Sage/Kitkat Club

Sage is a rock music club open every Thursday night and there’s no cover before 9PM. There’s a pool inside, multiple dance floors, and live music. When we went, there was a Battle of the Bands so it was pretty awesome listening to German rock. On all other days, the same venue is home to Kitkat club, the infamous sex club. I’ve never been myself, but I’ve heard people dress pretty ridiculous—we’re talking assless chaps and the works. The club's address is Köpenicker Straße 76, right outside the U-Bhf. Heinrich-Heine-Straße station.

Ditsch Pretzels

Ditsch stands are everywhere in Germany. This is a great place to get Laugen Bretzeln. The pretzels here are always fresh, soft, and delicious. And even better, they only cost 60 cents. It’s my favorite place to get pretzels cause I’m always sure they’ll be good. Stale pretzels or over salted pretzels can be very disappointing.

Wunderlampe

This was one of our favorite Döner stands because we made friends with Aladin. He’s seriously one of the nicest guys ever; every time we went there he gave us free stuff and had nice conversations with us. Not only is he awesome, but the Chicken Döner’s great too. The mini-Döner is the size of a regular Döner at other stands and the regular Döner is huge, so big that you can’t even close it until you eat some from the center. We haven’t dared tried the Big Döner yet, but I’m sure it won’t disappoint. Very delicious and definitely one of the best Döner places in the city too. Just get off at the Eisenacher Strasse U7 Stop, exit on the Eisenacher Strasse side.

Mustafas Gemüse Kebap

Mustafas Gemüse Kebap, right next to Currywurst 36 at the Mehringdamm U-Bahn station, is a notable Döner stand. This one’s special because it’s a Chicken Döner with grilled vegetables and potatoes in it instead of the usual lettuce and tomatoes. It is then topped with feta cheese and lime. Although it costs a little bit more, you’re definitely getting more than your average Döner. Some say its the best. I only ever eat Döner at two places, and this one of them.

The Famous Currywurst Stand: Curry36

Currywurst is Berlin's most famous snack. What is it? It’s basically a cut-up sausage covered in a special kind of ketchup, topped with curry powder. It makes for a great quick snack. Curry36 is the most popular and the best currywurst stand in Berlin and is right outside the Mehringdamm U-Bahn stop. It’s open really late (until at least 3am daily) so it’s a perfect snack point at any time of day. There's always a long line, but it's well worth the wait.

Oberholz Café

Oberholz Café is an open, well-lit café, and my study place of choice for weekends. Though it's far east, it’s perfect for weekends cause if you go to brunch at Warschauer, you’ll already be in the area. It also has free wi-fi, a requirement for any café that I study at. They make the best Apple Kuchen (it has the crumbs on top and is absolutely delicious); the cheesecake on the other hand, is very dry, so I wouldn't recommend it. I always order the Latte Macchiatto here then go upstairs and find a place to study. It’s a very popular study place. If you go often enough you’ll notice the same people come every time. Just like other good study cafes, they’ll never kick you out. And for some reason, everyone at this particular café has Mac notebooks. It's just a random observation, but if you have a Mac like me too, you’ll be among good company. Check out all the Macs!


It's at the Rosenthaler Platz S-Bahn stop and the address is Rosenthaler Str. 72A.

Havanna Bar: 4 Euro cocktails all the time

Havanna Bar is a cool little bar that we went to a few times. There's nothing particularly special about the place itself, the menu shows a good selection of cocktails and the prices written are pretty normal. However, due to their clever tax evasion Non-stop Happy Hour, all drinks are actually only 4 Euro all the time. So if you're looking to get a few good cocktails on the cheap, check this bar out. Near U-Bhf Goerlitzer Bahnof (U1).

Bilder Book Café

Bilder Book Café is open from 9am until at least midnight every night, and sometimes even until 1AM. It has free wireless and the best thing is that you can stay as long as you want despite how much you’ve ordered or if you’re done drinking/eating (they never kick you out), which makes it a great place to study. It’s very Berlin, with its very unique, noncommercial café atmosphere. It’s like you’re in a living room, with plenty of sofa chairs, bookshelves, house lamps, rugs, a piano, and actual dining tables. My friend Cristina was obsessed with the soups. And my friend Lindsay was so in love with the place and went so often that the waiters there already knew her order before she had to say anything. As for me, my usual order was a Latte Macchiatto and a scoop of ice cream (for only 1 Euro); it made all those nights cramming for my E40 psets and studying German vocab much more bearable--definitely one of our favorite cafes. To get here, just get off at the Eisenacher Strasse stop on the U7 and it's at Akazienstrasse 28.

Beckers Fritten

Looking for fresh French fries? Just get off at the Oranienburger strasse stop and you'll find it right next to Amrit. We found a great Dutch french-fries stand for you. It costs 2 euros for a small and 3 euros for a large order of FRESH fries. Word of warning, we don’t quite understand why, but they are served in a paper wrapped into a cone, which makes it very hard to eat. You’ll see what we mean when you try. For an extra 40-65 cents, you can choose from a variety of sauces, including knoblauch mayo, Indian curry, jalapeño cheese, applesauce and many more. Be as daring as you would like.

