I was sitting on Berlin’s lovely U Bahn minding my own business, or writing in my journal to be more exact, when a man dressed in ripped jeans, an old leather jacket and smelling strangely like a mixture of eggs and ash plopped down next to me. He was the same man who I had earlier seen walking around the station rapidly asking everyone for a cigarette, with a hint of desperation in his voice. He gave one the impression that his mind was not in touch with “reality” to the fullest extent, to the say least.

I was listening to music on my headphones and noticed him trying to talk to anyone who would make eye contact with him. Unfortunately, I noticed his eyes fall onto me, although I looked away. Being a young woman of 22, people often appeal to me for coins, so I had expected this turn of events. Without looking up I saw him ogling me from the side of my eyes, and saw he was trying to speak to me. I pretended not to notice over my headphones and kept writing. Then he leaned over towards me and began reading my journal, much to my shock. I doubt he understood it because it was in English and he had been mumbling in German, and my writing borders on illegible. I began laughing at the strangeness of it. He said something to me and I put my journal away protectively. I had stopped at the line which I had been writing just as he began spying on me which read, “there is a strange man sitting next to me on the U Bahn, who very badly needs a cigarette and some cologne.”