It has now been a year since we lived together in a shared flat.

Just as a bundle of motives brought us together, after 2½ years we parted ways again for different reasons. The tenant announced that he wanted to move in. In the flat-sharing community, Eshan and I then thought of looking for a new flat together for all three of us. At the same time, Maiko wanted to try something new and live alone. After I finished my training, it was also uncertain for me whether I would stay in Berlin at all. In this situation, Eshan took the first step and found a new shared flat for three in the district. For the time being, I moved into a room in a 2-person flat-share with a friend in Pankow. And Maiko was able to fulfil his dream of having his own flat, which he rented from a mutual friend. Our shared flat was thus history.

In the second half of our flat-sharing time, we travelled to Copenhagen together by bike, went to the Baltic Sea with friends and continued to have a fourth person in the flat for a few months at a time. There were ups and downs (managing the household together is not infrequently a challenge in shared flats) and in the end everyone was busy with their own everyday things: Education and exams as well as family and friends. Looking back, the best times were cooking together with visitors. When the Corona restrictions came, I was very happy to be in a closer community in everyday life.

Six months later, Eshan moved to his girlfriend's place on the other side of town; they got married shortly afterwards. I left Berlin for a job after a few months and found a nice flat-share for 4 in a house full of flat-shares. Maiko has remained loyal to Treptow-Köpenick and is still happy with his first flat of his own. Physical encounters between us have abruptly gone from permanence to rarity. And yet: the connection still exists, not least through mutual friends and shared memories. Every now and then we keep in touch, write each other cards or even talk on the phone. And after three Christmases together, there will certainly be a fourth. For the last Christmas, I put together albums with photos from the time we shared a flat for Maiko and Eshan. When we looked at it together as a family, there was a lot of laughter and some tears.