die Schule

Okay so I know that this post must be amazing to make up for the fact that I haven't posted since my first week! I'll try my best! 

It's been a long adventure here in Germany and not at all what I expected. But that is definitely a good thing and I am very glad I came. 

I am going to make this post's topic about school because it is very different. I go to a German Gymnasium and I am in the tenth grade. The German system is so that there are three different types of schools and they are based on how good you are in school. The gymnasium is the highest and the Haupschule is the lowest. The tenth grade in the Gymnasium is special because it's the last year before students specialize and start taking classes for their end-of-school exam called the Abitur. I only have the equivalent of six classes (I actually have eleven subjects, but I only have most once a week), but in the eleventh and twelfth grade, students start taking between eight and nine classes a week and the classes are a lot harder. So tenth grade is the perfect grade for an exchange student. 

What I like the most about my school is the fact that I only have one set of people in my class, which makes it significantly easier to make friends (also because there are many amazing people in my class). That changed classroom dynamics in a way I was not expecting. My class itself has been together since the fifth grade and therefore, are they very close and everyone pretty much talks to everyone. It feels much more tightnit and cozy. 

The structure of the classes themselves is also very different and in some ways relaxed, but also in a lot of ways not. Eating is strictly not allowed in all classes, a habit I have sadly had to get over. But teachers don't collect homework, so most people don't do homework. Classes are graded half on a subjective oral grade that the teacher gives based on what you say in class and half on your grade on your tests, typically taken every six weeks. Every subject is graded like this--even PE and art. I only receive grades in some classes and on some tests, but if I didn't, I think I would be really stressed about the fact that I have a c in art because I can't draw faces. That was a sad day. 

My favorite classes are surprise, the classes with a lot of words and at least some politics. They are also my least favorite classes at the same time because almost no one cares about politics and therefore are debates very vanilla. They were also the hardest classes in the beginning because of all the words, but day after day sitting in classes translating words with Sally (my dictionary) have really helped! I also really like my German as a second language class (yes, I am also in a German as a first language class and it is torture) because my teacher is utterly amazing. She has this ability to describe words perfectly so that I can always find the English word and know what she means. 

Overall, I was most shocked about the general attitude towards school. Because students don't turn in homework and half of the grade is subjective, it is maybe harder to receive the equivalent of an A. It's hard to say, but I think it's harder because the tests are not generally harder, but most of the time, there are more trick question. That means that students are happy with receiving 2's and 3's and sometimes even 4's (I can't imagine that, but that's okay) and it was hard for me to get accustomed to that mindset. I am working on it though and it's going better. 

To answer the big question, I have not received all 1's and I have also not failed all my classes. Although I didn't receive a transcript, I normally received a 2 (in better subjects like music and physics) or a 3 on my tests. I have only received one 5 and that was on my first German test. And I am okay with the fact that I no longer have a 4.0.  

That is one of my goals for this semester: to start accepting things that I have had a hard time accepting in the past such as not having a 4.0. Wish me luck!