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Young
Traveler Finds a Home in Berlin
Doreen Kappel has been
traveling since she left home at 14, but she has finally found a
place to call home – for now, at least.
“You can wear what you want,
you can look how you want,” she said. “You can do everything
that you want. This I like about Berlin.”
Doreen, 19, left her home in
Karl-Marx-Stadt, Germany, because of constant fighting with her
mother. From then on, she traveled with friends and worked as a
street performer and fire-breather for four years before
returning to Germany at 18. After spontaneously deciding to come
to Berlin, she discovered how inexpensive the city was and
decided to stay.
Doreen lived in several
squatter houses and on the streets, but grew tired of constantly
worrying about where she was staying. She found a job at Wicked
Print after the squat she was living in burned to the ground.
She moved into an apartment near the T-shirt shop. For the first
time in her life, she enjoys the stability of having a real job
and a secure place to live.
Berlin’s vibrant street
culture is everywhere, allowing her to enjoy an alternative
lifestyle without worry.
While happy to balance her
uninhibited personality with her newfound stability in Berlin,
she hasn’t ruled out traveling again. “I’m not a person who can
stay in one place for so long,” she said.
For now, she enjoys going to
parties and clubs with her friends and performing with her band,
an all-girl, electronic music group called “The Dirty Crack
Bitches.”
They’re part of the “bad taste
movement,” Doreen said. |
