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Friday, September 11, 2015

School, School, and.... School.

So, this week, the biggest and most interesting thing that's happened is me starting school.  And that's about it.  But it's a pretty big thing, so it'll should still be an interesting post.

To start off with, I have absolutely loved this first week in the school.  The students are nice, the teachers are amazing, and the similarities and the differences make it, for the most part, more enjoyable.  Schedule wise, class begins at 7:40, and we are free to leave at different times depending on the day.  The standard time to leave is around 5:00, which would totally suck if it weren't for a few other details.  For lunch, I take a bus home and have an hour and 40 minutes to eat and then go back to school.  I usually have 20-30 minutes of free time at home before I have to get on the bus, so this is nice.  Every Wednesday, we have no school in the afternoon.  We go until lunch, at which point I go home and have the rest of the day.  Needless to say, this is amazing.  The last class on Thursday is Chemistry Lab, for which there are two groups.  Each week, one group will have Chemistry Lab, while the other is free to go home early.  The groups who have CL switch off each week, so every other week I get to go home early.  So schedule wise, things are pretty nice.  

Now on to classes.  I'll start with my different language classes.  English is by far one of my favorite classes, and before you get to rolling your eyes, it is not just because I am a native English speaker.  I absolutely love the teacher, Mr. B.  He comes from England, which to me is a plus, and he has an extremely nice personality.  I probably learn more German from English class than from any of my other classes, because each time Mr. B teaches the class what something in English means in German, I learn some more vocabulary.  Of course, there is German class, and while it is not my least favorite class, it definitely is not the most interesting.  The third language class that I have is French.  Basically, what this means is that, I am in Switzerland learning High German as well as struggling my way through Swiss German (which is completely different), and on top of all this I get to learn French.  This actually isn't as bad as it sounds.  My French teacher is great, and on top of speaking French, German, and a variety of other languages, he speaks Spanish, which I am very familiar with.  During class, while I understand about 0% of what he says, he will pause for a few seconds to explain to me, in Spanish, what he just instructed to class to do in French.  

Moving on, I have two different math classes: Geometry, and Algebra.  These two are, in a way, easy and difficult for me at the same time.  I have had both of these classes already in the United States, so most of the things that are taught I recognize and know already.  Now, if I don't recognize what's being taught, it is at this point that I am basically screwed, because I don't understand enough of the German math terms to get the slightest idea of what's being taught.  Overall, it's basically what you'd expect: a relatively non-exciting math class with the added bonus of a language barrier.

Science makes things a little bit more interesting.  Sort of.  On the positive side, there is Chemistry.  There are two huge complimentary pluses to this class, the first being that I've had it before in the USA so I recognize most of the things that are taught, and the second being that in Chemistry there are a lot of things that are very universal.  Things such as the periodic table of elements and the way you balance equations.  Chemistry is easily on the higher end of my list of favored classes.  Then there is Biology.  Now, normally I would like the class pretty well.  It's another one that I've already had at home, and I liked it pretty well there.  The problem is that I don't understand a ounce (#metricjoke) of what's going on.  You think the names and terms are crazy normally, try to understand them in a language you hardly know.  Currently we are studying single-celled organisms.  Or plant cells.  Or cell functions.  To be honest, I'm not quite sure.  But my teacher is great and is extremely understanding.  

I have a history class, which is pretty standard.  Not extremely interesting, but it isn't horrible.  We are currently studying the Spanish and Portuguese exploration of the Americas.  I have geography which is a bit more interesting.  We've done some hands on things with globes and flashlights to represent the Earth and the Sun.  Finally, I have Informatik which is basically tech-ed.  This is the class that I have looked forward to the most as somewhat of a geek, but it is scheduled for Tuesdays and this Tuesday we had Berg Tag aka Mountain Day.

So for Berg Tag, each class met individually at the train station instead of at the school.  We then took a short train ride and then a shorter bus ride to a Gondola station and rode up to the top of a mountain that neighbors Säntis.  Then, for the entire school day, we hiked through the mountains until finally ending up at the bottom near the station where we started.  I was able to take a few pictures that turned out pretty well.  I also really got to know most of my classmates while talking with them all day. 





 

I think that'll be all for this post.  I plan on keeping up with posting from now on, so no more slacking and leaving the blog for two weeks.  Please ask any question that pops into your head over the past two posts my commenting on a post, or sending an email to me at ethankiffmeyer@gmail.com.  There should be be a few pictures at the very end on some smaller things that have happened over the past few weeks.

Bis Bald,
-Kiffy

I also want to remember those who died in the terrorist attack on September 11th, 2001 and their families as this will be posted on the anniversary of the attack.  Thank you also to those who serve in the United States military for risking your life to defend our freedom.  

The Front of my school.


The courtyard in the back of my school.

On the last day of the German course, my friends and I spotted Darth Vader and a Storm Trooper and asked for some pictures.

Nikki, one of my better friends, on the train ride home last Friday.

My friend Zoe, from the Philippines on the last day.

On Berg Tag, I stole the hat of one of the girls in my class, and she said I should take a selfie with it.  So I did.

  

2 comments:

  1. I'm envious of you getting so much experience with languages, but I'm sure it's exhausting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You're a very interesting writer, E. I'm sure glad you're enjoying yourself so much. Sometimes it looks like a little too much! ;) Love and miss you!!!

    ReplyDelete