Team member Review

Being able to live in the capital city of a rich and diverse county was incredible, as it gave me the time to explore the city and appreciate the differences between my own country and Germany. However, there were significant problems with the accommodation and facilities provided that limited my enjoyment of the experience.

For those with a basic understanding of journalism or travel writing, the editing and writing workshops were a waste of time. Peer reviews soon became monotonous and unhelpful. The language lessons were also of limited use, as mixed classes from those who had just completed the Projects Beginner's German were in the same class as individuals, like myself, who had A level qualifications and above in German language. This meant neither extreme benefited much from the class as it was either too easy for the more advanced students, or those with more limited knowledge were struggling to keep up. Despite the excellent efforts of the teacher I learnt very little during the lessons.

Among the Project members, the atmosphere was lively and energetic, with many people going out to bars and clubs multiple times a week, and many outings were undertaken during the afternoons and weekends. However, the leading member of staff was often late, tired, and lacked enthusiasm for the Project that eventually permeated the groups attitude to the work that needed doing to produce the Guide.

There seemed to be very little consideration of our personal training and development, as the Beginners German classes were taken by a teacher who was still learning German themselves. On top of this, the Guide that we were asked to produce had to be done using the free trial version of InDesign, as City Travel Review did not want to purchase the full version. This created an unnecessary time pressure on our work.

This experience enabled me to experience what it was like to live in Berlin. Since I have considered living in Berlin, it was an invaluable experience to judge wether the culture and life of the city is indeed one that I would be able to live in. It is very difficult to get this experience another way.

Prices for the Project are substantial, but do include accommodation, utilities bills, language lessons, workshops, and organised excursions. The website promises that the Guide we produced would be circulated online and in print, but we have been given no details of this. This leads me to question whether we can sell the Guide that we have produced, which would be the only way of recovering any expenses of the Project.

The interns, young people on work experience at City Travel Review, and the lead member of staff hovered about, especially when we went on Project organised excursions, but other than this we did not see them on a regular basis, and had little to no interaction with them.

We were given no opportunity to spend time with or get to know the interns or young people on work experience, despite the similarities in age between them and many of the members of the Project teams. We only saw other members of staff in professional contexts.

I would advise caution if embarking on the Berlin City Travel Review Project. If you are looking for a way to spend a relatively cheap and low pressure month or two in Berlin, whilst having something to put on your CV, then this is perfect. If you are serious about developing skills in journalism, writing, or language, then I would not at all recommend the Berlin Project. It is possible that other Projects in other cities are better, being under different leadership, but I can only write from my own experience.