Ok so I thought it would be good to give everyone an actual update of what is going on, besides just pictures.
I started Gymnasium two Fridays ago. School here is so, so different!
I have school until 4:30 on Mondays, and 2:00 on Tuesdays, but all the other days am out at 1.
I have so many classes. Music and art are.... interesting. I definitely prefer photography to painting.
I understand physics, and math, and obviously english. Chemistry I understand mostly so far, but the elements have different names. Both in my biology class and my natural science class I understand general concepts, but not how all the details fit together.
I also get the general idea in geography.
In French my vocabulary seems sufficient, but the amount of grammar I know is quite minute compared to the rest of the girls in my class. My French in general has gotten worse since coming here, after a peak when I first arrived and found I could say nearly everything in French (things I didn't know I knew how to say).
My German has gotten much better. I've been told I'm doing well for being here only six weeks.
I accidently answered a question in German during English class......
It is not good enough though for me to understand my German, history, or politics classes very well. My teachers, however, are very helpful.
I wrote a two page essay in German within four days of being in Gymnasium. It's exactly like writing an English essay, only I needed to look up every other word, and had no idea how to arrange the words in a functional German sentence. Needless to say the grammar was
schlect (bad), but my German teacher said he thought the essay was good! :)
I went to a beautiful castle in Baden-Baden with my
Gasteltern (host parents). It is from the 1400s, and is super cool.
I also went to Europapark last Saturday which was very fun and funny. As were the train rides there and back.
Next week I have Fall Vacation. I will leave Saturday with my
Gastfamilie (host family) for my
Gastvater's (host father's) hometown in the Alps! Then next Tuesday or Wednesday we will leave and go to Munich, and then return next Friday.
Everything here is on a so much more laid-back schedule. Z.B. (zum Beispiel/for example): the German essay I was telling you about, I and one other girl were the only people had it on time, and the teacher didn't give any sort of penalty to the other students. All that happened was that he gave them the period to work on it.
Also with rowing I just go on what ever day suits me. I don't have to tell my trainer ahead of time when I will be there. It's nice in one instance z.B. today it rained and I was like I don't feel like rowing in the rain is very pleasant, so I'll go another day. I, however, at the same time miss the dedication and sense of achievement that comes with my activities in the U.S. Not that I'm not still dedicated to rowing and riding! It's just in a very different way over here.
Anyways everything is quite fantastic, and I'm having a most wonderful time!
Hope it's the same for everyone reading this :)
Ok so these are absolutely ALL my photos from the Alps. So there are some from my very first views of the Alps, which were really cool because everything below was in the clouds, but then it was very very clear all of the sudden!
