East Asian woman in Europe is like playing a “discrimination lottery.” You never know if the person in front of you is normal, or a racist/sexist. A German guy said he wanted to meet you on the weekend, but when you mentioned where you wanted to go, he replied: “Ohh, I was thinking something else.”🤔 Berlin’s such a weird city. Most small shop owners greet you warmly—even other customers say “hello” sometimes. You found two great cafés and so many cute little stores. You picked up a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird by a streetlamp. You bought a pretty art book and notebook at She Said bookstore. But just like every other European city you’ve visited so far—you have no desire to come back. When you walked out of Neues Museum, the rain had stopped. You popped into a tiny café in an alley, ordered a latte called “Pink Superfood,” and grabbed their last pistachio roll. This afternoon, you’ll finish visiting the rest of the museums on the island—then head back to London.📸 That “global citizen” dream of an East Asian woman? You don’t want it anymore. #EveryMomentWorthRecording #Berlin #Pistachio #StudyAbroad #BerlinBookstore #MuseumIsland #Mitte