Day 3 & 4: First Days at Guyer High: A New School Experience

October 8th and 9th, 2024

Wednesday, October 9th marked our third day at Guyer High School, and it was the first day we didn’t spend entirely with our exchange partners. The day before, we had created our own schedules, so today we attended the classes we had chosen ourselves.

At first, being in a school of over 2,500 students on my own was a bit scary. My first class was sociology. I arrived about five minutes early, and there were only four other students in the room with me. Apparently, being on time isn’t really the norm here! Most students showed up late. When the teacher arrived, he greeted everyone and asked how they were doing. He even asked me a few questions about my name and the exchange program. Everyone here is super friendly and curious about Germany and what life is like for us. The teacher also shared a bit about his weekend and his son, which I found interesting because teachers here seem to share much more about their personal lives than I’m used to.

After sociology, I went to German class. A few other exchange students and I helped the American students with their exercises. Then, I had U.S. History, which turned out to be the most fun class of the day! We went to the library and spent time practicing how to control a toy car. It was a nice break from sitting in a classroom.

One thing I found different here is that the school has lunch periods because there are too many students for everyone to eat in the cafeteria at the same time. My history class had lunch in the middle of the lesson, so we took a break, went to lunch, and then returned to class to finish up by taking notes about President Jefferson.

In French class, we had an interesting conversation with the American students and their teacher, mixing French and English as we discussed the differences between Germany and the U.S.

My last class of the day was U.S. History again, since my exchange partner is also in this class. After school, we went home together. She’s still learning to drive, so in the morning we take the bus to school, and in the afternoon, her dad drives the car to school and she drives us home.

All in all, it was a really exciting day, and I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!

(Carla, 11th grade)