4 ms·

When I studied there in 2004-2007 (Art History and Archeology of all things) Leipzig was just amazing. It was raw, chaotic and dirt cheap. I lived in the very c

When I studied there in 2004-2007 (Art History and Archeology of all things) Leipzig was just amazing. It was raw, chaotic and dirt cheap. I lived in the very center of the city in Hainstrasse, right next to the market and the street with all the bars. I had a beautiful 70 square meter apartment as a student that I paid 320 Euro a month for. Down in Suedvorstadt things got even crazier. We went to underground bars with 1 Euro beers and cockroach races. We went to death metal clubs and Absinth bars. We dressed in top hats and steam punk goggles for Wave/Gothic meeting in spring. We spent a lot of time in nature in Leipzigs Auenwald (a permanently flooded forest) and countless lakes. It was awesome! Today, when I come back to Leipzig, things feel very different. More refined - true. But also much more bland and faceless. Leipzig's countless little quirky shops have largely made way for the same cookie cutter shopping malls you find everywhere - with your Zara's, H&Ms and G-Star stores. Lot's of places are empty, such as Karstadt and Petersbogen, owing to an over-supply of department stores for what's still a fairly small city. Larger industries have attracted more settled workers - and the crazy punks and metalheads of 2004 have grown into eco-conscious citizens with pension plans and immigration concerns. Maybe (certainly) I'm just getting old - but god, I miss the raw and wild nature of the post-reunification days...

01100011 5y ago
> the crazy punks and metalheads of 2004 have grown into eco-conscious citizens Isn't some of that just generational change? In the US, kids seem a lot more tame these days than kids of the previous few decades. They have a different set of pressures, and social media has grown in power quite a bit over a decade.
- seph-reed 5y ago
  I think the last few generations have ruined rebelliousness by yelling a lot on the internet. Can you imagine watching your parents flame war over politics and social issues on fucking Facebook? I feel like the only way to rebel would be to act like an adult.
  - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
    TL;DR: Most activities we used to do as kids have now moved on-line. Socializing, playing, fighting, loitering, dating, shopping, going to the cinema, etc. is now on Instagram, Snapchat, Tinder, Discord, Twitter, Amazon, PSN, Xbox-Live, Netflix, etc. Why are people surprised about this? This is all old news.
    - seph-reed 5y ago
      Your response seems to have completely missed the subject. Did you accidentally hit reply under the wrong comment?
xtracto 5y ago
I lived in Halle (Saale) between 2008 and 2012. We used to go to Leipzig quite often to hear the philarmonic, shopping and just around town. I remember it as an amazing little city with plenty of culture. I hope I can visit it again in the future.
cmrdporcupine 5y ago
When I went over to Germany for my Oma's 80th birthday in 2001 or so my girlfriend (now wife) and I made a trip out of it and were going from the party (which was in Bavaria, though my grandparents are from Mainz) to Berlin afterwards to visit friends and check out the city. When I was telling my Opa and his friend about our plans, his Bavarian friend remarked something like "Ah, yes, Berlin, it's not very nice now, it's pretty ugly and dirty, but we're working hard to fix it. It will be much better in 10 years." We then went to Berlin and had a wonderful time similar to what you're describing. It was still a pretty chaotic and interesting city, with lots of art squats and cool parties. Probably not as cool as it was a few years earlier, but still pretty neat. I understand in the intervening years Berlin has started to become a sea of condos and boring glass buildings and inflated real estate like every other western city. Or so I hear. So yeah, they "fixed" it. That same trip we passed through Leipzig and it seemed pretty run down but kind of interesting bit obviously not as "active" as Berlin. My techno friend had good things to say about it, though.
- bakuninsbart 5y ago
  A great look with a lense at what is going in Berlin is the documentary "Punks vs. Billionaires" by Vice. [0] The bar in question was truly like the guys in the video were describing it: A living room for people who didn't have one at home. And it isn't the only one, so many of the essential spaces for working class people in my neighborhood died in the last few years. Rents exploded and people get pushed out of the districts they've lived in for decades. It really sucks, and it is an ongoing process slowly changing the whole city. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7sb-AziEn4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7sb-AziEn4
  - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
    >A great look with a lense at what is going in Berlin is the documentary "Punks vs. Billionaires" by Vice. [0] Don't know why, but I stopped being shocked by the things I saw in that documentary a while ago. "Super rich corporate entity buying properties in soon-to-be hotspots while avoiding taxes through complex foreign based shell structures, with the working class squeezed to death by higher rents and taxes, all while our elected officials look the other way since they've been well greased, wined and dined and their privately schooled kids are offered top positions in said corporate entities", has become such a common M.O. behind the façade of free market capitalism, that I'm not even surprised at this point. I just wonder when we'll have the next violent revolution or civil war and radical regime change as inequality can't continue to rise like this forever and still have a stable and peaceful, functioning society.
FredPret 5y ago
Cockroach… races? I don’t know whether to laugh, place a bet, or barf!

