Swiss emigrant in Berlin (Part 1) Bettina Bestgen could have sold this key for a lot of money
She didn't actually want to emigrate - now she's been living in Berlin for eight years. What happened? blue News accompanies Aargau journalist Bettina Bestgen for a day. A conversation about home and rough manners in the German capital.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Journalist Bettina Best gen moved to Berlin in 2017 because she was offered a job.
- "I thought I'd stay for six months," says the 37-year-old from Aargau in an interview with blue News.
- The tone of voice in the German capital can be quite harsh. But after just a short time, Bestgen unexpectedly fell in love with the city and the people - despite her lower salary and much higher taxes.
- However, the journalist has never lost touch with her homeland in all these years. For blue News, Bestgen reports on the festival summer of 2025 - the Open Air in Frauenfeld, Moon & Stars in Locarno, the Gurtenfestival in Bern and the Open Air in Gampel VS.
Up and away - that's what many people dream of. Away from Switzerland. Somewhere where everything is different.
Bettina Bestgen has other plans. The former SRF3 presenter, who grew up in the canton of Aargau, didn't want to leave Switzerland.
And yet the journalist has now been living in the German capital Berlin for almost eight years.
Bestgen: "I thought I would stay for six months"
It happened like this: August 28, 2017 is a special day in Bettina Bestgen's life.
Happiness abroad
Thousands of Swiss people leave their home country every year. They realize their dream and emigrate. This summer, blue News editors Christian Christian Thumshirn and Bruno Bötschi are following three young people who have moved to Berlin: The series starts with journalist Bettina Bestgen. This will be followed by actress and restaurateur Jeniffer Mulinde-Schmid and opera singer Äneas Humm.
Back then, the journalist drove to Berlin in a borrowed car together with her father and her bag and baggage.
Shortly beforehand, Bestgen had received an interesting job offer from a German media company.
Initially, she lived with a colleague in a 3.5-room apartment in the Kreuzberg district.
Was it love at first sight? "No. I thought I would stay for six months."
But suddenly a year had passed and then two ...
blue News was allowed to accompany Bettina Bestgen with the camera for a day. In the two-part video report, the podcast producer gives an insight into her everyday life in Berlin and reveals which of her keys she could have sold for a lot of money.
