More Schule

Hello again,

So, there are only two more entries left before I am back in the present, and I have to admit that it feels pretty good the out of the woods there. Apologies again for not writing on time, but I was pretty busy over the past couple of weeks with soccer, rotary trips, and a few school things. In fact, I can tell you guys in advance that i will be going dark again for the last week of October because i will be on a Berlin tour with my fellow exchange students here in District 1841 (Bavaria). So, for the first time, here is some advance warning that there is no point in checking the blog for that week, because I will probably not be writing.

Now, as promised, a couple of things about school has begun for me. I think that the best way to do this is to go through each of my classes in order of how they appear in the week and then describe essentially any differences between them and the Canadian courses.

First thing on Monday, I have Grade 11 art class (Kunzt). Those of you who know me can stop laughing now. It is true that I have not taken an art class since Grade 7, when I wrote on my grade 8 electives selection form "Please do not put me in art" no less than 6 times. However, it is a good opportunity for me to meet students, and it also has the added bonuses of not being an academic course and fitting into my timetable, so there you have it; I am in Art Class. I am also in a Grade 10 Chemistry (Chemie), and French (Französich). Unlike in Canada, the division of Subjects begins mud earlier, so by Grade 10 the students have been taking separate Chemistry, Biology, and Physics classes. French begins in Grade 10 here, so I am taking French from the very beginning. However, the pace of learning has been so fast that I think that we will have caught up to my French level by Christmas. It is like this with all classes here, since the school is a Gymnasium. I am also in Grade 11 English, grade 9 and 12 History (Geschichte) and grade 10 Geography. Here, History from grade 9 to 11 focuses entirely on the 20th century, while Grade 12 focuses on the Abiteur (which I will get to later). Geography is a very technical course, even in Grade 10, requiring a lot of thought and memorization which you do not see in a geography class in Canada (I really enjoy geography if and when I know whats going on). I am also in a Math 11 class and two PE classes, one of which is a soccer class, the other of which is a swimming class. However, although these classes have specific topics, no more training occurs in these classes than you would have in a normal PE class in Canada.

Finally, I have the Seminars. These are massive projects, which take a year and a half to complete. beginning in Grade 11, students can choose a school subject and perform a project related to that topic. This takes two different forms, an a practical real life application of a project (for example, in my math based seminar, the class is constructing a math app for use on smartphones) or a theoretical massive research paper (for example, in my geography centric seminar, the students have to write a paper on the sustainability of a city of their choosing). these projects change every year, so there is no guarantee of exactly what you will doing from year to year. However, these projects result in you gaining important life skills for the future, such as how to properly write an informative paper and/or organization, resource management, and team cooperation. I'm sure no student in Canada wants more work to do, but I think that these courses should be introduced to the British Columbian education system.

Thirdly, and finally, the Abiteur. This is the Gigantic pre-graduation final exam that all students in grade 12 must take to graduate. This test covers all curriculum that you have learned in the Gymnasium and is controlled and administered by the state of Bavaria. For those of you from Revelstoke, imagine a challenging provincial exam on everything you learned in High School that you are required to pass to graduate. For the most part, the entire Grade 12 year is spent preparing for this exam, and after the exam, much like Graduation in Canada, the class will sometimes go on an "Abi-Trip" which is typically a vacation to a sunny resort somewhere in the Mediterranean. There are brochures for two different trips available to look at in the school, and at some point in the year the Grade 12's decide which they would rather go on.

That is all for my school description this time. Once again, if you guys have any questions about the education system in Germany or recommendations for future articles, please post them in the comments below and I will get working on them right away. My pile of draft ideas for blogs is dwindling, and I would very much like to fill it up with new ideas. Again, thank you for reading, and I'll be back with some mountain adventures very soon.

Ladies and Gentlemen.... Oktoberfest

Its been a week since it ended, and I still can't quite believe that this is a real event,

Oktoberfest is considered to be one of the most stereotypical German events, and while this may not necessarily be true, it is still one of the must see and do events here in Germany.

This article will be mostly about a trip that I took with the other rotary exchange students, if for no other reason than because that is the trip that I have a couple of pictures of (my phone is still not up and running, so no camera for me).

Helen, Mikayla (two American exchange students), and I at an entrance to Oktoberfest.

