New in Berlin: What to Read, Watch and Listen
The websites, YouTube channels, and podcasts that helped us settle in
I wrote a version of this post a year ago, and I still follow all of these creators. They continue inform, entertain and help me navigate our new life. If you’re a reader who saw this on my old website, I’ve added a few more to the list since then.
I’ll do a follow-up post next week with my essential list of social media accounts to follow.
Here goes:
All About Berlin
Nicolas Bouliane has “made a career out of documenting German bureacracy,” and I, for one, am very grateful.
This is basically the Bible for any non-German moving to Berlin (and for some Germans as well). Nicolas covers everything from applying for your visa, to opening a bank account (something you will need to do literally everything else), to explaining SCHUFA, to finding an apartment, to registering in your district and anything else you can think of.

In our case, we got bad advice from the relocation agency hired by my husband’s employer. To be fair, they are based in Stuttgart, not in Berlin.
But if he had followed their advice - and not applied for his work visa at the German embassy in Atlanta - he probably would have been stuck waiting months for an appointment at the LEA, with an expired tourist visa, and unable to start work.
Following the advice from All About Berlin, we knew we could apply before we even moved, which saved us a lot of waiting and stress, later.
Simple Germany
Jen and Yvonne are in Dusseldorf, not Berlin. But they still give great advice on moving to Germany. They run a popular YouTube channel, a website with extensive written guides, and an email newsletter.
We learned a lot of good day-to-day things about Germany that, yes, also still apply in Berlin. For example, their videos on bike commuting and going grocery shopping were very helpful.
Easy German
This YouTube channel is for German language learners across the globe (and is the flagship channel of the Easy Languages company). They do on-the-street interviews on a variety of topics.
If you are just starting to learn the language, be aware that the German spoken on their regular videos is not really “easy” - at least, not for me. I barely understood a word at first.
But the videos all have English subtittles and you can get a better feel for how German is really spoken day-to-day. The topics are very insightful, often hilarious, sometimes very touching, and provide a lot of cultural insight into Berlin and Germany.
They’ve now added videos in Slow German, as well as the weekly Easy German podcast. And if you purchase an Easy German membership, you can get transcripts of the videos, as well as interactive language exercises and vocabulary lists to practice.
Everyone Is Moving to Berlin
Manuel Salmann (of the Easy German podcast fame) and co-host Jae Staten discuss their experiences moving to (and around) Berlin in this English-language podcast. They also give advice on maybe some less-typical Berlin topics – how to start dating, navigating a nude beach, surviving New Year’s Eve, as well as the typical fare of finding a place to live, getting a job, and enjoying the nightlife.
ExBerliner
Founded in 2002 by three journalists from the UK, Romania, and France, ExBerliner is Germany’s largest English-language publication.

They have a monthly print magazine, bi-weekly newsletters, and a website that cover what’s happening and what to know about Berlin.
In addition to the great features, I always check out the What to Do this Weekend column for concerts, events, art exhibits and more.
Radical Living
My husband likes to tell people that this YouTube comedian is why we decided to move to Berlin.
While that is mostly an exaggeration (he already had the job offer when we started watching), the channel did help us feel that Berlin had a lot of the elements that we wanted in a place to live, and at the same time was somewhere completely different from anything we had experienced before.
20 Percent Berlin
20 Percent Berlin is a Substack newsletter published by Andrew Bulkeley and Maurice Frank. The title refers to the 20 percent of Berlin’s residents who don’t have a German passport.
The newsletter covers news, events, politics and anything else interesting in updates published twice a week.

Rewboss
Andrew Bossom is an English YouTuber who has lived in Germany since 1993. He makes videos about “the culture, people, history, and sometimes language of Germany.”
These are my favorite sources of information for people who’ve recently moved to Berlin. Did I leave out any important ones? Leave a comment and let me know.
Coming Up
Next week, I’ll add my list of people I follow on X (and why, yes, I’m still on there).
Have a good weekend!
Thank you for reading Alte Frau, New Life. This post is public so feel free to share it.
Ber