U.S. Expatriate Hipsters Plug Into the Buzz of Berlin

BERLIN — The tea comes, the waitress smiles and Jason Forrest, an unquiet and happily offbeat American, tells you (oh yes, he tells you) how his life leapt off the tracks and found rebirth in this winter dark city he calls "hipster ground zero."

His artistic spirit "rudely" treated in New York, Forrest said, he sought sanctuary in Berlin. He rented an apartment, bought a bed and two tables, found a bohemian cafe (how hard could it be?) and started touring Europe with electronica concerts his website boasts "have garnered him a huge international audience, and involve much bad dancing, some blood and a few shattered laptops."

This is not Ernest Hemingway in the 1920s, unless Papa was a balding musician with a mischievous desire to rummage through cyberspace for inspiration. This is not Paris, although there is a stubby replica of the Eiffel Tower out near the train tracks. This is Berlin in a new century. A city in the midst of a jigsaw architectural revival, Germany's capital is the destination for a growing number of American expatriates — musicians, painters, writers, performance artists and directors seeking the enrichment and creative experimentation they say is withering in the United States.
...
"Berlin is like the antidote to New York. It's all the things you want, the culture, the music scene, but none of the stress," Forrest said. "We live in a completely renovated apartment for 500 euros a month, heat included…. The hip areas of Berlin will be flooded soon with New Yorkers. Three of my friends are moving here in January. They see it as a place of lower rents and better politics."
...
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-expats12dec12,0,60127.story?coll=la-home-headlines
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/2947284

:hi:
</shameless plug>

My gX-grandfather came over in the early 1860's... and he was a younger brother of Robert Koch (Nobel winner for Medicine). May I pretty please come back?

The heritage thing goes only up to grandparents; the reason that so many artists move here, is that freelancers are pretty much unrestricted. ;-)
While immigration is hardly as difficult, as it was until two or three years ago, it still is quite a hazzle.

I took a year in High School, but only remember how to count and the pronoun table.

I swear. Berlin seems like such an awesome city.