So, obviously, the stand out expectation of Oktoberfest is the beer tents, and yes, they are absolutely insane. There are about 12 to 15 gigantic beer tents arranged in the centre of the festival, where most of the participants spend their time. However, other than the beer tents, there are many things in Oktoberfest that I wash't expecting to see. First of all, the gigantic roller coasters. every year, Oktoberfest has two or three temporary roller coasters set up for the event. The traditional olympia coaster features a track that includes, among other things, the shape of the olympic rings. In fact, the entire oktoberfest is set up like a carnival, with lights, games, and rides everywhere.

the Hollenblitz, a gigantic indoor roller coaster complete with 

a waterfall and flashing lights in the shape of a giant tree

There are carnival games, food stands, and small beer tents littering the sides of the wide avenues that people have to walk (or stumble, depending on how your night is progressing) down to get from ride to beer tent to carnival game and back again. Shout out to the police that are monitoring the entire event, from providing directions in the subway to organizing lineups and admission into beer tents. Its a massive project that they run consistently at a very high standard, so well done to you guys.

Oh, yeah, another couple of stereotypes I have to shoot down; Oktoberfest doesn't run for the duration of October. It runs in the last week of September and the first week of October. Secondly, The festival is a Bavarian festival, not a German festival. Although it is the biggest party that is held in Germany, there are carnivals in some of the western cities (such as Köln (Cologne)) that are comparable. Finally, Lederhosen are traditional bavarian clothing, and often they are some of the highest selling products in the souvenir shops that can be found throughout the city during Oktoberfest. However, many people who are going will buy one of these imitation pairs and wear it to the festival. Apparently this commercial side of Oktoberfest has only emerged recently, and, at the moment, if you go to Oktoberfest in ordinarily clothing you will not stand out from the crowd. however, while you are there, try and find a Bavarian in the very traditional pairs of lederhosen, down to a feather sicking of out of the hat. It is a very impressive thing to see, and a real glimpse into a very old culture.

Anyways, obviously go to Oktoberfest, it is one of the landmark German events of the year, and I'm sure at some point I will come back to it. If you have any questions about Oktoberfest, I may be able to answer them, but only if you post them in the comments below.

Thanks guys for all of your support and reading, I'll be back in a couple days with more blog for you guys (and maybe, I dare to hope, a working phone)

My new Fussballklub

Hello again everyone,

So I said soccer was going to be a big part of this adventure, so here is the first instalment of my soccer adventures in Germany. I am now training with the local team here in my village, TSV Allershausen.

Just to be clear, here in Europe, many clubs, especially in the smaller villages like Allershausen, the football clubs are not only football clubs, but also athletic clubs. This means that TSV Allershausen also has a tennis team (which my host family plays) and a baseball, track and field, badminton team, and many other sports teams. However, for the moment, I am going to focus on soccer. 

Here in Allershausen, there are three teams on which I am eligible to play on. The first is the A-Jugend, or the under-19 youth team. Once you are past the A-Jugend, there are two men's teams, separated player talent. The lower is the Zweiten Mannschaft (second team), while the higher is the Ersten Mannschaft (if you can't guess what that means, google it). At the moment, I train with any and all of these teams when they have a practice while I wait for my license to be approved so that I can play games. 

OK, so for those of you who don't follow soccer, I am going to have to explain a unique characteristic of soccer leagues that doesn't exist in North America, known as promotion and relegation. here in Germany, as in all other soccer systems in European countries, the leagues are set up in a pyramid formation. At the very top of the pyramid is the Bundesliga, the top German professional league. Below this league is the second division, possibly a third division and then the leagues split up by region. For example, there may be a Bavarian league here. this division by region continues until you reach a level near what we would call house league level in Canada. However, unlike in Canada, these leagues are flexible. If you finish first in your league, you will be promoted to the league above you and play a new, more difficult set of opponents. Finish first in THAT league, and you are promoted again. This means that, given time and enough skill, ANY team can play in the Bundesliga. However, similar to being promoted, a last place finish will see you relegated to a lower league and easier opposition. In the very high leagues, such as the Bundesliga, this relegation can mean a massive loss in revenue from TV money as well as an exodus of talented players looking for a more successful club than the one that they were formerly playing at. In my personal opinion, I think that this system is very good and should be implemented in North America, not just because because it maintains competition, but also because it gives teams who have lost many games something to play for towards the end of the season and keeps games entertaining, since teams are always needing a win. Having got that out of the way, the first team and the second team both play in a league, with the league of the second team being several divisions below that of the first team. 

