What is Foreign Exchange to Me?

"A year of of my life. My life in a year."

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Thursday, August 18, 2011

First Day of School! First Day of School!


First day of school AND first fencing lesson in the same day! Woooowza! Right!?

School here, (like the music scene) is so incredibly different that it is difficult to even begin describing. For one, school has the option of getting out at a different time every day but usually ends around 1 p.m. and starts at 7:50 a.m. Religion is a required class(and I go to a public school), which I’m fine with; however, that would never be okay in the States. My school is 1,300 students and grades 5-13 so there are lots of little ones running around and the students are in the same class and with the same people and the teachers come to them until 11th grade, then for the next 2-3 years the students switch classes every hour and thirty minutes. Not to mention my school is indoors. Living in California, I have never attended an indoor school, which makes it that much easier to get lost. (These are amongst SEVERAL other differences.)

If any of my friends from California had seen me, they would have laughed. My backpack is bright pink (my least favorite color) and my pencil box has several horses on it (my least favorite animal). I did not look like “Angie.” But that’s okay because nobody at the school knows me or fluently speaks my language anyway! :D

Tonight I also had my first fencing lesson and may I say the vigorous exercise felt great. I miss the sports I played (essentially year round) back in California. After taking the lesson with the class, when everyone went off to fence each other, I went aside with a very kind 84 year old woman who has run the club for over 50 years. When I picked up the foil with my left hand (I’m left-handed) she gave me a “You don’t speak German AND you’re left handed!?!?!” look. She has not spoken English for over 30 years and no longer remembers any so she was speaking to me in French. I speak less French than I do German (which is defiantly saying something).

We go fencing twice a week, so if nothing else this will definitely be interesting.

1 comment:

Days in Germany