America and Germany are different in many ways. From schooling, to supplies, to walking around town, the change I experienced coming to Germany from America is striking.
For one thing, school in America generally goes for much longer than in Germany. The school I go to in Austin is called Anderson High School. It starts at 8am and ends at 4:30pm (16:30 for all you Germans) every day. For me, I’m also in robotics, so on Tuesday and Thursday, I am able to go home at around 8:30 (20:30). For us in America, we don’t get free periods if the teacher isn’t there. American students always just get a substitute teacher. The things students do in class is also a bit different in America.
That brings me to my next point, supplies. In America, we don’t have Füller and Tintenkiller. We use pencils for everything in school. When I came to Germany, I was amazed to find out what Füller were, and shocked to learn that children weren’t normally permitted to use pencils on tests. For us, it’s the other way around. We aren’t allowed to use pens on tests.
Simply walking around the city is different, too. In Germany, it’s common for people to walk around there, shopping and watching movies. In America, the city isn’t like that at all. For Americans, it’s harder to even get there, because public transportation isn’t as good as it is in Germany. What we consider “going into the city” is very different than it is here, because the cities are very different. Going into the city is something you would do for a protest or a pride parade, not to hang out with friends. We don’t have things in the city like the Löhr-Center or the Forum. In Austin, the only thing that’s downtown is business.
by Cenna Noble, exchange student