Day 1 down

I went to my first full day of school today! It was pretty interesting. They are doing a lot of the same things we were doing in school. For instance, in their German class, they were rehearsing a play by Schiller, their equivalent of Shakespeare and we had done a Shakespeare play at the end of the year. A major difference is that they stay with the same kids for chunks of periods together and the different teachers move around instead of having passing periods where the students all scramble. There were 4 other american students in the first group of periods (1st-3rd hour) and we learned early on that when the teacher comes in, everyone stands up until they are told they may sit down again. They had a math exam first  period, so I had some time to read my book. The next class was social studies. Some students gave a presentation on the Bundestag and Bundesrad (basically parliamentary centers of Germany) and we talked a little bit about the German political system and current issues. Third period was English class. They are learning about different types of poetry. It was funny to see how they struggle with English the same way that we struggle with German. After that all the American students met up to check in with the chaperones. Then we went to German class where they were rehearsing their Schiller play. Fifth period was religion where we watched the end of a movie on WWII. Sixth period, the last class in Eva's schedule, was computer science. They were working on coding. Then we took the bus home. I am also learning how sparkling water is the go-to liquid and it is rare for people to drink still water instead. Lunch was pasta salad today and afterwards we had espresso and cookies. After lunch, Eva and I took the bus into Trier. Trier is much bigger than I had anticipated. I would say it's about the size of Boulder, CO. I got a lot of pictures on my camera, but unfortunately I don't have wifi on my computer so there's not a way for me to upload them right away. I will try to do so later, though! 

Porta Nigra (the black gate, also the symbol of New Trier)