#BlackInBerlin: From A Hashtag to a Friendship
When I tell you, Instagram is the plug, I mean it.
Short story. Beautiful ending.
I had the entire summer off between my second and third year of medical school. If you know me, you know my mind was on what countries I would hit. And with what money.
Being a seemingly perpetual student, I have always been about traveling on a budget. So, I began looking for ways to travel for cheap/free a year in advance. You have to understand people, medical students don’t get out much! I am the unicorn in the bunch.
I didn’t want to participate in research or anything clinical because I needed a complete break! So. I made a list of possible things I could do whether it was photography work, content creating, presenting research at a conference (which can allow you to get funding through your institution for travel/lodging as it is a research enhancement experience!), etc. I got to do all of those things! God opened doors, and I one of the opportunities I got was to travel to Berlin, Germany for 2 weeks to work with a test prep company called AMBOSS. I had become an ambassador with the company after seeing a demo at a conference. It was great and gave me free access to the resource if I helped set up demos at my school. I never would have expected that an chance like this would come my way!
Since I was an ambassador, they offered to provide me with travel and lodging in exchange for some creative work (ie: creating youtube content for incoming first year students).
I was so excited! Traveling to other European countries to visit friends would be a breeze! Yes. I know. Just when I get to go to one country, my mind is on another. Can I not be content?! Yes. I can. But again, let’s remember that med students do not have the luxury of free time! I had to be an opportunist!
But, to make sure I enjoyed Berlin, I wanted to find someone that I felt I could connect with while there. So, as anyone engaged with social media can and should do….I used social media, specifically Instagram, to hunt down some potential new friends.
I searched a few different hashtags, and struck gold with #BlackInBerlin. That is how I met my new friend Syd. Syd is this beautiful Black queen who has been living abroad in Europe for years. I saw her photos, the mix of authenticity with the artistic and slid in her dm’s.
The rest was history!
We hit local restaurants, shared life stories and travel stories, hit some salsa dancing joints (so much fun!) and of course, I took some portraits.
Moral of the story: Yes, we are living in a pandemic, but community can be found at your finger tips. So engage with people (safely) on social media! Search random hashtags to the countries on your list (I know you have one for “when the world opens” like I do), and find your future friends! They can be one dm away.
