I’m at the airport, having wrapped up my last week in Berlin on Friday. It was perfect timing – we had our summer music recital this week! It was held in the auditorium, and there were performances from the ukulele group, some rock bands, the guitarists, and of course the bassists. All 10 of us plugged into bass amps and played Lovely Day by Bill Withers. I handed out lyrics to the audience and everyone sang along!

I’m leaving feeling very inspired by the way in which GSBTB builds community. They’ve set out to serve people who have been displaced from their usual communities in a very dramatic way. But I think that this yearning for cultural exchange and friendship is something that my generation is feeling around the globe, regardless of immigration status, as our social lives become more online and our familial ties fail to keep us in the same place. GSBTB uses cooking, music, art classes, and language practice as excuses to make new friends and to combat isolation, but what really struck me was that many of the people I met at GSBTB incorporated this intentional approach to creating community into their daily life. Individuals had group chats in WhatsApp where they would organize restaurant dinners, park meet-ups, and nights out for anyone who was interested. People would remember that I had mentioned to them that I liked a certain type of music, and then send me listings for concerts, when we barely knew each other. I know that this sounds like every stereotypical American’s impression of Europe, but it really felt like their focus was on spending time in open public spaces, and inviting anyone to join, rather than on creating any elite or exclusive social groups. I plan to apply this social intentionality to my own life back in the States.