Rain and Retrospect

Hello Readers! We’ve had amounts of rain comparable to a tropical rain forest. It has rained for four days now. I wouldn’t be surprised if I bumped into a tree and it fell over roots up. Five days ago I sent my camera home for repair which made me somehow less inclined to venture outside . Which means that this blog is going to include pictures from the beginning of my journey up until now. The first month I was in Germany I could not figure out how to attach photos into my blog so come with me and lets look back in retrospect. The second part of this blog I’m going to answer a couple of basic questions from a friend that I thought would be good for everyone to know.

Plant at Oma's house with woven spiderweb
and caught raindroplets.

  How is school going? 

School is going well. I just finished reading my first BOOK for German. It was one-hundred fifty pages long and I read it from front to back. I could not understand every word but I can understand paragraphs. I started the first chapter looking up every word I didn’t understand. A couple hours later and only three pages completed, I decided to try a more relaxed approach. I packed my fluorescent yellow dictionary in the drawer, and just read. I understood the plot line perfectly, and learned phrases that I wouldn’t have picked up in conversations. For example,‘This place is not the bellybutton of the world’. Who would have thought in three months I could complete a novel cover to cover in a week?

I live near the dot on the right and I will be traveling
for my midyear camp to the dot on the left.
Practically across the country!
http://www.wordtravels.com/images/map/Germany_map.jpg

Are classes and expectations different (more difficult?) Than here in the U.S.? 



American high school seniors have SAT’s, German seniors have the Abitur, or known as ‘Abi’. The last two years of highschool are in preparation for this test. The student can choose two primary subjects (History, English, German, Math) and four others (Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Economy, Geography, Politics, French, Russian, Latin, PE). The primary subject tests last six hours each and the others last four hours. In total, twenty four hours of testing. Doesn’t seem so hard compared to our six hour SAT break included test anymore does it? The teaching methods are also different. Rather than taking for example one course on the French Revolution and jamming decades of history into six months, the Germans learn gradually. Their method is to teach for example the French Revolution starting in 8^th grade and every year go more into depth. This way of learning would have really benefited me, and students in general. The majority of my USA school classmates including myself would tell you based on how much we are expected to learn and be evaluated on, we memorize facts and concepts until the test date. Then somehow we relearn everything a couple days (a week or two for me) before midterms or finals and somehow pass with flying colors.

Chandelier in the Celle Castle

The information isn’t completely gone, but it would genuinely take a while for me to recall a piece of knowledge, like finding a piece of paper filed in an eighteen-wheeler sized file cabinet. Which brings me to my answer of the question, there are different expectations for students because their tests are different. I am in the 11^th grade and am watching the frustration of my classmates. They said that the jump between 10^th and 11^th grade was too big, what is expected from this is too much. Can I get an American High School junior amen? The teachers are frustrated that students don’t complete homework, and the students are frustrated with the amount of homework. But they don’t meet everyday like we do, I only have Economy once a week. English meets on Wednesdays and Thursday. German on Monday and Friday. As an unbiased witness, I can understand both sides of the situation.

Are you living in the country or the city?



I currently live in a village, or small town. There are no grocery stores or any official buildings other than a hair salon. More than anything we are a residential village, we are fifteen minutes away from the central city. The ‘city’ is a cobblestone town square with a ‘CVS’, Church, Café, Travel Bureau, Clothing store and Shoe shop including repair.

Door. But their really cool here!

Eating my first Döner.Contents: big pita pocket with
lamb/meat (hah the vagueness)
cucumber slices, white cabbage, red cabbage, tomato.

Is it a long distance from “home” to school?
I am a fifteen minute bus ride from Boizenburg, the central city. Five minutes from a train station. And seven minutes from the closest grocery store and gas station. There are a lot of places to ride a bike in Dersenow that will lead you to other residential villages, but there is no sidewalk on the main road. Also, the main road is more like a highway because it is the only toll-free way between Hamburg and Berlin. That means we have cars and eighteen-wheelers driving by 24/7.

Host Dad picking pears in our tree.
We also have an apple and walnut tree!

Do you feel that it was a more positive choice to attend your senior year away rather than at your home highschool?

I knew that it would be at times difficult to complete my senior year away from home. The excitement of hearing from ‘dream’ colleges, writing dozens of essays, studying for midterms the last time….hahaha that doesn’t sound fun at all. More than anything I would be ‘doing’ I miss the friends I have grown up with. But those who are really important to me will be there when I come home no doubt. A test of true friendship. I know other exchange students are completing their college applications and will be graduates upon arrival, but I chose to complete the year in CT. I will be graduating with the class of 2013.

Flying out from Orientation Camp to Germany!
SO unbelievably hot that day.

I welcome any of your questions that I can answer as a comment. Enjoy the pictures and let me know what you guys think!

Blessings, Genevieve