PARTIES, PICK-UPS AND GREAT DEALS: FRENCH STUDENTS HAVE A BALL IN BERLIN | M6 | Enquête Exclusive

A wild nightlife, cheap flat sharing and renowned University courses: this explosive cocktail attracts some 2,000 young French people to Berlin every year. A figure that keeps on growing, to the point where the German capital is about to overtake Barcelona in the hit parade of student destinations. In Berlin, nightclubs with an often-steamy atmosphere are institutions. Like the KitKat Club where the best DJs in the world fight to do their mix, skimpy dress is a requirement for the customers and young libertines are welcome. Shut down for several weeks in 2001 for incitement to debauchery, the club now enjoys the support of city hall because it contributes to the “liberal and cosmopolitan image of Berlin, the city of exchange”! 20 years after the fall of the Wall, Berlin has become a city of Babel crackling with excitement. The Black Blocs, extremely radical militant groups, have made it their playground and squatters fight every inch of the way against property developers. The city is now the least expensive capital in Europe, a juicy market that is a magnet for greed. For the moment there’s no problem with student accommodation: a spacious room in a 1,500-foot apartment works out at less than 200 Euros a month. Cannabis and bottles of beer are often part of the décor. But is this libertarian atmosphere really conducive to study? Robbery, sexual assault, crime: the Paris police all over the place.