A saving grace of living in a foreign city without a solid friend and family base has been the cafe culture in Berlin. It is totally acceptable to visit cafes alone and remain long after you have finished your single cup of coffee. It took me a while to relax into this excellent custom but now I happily take a book or my laptop and sit for sometimes hours reading or working. This is standard practice and garners no annoyance whatsoever from staff. The cliental in some cafes on a given day will almost entirely be made up of lone individuals tapping away on their Macs. Its almost to the point where you would feel more uncomfortable chatting to a friend over a coffee. For my current study-centred existence this is perfect. A comfortable cafe serving good coffee (of which there is no shortage) offers a pleasant change of scene from the library or my desk at home and my ability to drown out background noise has improved dramatically. It is a little harder to ignore the smell and resist the temptation of the often marvellous looking freshly baked cakes on offer.
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