[originaltext] For many well-educated young eastern Germans like Susanne Kop

For many well-educated young eastern Germans like Susanne Kophal, who was born, raised and educated in Rostock, a lovely city on the Baltic Sea, there is a familiar story about the moment in their post-graduation lives that they decided to leave.
    "I’ll always have the wish to return to my hometown," said Ms. Kophal, 26, who graduated from the University of Rostock last year with a political science degree. "The people are friendly. In the summer you can take off for lunch, go swimming in the ocean and be back at work within an hour. But there are precious few professional jobs here and little hope of building a career. ’And so, Ms. Kophal and every one of her college friends: a doctor, a biologist and a physicist among them, left Rostock for brighter prospects elsewhere in Germany or for a career abroad, probably for good. "I see myself as an economic refugee," Ms. Kophal said in an interview at her office in Berlin, where she found a position as a magazine production manager now. In Rostock, where unemployment stands at 18 percent, almost double the national average, "there’s no chance to earn a decent living," she said. "The only alternatives are the two classic examples, becoming a taxi driver or working at McDonald’s."