So, that's it for soccer at the moment. I'll be sending along updates in the future about the soccer season in much the same manner as I will with the school. if you would like pictures of the TSV Allershausen stadium, I would suggest that you go to their website here. Also like school, if you have any other questions about soccer here in Germany, feel free to post them in the comments below, and I will try and get some answers for you. 

Schule Beginnt!

Hi there

So, obviously the subject of school is a big topic for me, since I'm going be in school for the duration of my exchange. Therefore, you can expect a lot of entries about school during the year. In this first one I am just going to go on a general overview of the education system here in Bavaria. Although all of the education systems follow a similar structure, there are significant differences which prevent me from describing this as the German education system.

So, as some of you know, at the end of 4th grade, the overall grade average of the students over the course of that year determines which school they will go to. The students that receive lower grades will attend a Mittelschule (formerly known as Hauptschule's but changed after complaints that the phrase "half school" was somewhat offensive). These schools prepare the students for trades careers or other jobs in that neighbourhood, where the students enter into apprenticeships almost immediately after they graduate (in Grade 10). Above this is the Realschule, which takes students up to the grade 10 level before they must choose either to write a test which gives them the ability to enter a Gymnasium (more on those later) or to take the same path as a Mittelschule student and enter a trades apprenticeship.

Finally, my school, a Gymnasium. If you do well in Grade 4, you are entered into a Gymnasium. These schools give the most advanced secondary education that can be commonly found, and far more curriculum is covered from year to year than is in Canada, chiefly because those students that may not be able to learn as quickly as the others may be in a different school. This means that even though I am enrolled in Math 11 and Chemistry 10 classes, I only know fragments of what they are learning in these classes, despite graduating with honours in Canada. Also unlike Canada, there is no division in students after primary school, resulting in hallways full of both 10 year old's and 20 year old's. Oh yes, another thing; because the gymnasium is so difficult, falling behind a year because of poor grades is not looked upon with the same scorn that it is in Canada.

I could keep going, but I still have 10 months of entries worth to write, so there will be many entries about school coming your way in the future. Next time, probably I will write about the classes that I am in, some notes on cafeterias, and the relationship between students and teachers.

Don't worry, I am hoping to get a couple of entries out to the world today, while I have some free time, so hang on, more is on the way. If you have any questions about German school that you want answered, please feel free to post them in the comments and I will try to find an answer for you guys.

Meeting all the other Rotary Students

Hi everybody,

Sorry for the absence (again) but I've been very busy over the past couple weeks, mostly with events that will be in the blog for the next half dozen entries. First though, I'm going back to the first weekend that I met my fellow exchange students at the international university in Augsburg.

There is no group dynamic like a bunch of exchange students. I've been on sports teams, clubs, Student councils, and band trips, but there is really nothing like the first time that a Group of People from different countries, with different languages, interests, likes, dislikes, and motivations, stand in a room and realise that all of these other people are in the exact same situation. No one will understand what is going on better than those people who are with you at this moment. Regardless of what you have done in the past, these are the people who will become a second family to you while you are on exchange. It's a situation that can never be found amongst any other large group of people, certainly not over the course of 30 hours. There is really something inexplicable about it. As I write this, one of the students himself is on the other side of the room. Newson Cruz, a student from Brazil, is the other Exchange Student who goes to my Rotary Club in Freising, and I'm sure you'll hear his name in the future.

In Europe, it is fairly uncommon for Europeans to travel to other European counties on Rotary Exchange, so it is not surprising that we have no Rotary Exchange students in the district from Europe. The vast majority of  the students come from the Americas, with Brazil and Mexico being the most heavily represented countries. There are also exchange students from Taiwan, Thailand, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Peru, the US, and of course Canada. Shoutout to Christina Hertner for being my fellow Canadian on Exchange here. There are also 2 students from Texas and one guy from Sweden here on private exchange, and its really awesome having those guys around as well. Here are some photos from the weekend.

The Americans and Canadians (minus Taylor from Oregon)

Here is a group photo of all of us with our flags

As always, if you have comments, suggestions, or recommendations, post it in the comments. Next time, an update on school...