Imagine leaving Ipswich High School
and going to spend a year in another country. You go to a different high
school, and have different friends. That’s exactly what Junior Daniel Wiechel
is experiencing right now. Ever since coming to Ipswich three months ago from
his home country, Germany,
Daniel has made Ipswich his second home.
“I made friends and feel
well-integrated. On top of that I’m very glad that I can stay with three
wonderful host families” said Daniel. A rule of the exchange program Daniel is
in is that you must change host families every three months.
Daniel says that making the
transition from Germany to
the US
was quite easy. He told me about the good exchange rate, and how the US and Germany have
similar cultures. However, Daniel says there are some big differences. “People
are more patriotic here. We, for example, don’t have any flags in our school
and don’t have a pledge to the flag. We seldom sing our National Anthem but
this is an attribute we have because of our history” Daniel said.
He also revealed the difference
between public transportation. Daniel says that in Germany, they rely more on public
transportation and buses and trains are newer and run more frequently then they
do here. He also shared the difference in school systems.
“Secondary
education includes three types of schools based on a student's ability. After
Elementary School (4th grade) teachers give a recommendation to which school
should go. A student can still decide where he wants to go but if his grades
become too bad the students has to go to the lower type of school.” Daniel
shared.
He also revealed that you are in
one classroom with 45-minute lessons for the whole day in high school, similar
to our elementary school setup. However, Daniel says he welcomes this change
and is very happy he can choose his own classes.
If you would like to know more
about Germany
and its culture, you can visit German Club, which starts November 16th.
Announcements are to follow from Mr. Cahill telling you more information.