Life Outside of School

The Hilden City Orchestra

Well, I've finally gotten my school routine down.  (It only took the three weeks that I've been in school!)  Understanding German is  much easier than speaking right now.  On Mondays and Wednesdays (for the next six months), I attend a German language course for immigrants.  It's after school for two hours, and at home I'm using the Rosetta Stone language-learning online course throughout the entire year; lots and lots of German going on!  Every Tuesday is orchestra rehearsal from 6 PM - 8:30 PM.  It's at a music center and has no affiliation to the high school orchestra.  All extracurricular activities are completely separate from school.  And Thursday is jazz band after school and swimming!  I joined the city's swim team to get back in the water for my own fun.  Other than that, I have three more weeks until school is out for our two-week Autumn break!

We're awaiting news about school tomorrow.  One of the teachers of my host-brother, Marvin, just passed away this weekend from a heart attack.  He taught psychology for the thirteenth grade.  It was very sad news for Marvin...the teacher was gone from school the entire week before his heart attack, and now finals are in one week.

School Begins...

This was a very interesting, but confusing day (at least for me)!  I'm in the 12th grade (they have a 13th) at Dietrich Bonhoeffer Gymnasium (grades 5 - 13), which is a Lutheran school.  School doesn't have an exact time that it begins or ends.  It depends on the student's schedule.  On some days, classes start at 7:25 AM and I'm finished at 12:45 PM.  On others, I begin at 8:10 and finish 2:30 PM.  The school is open-campus all day because of the different schedules everyone has.  I live only 10 minutes away by bike, so I usually go home for lunch. 

Every student of every grade at a Gymnasium (college-bound high school) has a full schedule.  What's nice is that you spend more time in two classes that you need to study for your major and minor.  For example, I have politics more than math.  My classes are politics, English, religion (they offer Catholicism), German, history, math, computer programming (it's in English), psychology, and PE.  Everything but English and computer programming is conducted in German.  All classes are organized by grade, and at a Gymnasium it's all one ability level (college preparatory).  Four of my 5 host-siblings attend the same school; Leonie is only 9 years old and she's in the 4th grade.   

This is a "schultuete."  It's a cone filled with candy that students receive on the first day of school, to make their day sweeter; 1st - 4th grade!