It’s hard for me to define a “hometown”, since I’ve lived so many places. I was born in Columbus, but raised in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. I even lived overseas for a short while. However, I’ve lived in Illinois the longest, so I’m going to chose Lake Zurich as my hometown. I’m going to compare the difference between entertainment in Berlin and the entertainment in Lake Zurich, because they are drastically different. In Lake Zurich, finding something to do can be a challenging task. Within the village limits, we have a movie theater, a couple parks, and a McDonald’s that is a lot more popular than it should be. Lake Zurich was founded around a lake, and there are several parks around the lake that people go to.
The biggest one, Paulus Park, is home to a beach, a small spray ground, a large playground, and several walking/biking paths. Several events are held here every year, most notably the Fourth of July celebration. Fireworks that can be see all across the village are set off lakeside at the park. There is also live music, games, and plenty of food vendors. Another event held in Lake Zurich that draws a lot of attention is Alpine Fest.
Main street is closed off and a carnival is set up in the middle of the town. This happens mid- to late-July every year. There’s fair food, carnival games, and rides. It draws a lot of attention due to the fact that there is not a lot to do in the village, and it is set up on one of the most traveled roads. It’s location is actually incredibly inconvenient, so we may as well get some enjoyment out of the inconvenience. In the fall, football is a pretty big deal in Lake Zurich. So many people go to the high school football games that they had to make the bleachers bigger–and they still don’t have enough room for everybody. One of the main reasons that entertainment in Lake Zurich is different than Berlin is that Lake Zurich is a small village, while Berlin is a big city. Therefore, there are a lot more “big city things” to do in Berlin. Something that draws a lot of tourists to Berlin is the nightlife. Clubbing is popular, at places like Week-End. Week-End is a unique, modern dance club in a building that used to be an office building. There is also a dance hall called Clärchens Ballhaus, for those who enjoy a throwback. This is “authentic Berlin dance hall from 1913” (www.travel.nationalgeographic.com). In comparison to our Alpine Fest, a lot of much bigger festivals are held in Berlin. This month alone, there are 17 festivals in Berlin alone. Of these festivals, the one that caught my attention was Pyronale–an international fireworks competition. Teams have to create different routines in order to impress the judges and the public. The judges ultimately decide the winner, but the public gets to vote for their favorite as well. As well as nightlife and festivals, Berlin also hosts a lot of sporting events. According to Visit Berlin, “Berlin is and remains an attractive location for top-class sporting events” (www.visitberlin.de). Since Berlin is a large city, it has a lot of wonderful stadiums and arenas to hold sporting events at. The main difference between Lake Zurich and Berlin is not because they are in different countries, but because they are much different sized cities. The entertainment in Berlin is very similar to what you would see in other large cities, such as Chicago or New York. Other aspects of the cities may very, but the entertainment aspects remain similar.
Sources:
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/city-guides/berlin-entertainment/
https://www.berlin.de/en/events/
http://www.visitberlin.de/en/experience/sport-metropolis?tid=844
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