Dada Falafel

Outside of Habibi Falafel, this is the other falafel stand in the running for best Falafel in the city. Also perfectly soft and seasoned, this place makes your high quality falafel. Since both places are delicious, it comes down to a matter of location; go to whichever is closer to you when the cravings hit. To get here, just get off at the Oranienburger Strasse stop and the address is Linienstraße 132.

Bar Nou

Follow the steps leading down to Bar Nou

My Daiquiri

During our stay in Berlin, we visited Bar Nou multiple times for its delicious cocktails and its ritzy atmosphere. Here are pictures of us at this trendy, orange-lit underground bar, where I celebrated my 21st B-day with my favorite Germans and Stanford people <3



It's a great place to just hang out and chat with friends. I highly recommend it :)

Stock Market Bar

Brokers Bier Börse

Schiffbauerdamm 8

With a great location overlooking the Spree River, this is a REALLY cool bar at the Friedrichstrasse U/S-Bahn stop where the beer menu simulates the Stock Market. Every 5 minutes, a bell rings and the beer prices on an electronic board change, so the idea is that you can decide when you want to buy which beer. Prices rise and fall following supply and demand just as they would in the real market. Ideally you would follow Wall Street's rule of "buy low and sell high". Unfortunately, they don’t really do the whole sell back your beer when you’re done. Schade. It’s a really fun place to go. I was pretty thrilled when the price of my Hefeweizen went up 1 euro right after I bought it. Sweet! The Stock exchange shenanigans starts everyday at 5PM. Happy Trading!

Rosenheim's: a great, relaxing bar

One of our favorite bars was Rosenheim's. It's a pretty small and classy place, and the drinks aren't particularly cheap, but the place just has really nice feel to it. When the weather gets nice in the spring, they bring out these huge couches and lounge chairs to the area outside the bar. You will always see people enjoying their drinks outside day or night, and the couches were one of our favorite places to have a couple drinks with a group of friends.

It was right down the street from my homestay (and Lily's) so it was really convenient, but pretty much all of our friends made it there at some point. As you can see, the lighting is pretty cool inside when it's dark.

They would project soccer games on the wall some nights, and we watched one of the earlier games for the German national team in the EuroCup. Also, Franziskaner Weissbier (one of my favorites) on tap was always a good reason for me to go. As an added bonus, it's only a block from particularly delicious Döner. Definitely check it out, at the corner of Eisenacher and Rosenheimer Str., one block north of U7-Bhf Eisenacher Str.

Kaiser Wilhelm Church

One of the more famous sights in Berlin is the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial church. It's an old church built on Kufürstendamm in the 1890s, and then badly damaged during an Allied bombing raid during WWII. While the current church portion was rebuilt, the original spire has been maintained in its damaged condition, and the ground floor is now a memorial hall. This is just one of many WWII or Holocaust-related memorials around Berlin. Right outside the U+S-Bhf Zoologischer Garten.

The Gyros Stand

This stand sells Greek Gyros instead of Döner; there's also wurst. But the real reason to go to this place is cause the guy who runs it is awesome. He loves practicing German with you (he likes Americans), and he'll get really excited and tell you to visit his website and in general, he's just a cute little man. Just get off at Gneisenaustrasse on the U7 and it's on Bergmannstrasse.

Dolce Pizza

Dolce Pizza is absolutely delicious. This take-out pizza joint at Nollendorfplatz is popular amongst all Berliners. There's always a crowd of people in front standing around or sitting on the benches in front since there isn't much space inside. It's one of the best pizza places in the city, known for their oven-baked pizzas served on fresh Italian focaccia bread with fresh toppings.


My favorites are the Ruccola Pizza and the Spicy Salami. It's so good, in fact, that we once saw a girl eat an entire 5 slices by herself (and the slices are huge!). Everyone must try this place at least once while in Berlin. O yes, and last piece of information: it's only €2 per slice, perfect for us pleite (broke) college students.

1/2-meter Bratwurst Stand

Finding wurst (sausage) stands in Berlin takes no effort at all. But if you're really hungry and in the "wurst mood," you can get off at Schloßstrasse on the U9 and try the 1/2m long Bratwurst. You'll find it right next to Starbucks. It's the only place in Berlin where you'll get a full-sized roll long enough for the wurst instead of the usual tiny rolls. So go get some sausage! (no sexual innuendo implied)

das Fitnessstudio: working out while in Berlin

If you're looking to counter all the beer and sausage (and Döner) that will inevitably be consumed while you are in Berlin, there are a couple different options available. If you don't require much equipment, the simplest (and free) solution would be to go running in the nice suburban area around the Stanford Villa, and there is a multi-function weight machine in the basement of the center as well.