01100011 5y ago

> the crazy punks and metalheads of 2004 have grown into eco-conscious citizens Isn't some of that just generational change? In the US, kids seem a lot more tame these days than kids of the previous few decades. They have a different set of pressures, and social media has grown in power quite a bit over a decade.

seph-reed 5y ago
I think the last few generations have ruined rebelliousness by yelling a lot on the internet. Can you imagine watching your parents flame war over politics and social issues on fucking Facebook? I feel like the only way to rebel would be to act like an adult.
- ChuckNorris89 5y ago
  TL;DR: Most activities we used to do as kids have now moved on-line. Socializing, playing, fighting, loitering, dating, shopping, going to the cinema, etc. is now on Instagram, Snapchat, Tinder, Discord, Twitter, Amazon, PSN, Xbox-Live, Netflix, etc. Why are people surprised about this? This is all old news.
  - seph-reed 5y ago
    Your response seems to have completely missed the subject. Did you accidentally hit reply under the wrong comment?

xtracto 5y ago

I lived in Halle (Saale) between 2008 and 2012. We used to go to Leipzig quite often to hear the philarmonic, shopping and just around town. I remember it as an amazing little city with plenty of culture. I hope I can visit it again in the future.

cmrdporcupine 5y ago

When I went over to Germany for my Oma's 80th birthday in 2001 or so my girlfriend (now wife) and I made a trip out of it and were going from the party (which was in Bavaria, though my grandparents are from Mainz) to Berlin afterwards to visit friends and check out the city. When I was telling my Opa and his friend about our plans, his Bavarian friend remarked something like "Ah, yes, Berlin, it's not very nice now, it's pretty ugly and dirty, but we're working hard to fix it. It will be much better in 10 years." We then went to Berlin and had a wonderful time similar to what you're describing. It was still a pretty chaotic and interesting city, with lots of art squats and cool parties. Probably not as cool as it was a few years earlier, but still pretty neat. I understand in the intervening years Berlin has started to become a sea of condos and boring glass buildings and inflated real estate like every other western city. Or so I hear. So yeah, they "fixed" it. That same trip we passed through Leipzig and it seemed pretty run down but kind of interesting bit obviously not as "active" as Berlin. My techno friend had good things to say about it, though.

bakuninsbart 5y ago
A great look with a lense at what is going in Berlin is the documentary "Punks vs. Billionaires" by Vice. [0] The bar in question was truly like the guys in the video were describing it: A living room for people who didn't have one at home. And it isn't the only one, so many of the essential spaces for working class people in my neighborhood died in the last few years. Rents exploded and people get pushed out of the districts they've lived in for decades. It really sucks, and it is an ongoing process slowly changing the whole city. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7sb-AziEn4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7sb-AziEn4
- ChuckNorris89 5y ago
  >A great look with a lense at what is going in Berlin is the documentary "Punks vs. Billionaires" by Vice. [0] Don't know why, but I stopped being shocked by the things I saw in that documentary a while ago. "Super rich corporate entity buying properties in soon-to-be hotspots while avoiding taxes through complex foreign based shell structures, with the working class squeezed to death by higher rents and taxes, all while our elected officials look the other way since they've been well greased, wined and dined and their privately schooled kids are offered top positions in said corporate entities", has become such a common M.O. behind the façade of free market capitalism, that I'm not even surprised at this point. I just wonder when we'll have the next violent revolution or civil war and radical regime change as inequality can't continue to rise like this forever and still have a stable and peaceful, functioning society.

FredPret 5y ago

Cockroach… races? I don’t know whether to laugh, place a bet, or barf!