Coming to Dunedin 'best decision I could have made'

Lena Scheibe.
Lena Scheibe.
I have spent nearly one year studying at Logan Park High School and coming here was the best decision I could have made, writes Lena Scheibe, a German student studying at Logan Park High School.

I have learned so much during my time here and English is not the only thing I have improved.

Of course in the beginning it was hard and tiring to speak and hear English all the time, especially studying all my subjects in English.

Subjects like photography and art weren't as difficult to follow as biology, chemistry or physics.

But as soon as I got used to speaking English all the time, it was easier and easier to understand everything.

Now talking English is as normal for me as talking German was before I came here.

There are also a lot of other things that are different here; things I had to get used to.

School here is quite a lot different to school in Germany.

In my old school we started at 8 am, here it starts at 9; in Germany we have more subjects than here.

A lesson in my old school was 45 minutes, here it is one hour, we didn't have assembly in school (but I've heard of some schools in Germany that have assembly) and instead of groups we had 'classes'.

Every student in one 'class' is in the same year and have most subjects together.

And of course then there's the school uniform. It took me a while to get used to wearing a uniform to school.

But I have to say that I actually liked the uniform after I got used to it. No thinking about what to wear every morning.

Now for me living here, speaking English all the time, the different school system feels normal.

I've met a lot of awesome people and made so many new friends here so I don't actually want to go back to Germany.

Every international here I asked said pretty much the same: "I don't want to go back!" Everyone seems to love it here.

Maybe it is because it is so different to everything they know from home.

I asked Makoto Enami from Japan about differences to school in Japan and school here. "First we don't have Interval in Japanese high schools. We have only lunch time and 5minutes rest time between the classes and class is 50-55 minutes. We can't choose so many subjects; we can choose only music or art. We have to clean up our school by ourselves."

Makoto says that she only misses her dog and the Japanese food.

Another important thing is the host family.

My family is amazing.

They have a son my age who goes to Logan Park as well, so that's been really helpful.

I definitely can recommend going on an exchange.

 

Add a Comment