Monday, July 4 - First Day of School!

By: Ellyn Schlicht

Today was our first day of school! I was very excited to finally experience the German school day. I had to wake up at 6:30 so that I would have time to get ready and have breakfast. For breakfast I had a roll with Nutella. yummm. I was given the choice of eating my bread with meat or cheese, and müsli. Müsli is fruit with granola and yogurt. It looks delicious and I think I will try it tomorrow. At 7:30 my partner, Carolin, and I were picked up by Gabi and her partner, Taylor and his partner, Steph and her partner, and Ashley and her partner. We then all biked in a big group. I think the bikes here are a lot harder to steer. This could be because they are so much bigger and it is very hard for us shorter people to get on the bikes. For me it is very nice to bike to school instead of taking a school bus. Once we got to school we just parked them on one of the many, many bike racks.

Our partners walked us to homeroom, which is during the German's first class, where all us Americans were to have a meeting. Some of us sat on big pillows that were there or just on the floor while we listened to Frau Gierke. Frau Gierke asked us all how we are doing with our families. We all signed a Stoughton High School yearbook to give as a gift to the school and a thank you card for my host family for hosting the welcome party yesterday. Once the bells rang, our partners came and picked us up for breakfast. We went to a room and we all sat together and introduced ourselves. We ate bread with cheese or meet and had applejuice to drink. Once the next bells rang, we all went to the next class or free period.

A free period is when a teacher is not there for the day, so the students do not have to go to that class. I think this is very nice and makes a for very relaxing day of school. My first class I had to go to was History. I went to that class with Zach and his partner, Gabi and her partner, and May and her partner. There we watched a movie in German about Martin Luther and the Reformation. The teacher did not come for until 10 minutes into the class. This is very different from Stoughton because the German's are trusted to not do anything bad. They did as they were supposed to, which I think would not have happened if we were in Stoughton.

The classrooms are all very similar. They all have the same chairs and tables with chalkboards in the front of the classroom. The chairs are high! I am 5' 2" and when I sat on the chairs I could not touch the ground. This could just be that I am very short. We then went to Pädagogik, which is like a child development class. After that we went to the supermarket where we bought some drinks and snacks. I got a Fanta, which tasted very good. The Fantas here taste much fruitier than in America. I don't know if they really are fruitier or it is just that they are from another country. We then went and sat at a table where students that have a free period hang out and do homework or just chat with friends.

Next, I had Spanish with Gabbie and her partner, Ashley and her partner, and Taylor and his partner. The Germans had to give a presentation about themselves in Spanish, so the Spanish teacher had us Americans give a little presentation about ourselves in English. They then had to say a dialogue in pairs. After Spanish, I was done with school. I went into Münster with Gabi, Ashley, and their partners. When we got off the train we met up with Zach and his partner. We went shopping in many stores. We went to H&M, a shoe store, and an accesory store. We bought some clothes and I bought a bag for 7 Euro. We then went and ate at McDonalds for a quick meal. On our way to McDonalds we ran into Steph and her partner and went to the gummi store. There are so many different kinds of gummis. They even had some that were shaped like eggs. After McDonalds we went back to the train station and went back to Greven.

Overall the day was very fun! I really enjoyed learning about the German school day and seeing their school. I look forward to going to more school days.