In their own words…
This is a series about people who moved to Frankfurt RheinMain, telling their stories in their own words.
Let’s hear it from Eldar
Living in Germany was never my plan, but never say ‘never’. You never know where fate will bring you. And now I am here in Germany, four years living in Frankfurt. Absolutely no regret about that, instead I think that was the best choice I made.
The reason for moving to Germany was my girlfriend at that time, now we live together in Frankfurt and we love it.
The first city I have ever visited in Europe was Frankfurt, that was quite a while ago. At that time Frankfurt seemed to me like a bleak place from the song ‘Big City Life’. I remember that, at one of the souvenir shops at DomRömer I bought a t-shirt with Che Guevara on it and 10 years later I was passing through it every week.
These days, whenever I am traveling to other cities due to my work, I always await the moment when I will return. The momentum that I am always trying to experience is when I am arriving to Frankfurt by train late at night. At that moment, I see an image of Frankfurt with its skyscrapers with thousands of lights, I feel like I am approaching a spaceship after light years of voyaging across galaxies.
Frankfurt for me is not only about skyscrapers and historical sights but also about cosy nooks that I discover in the city and small towns around it. I like to discover them while I am cycling.
For those who are new in Frankfurt and a fan of pedalling, I can recommend to have a round trip along Grüngürtel, you will witness how diverse Frankfurt is.
One of my fav-places is the downtown book shop Hugendubel with a cafe downstairs. It is a top place if you like to drink coffee and read at the same time. It is always a challenge for me to leave it without buying a book, even if I know that I won’t read it in the near future. Another curious place is Goethe University’s campus. One of them is just few minutes away from the place I live. It is the renovated Campus Westend — complex of buildings architected by Hans Poelzig, an example of the modernist New Objectivity style. In spite of its modern minimalistic massive constructions you will be surprised to find lots of history inside. Besides rare out-of-print books and manuscripts, you can find authentic paternoster lifts in the IG-Farben-Haus.
However, cosy places, banks and mobility hubs are just part of Frankfurt. People living here are shaping the city as it is. I’ve been lucky to have gotten to know many active and diverse people that are committed to what they are doing by making their contribution to the whole communities’ ecosystem.
They call themselves #RheinMainRockers, they are the ones who rock the city life behind the scene.
Many of them are contributing to the whole idea during their free time and it is more than just a hobby for them. They have diverse hobbies and passionate about different topics like coding, startups, design, literature etc. They try to share their interests with others by organising events, building communities and motivating other people. After I moved to Frankfurt, this swinging enthusiastic atmosphere had influence on me as well. Today during my free time I am taking care of Frankfurt Analytics community, rocking as a part of TEDxRheinMain team, and enjoying recording podcasts for Startupradio. It is the case when interests and hobbies become a passion if you are sharing them with others. Think big, act local and try to find time to do epic shit, that’s the way we live in Frankfurt.
We had a few questions for Eldar
How long have you been in Frankfurt?
4 years
Where Do you go Shopping?
I like to buy stationary in MUJI, try different audio speakers, listen music at Cream Musikhaus or at Session
In which Frankfurt quarters do you mainly move?
Downtown, DomRömer
Where do you live?
5 minutes walk from Palmengarten and Goethe Uni Campus
Any Frankfurt personality you would like to exchange a day with?
With someone from Frankfurt Police or Ambulance Teams
What do you like about Frankfurt?
People, community life
What would you like to see changed in Frankfurt?
More energy on streets on Sundays and more hippie-places
Favorite Bar, Café?
Green Sauce: With or without mayonnaise?
Doesn’t matter, important that it made with love :)
How many languages do you speak?
4
How do you move within Frankfurt?
Public transport, bike, often Call a Bike
Please complete the following sentence: In Frankfurt there should be …
hacking spaces, makerspaces, more authenticity
Name two people whom we should definitely send this questionnaire
Matthias Kramer, Wolfgang Weicht
Moving to Frankfurt RheinMain
An opinionated Guide for relocating to Germanyhallofrankfurt.de