Fitness Company is a chain of higher-end gyms. The fee is pretty pricey (~€60/month), and you should definitely try to bargain with them to lower the price (say you will sign up elsewhere or bring a friend for bargaining power). The facilities are very nice, with a row of flatscreen TVs facing the cardio area, a pool, sauna, exercise classes, outdoor terrace, nice locker rooms, etc. I only wanted a simple weightroom, but ended up signing up here because the location (right at U9-Bhf Schloßstraße, entrance as seen in the above picture) was much more accessible than all other gyms I found, and I could get there easily after classes at the center. I basically ended up paying for a bunch of luxuries that I never used, but saved myself a lot of time and managed to offset the extra cost somewhat with some strategically frugal budgeting of my food stipend. They offer a monthly membership that is even more expensive, but you can sign up for the one-year membership because if you move to a location more than 25km from their nearest gym, you are allowed to terminate the contract. Just make sure you bring your de-registration from Berlin to prove you are actually leaving, and make sure to get the cancellation taken care of in person before you leave Berlin.

For you girls looking to avoid huge, sweaty German men at the gym, Fitness Company also has a chain of women-only gyms called Jopp. I believe they are similarly high-quality, and of course pretty expensive as well. Lily worked out there during her 6 months in Berlin and thought it was pretty nice. Their closest location to the center is also on Schloßstraße, but at U9-Bhf Rathaus Steglitz. Because Jopp is only in Berlin, you may need to find a new place for the summer if you end up doing an internship elsewhere.

McFit is a chain of gyms with the Germans' oddly favorite prefix in the name (along with McDonalds, McPaper, McClean, etc.). It's quite cheap (~€17/month), and the studios have everything you are used to at the Stanford gym (free weights, weight machines, treadmills, ellipticals), and also helpful trainers that wander around offering advice. The equipment and facility is very basic and showering in the locker rooms isn't free, but the inexpensive membership makes it very appropriate for younger people like us. The only reasonable Berlin location for me was quite a trek from the nearest U-bahn station, so I reluctantly chose not to sign up here. However, I worked out at McFit during my internship in Magdeburg, and although it was always really crowded after work and all the ridiculously muscular East German men made me question my masculinity a bit, I can definitely say that this gym was much more suited to my needs (and wallet). McFit offers only one-year memberships (which may actually be cheaper than 3 months at Fitness Company), but the manager at my gym in Magdeburg was nice enough to let me sign up for only 3 months at the same price when I showed him some documents stating that I would be coming back to the states in September. I guess that policy isn't official, but I imagine the managers should be able to make it happen.

whew. Well that's that, happy exercising.

Habibi Falafel

With two different locations (9 Akazienstrasse and 24 Goltzstrasse), this little Falafel place is considered by many as the Best Falafel in Berlin. The other Falafel place in the running for this title is Dada Falafel. The Falafel balls are perfectly seasoned, fresh, and soft. You can order the Falafel Sandwich with your choice of different sauces (I always get the Sesam sauce) for only €2.50. To get here, get off at Nollendorf Platz (for the Goltzstrasse location) or Eisenacher Strasse (for the Akazienstrasse location). Enjoy!

Chez De Nhat

Off on one of side streets from the Oranienburger Strasse S-Bahn stop, is a little restaurant called Chez De Nhat. This is one of my favorite Vietnamese restaurants in Berlin. Every dish is only about 5 Euros and it's delicious. For those of you who'll be taking Ingo's class, you can ask him about it (it's his favorite place too). The decor is pretty trendy and it's owned by a very nice German guy and his Vietnamese wife. Occasionally they have Viet music playing in the background, which is not exactly the most wonderful music, but hey, it's all part of the cultural experience. My favorite dish is the Bun Thit Nuong and for drinks, I always get the Vietnamese coffee--Ca Phe Sua Da (the iced one) or the Ca Phe De Nhat (warm). What is Viet coffee? It's a french-drip styled coffee with condensed milk. The combination makes for really good coffee :)


This is Mei and me at Chez De Nhat restaurant for a nice dinner before heading out to the Bing Concert at the Konzerthaus.

Meeting Germans: The Sprachpartner Program

The best way to discovery Berlin is by meeting the locals; I would’ve never known about half the places to go to or things to do without going around with my German friends. Stanford sets up a couple events for Stanford students and students from the Free University to meet up. It’s usually an informal, meet-and-greet sort of event. And depending on who you click with, you can exchange numbers and emails and meet up again outside of planned group events. Here’s a video from our event Winter quarter, which ended up being pretty fun.

The program really is what you make it, so don’t be afraid to get out of your comfort zone and meet people; they're just as open to meeting you as you are them. They’re usually North American Studies majors, so they’re just as excited to meet Americans and practice English since you are the topic of their studies. We met some really fun people with whom we met up with throughout the quarter. And once you meet one, you meet their friends and before you know it you'll have a group of German friends. Of course there are plenty of other ways to meet Germans besides the Sprachpartner program, but whatever you do, break out of the Stanford bubble and definitely make friends with locals; I promise it'll make your experience that much richer.