When you stop resisting, life shows you its hidden corners

I should confess that my first meeting with the city in June 2025 was bad, that day was my first appointment for the apartment viewing. I did not like the city at all at that time; even more, I was returning from the apartment to the train station and weeping: “I do not like this city, this is the ugliest city in Germany, my tiny Hof is even better.”

After months of searching for apartments in all nearby cities near Ettlingen, I began to shift my mindset: “Maybe Karlsruhe is not so bad, maybe it has its charm, maybe I was blind or in a bad mood which can be after all of the circumstances.”

When I came to the third and fourth appointments looking for the apartments I revealed that there were a lot of old and beautiful buildings, and I even found a nice cafe in the Berlin-Amsterdam-Copenhagen style, if you know what I mean.

When in September I came to look for the last apartment, I saw a very calm and modern area with a lot of glass buildings, a small park, and a lot of young couples; the area where I am living now.

When at the end of September I relocated to Karlsruhe and lived in the city centre in Airbnb apartment, I could not believe my eyes: the city is beautiful (of course, there are still a lot of ugly buildings), but there are historic buildings and very modern ones; there are a lot of contemporary and cozy cafes with TASTY coffee and even ORIGINAL matcha; museums, theatres, castles, modern and old cinemas, and libraries; the city is alive and full of live. Classical concerts in churches (a lot of them are free of charge), jazz festivals, salsa classes, yoga and meditation schools, innovation week, and ZKM…. And the most amazing part is a market with a German soul and rules, but already with a French style and elegance.

I began to feel Karlsruhe’s vibe - very young and full of cultural life, not for everyone, but for those who appreciate elegance and intelligent art and culture. It resembles me Berlin, the city that I would like to live somehow and sometime; and my native Kyiv, the city where I was born, lived all my life, and the city that I sincerely love.

Karlsruhe isn’t conventionally beautiful — it’s intellectually magnetic. A city where art, culture, and science overlap.

Karlsruhe was never on my dream list where I would like to live, but from inner resistance and inner fight, I shifted to appreciation and love. The more and more I find something beautiful here, something that cherishes my soul and my heart; not paying attention to the negative sides that are in every city all over the world.

P.S. And the most magical part in this story is that a long time ago my mom was supposed to work there but she decided not to accept a job offer and stayed in Kyiv; she regretted it. Looked like she created it for me from the other realms. Sometimes our dreams come true through other people….