A few years ago, a Hungarian friend took a break from university to move to Berlin. She lived in an old house just outside the city with several other young people, who huddled together for warmth in front of wood-burning stoves through a brutal northern German winter. The tenants paid for these sparse accommodations by helping to renovate an old brewery. The brewery, overseen by an East German-born architect and his wife, a Mexican seeress, was meant as a community space for artists, yoga practitioners, and other free spirits. My friend loved every minute of it.