Charlotta's diary #3
My Daily-life in America
This will be my first essay or rather a diary in English here at this blog.
My day starts here in Oregon City at 5:40am. This is the time when I have to wake up to get ready for school. It's earlier than I have to wake up in Germany, because my school bus comes at 6:48am to pick me up. Since the ride last only 10 minutes, I always meet some friends before the first period starts (7:40am).
At the Oregon City High School there are trimesters and you have the same five classes every day. The first trimester ended at the end of November with finals. I had a lot of options of classes, because it's a big school. Only two classes are required for me: US-History and English. I will have to repeat this year in Germany. Therefore I was able to choose the classes that I want (electives but I chose some harder classes to have an easier start back in Germany). For example in the first trimester I had US-History, Choir, PE-Activities, Criminal Justice and Algebra. Criminal Justice is a subject in which we learned about how to investigate crime scenes. We also learn how CIA works and about different theories of crime. We studied different criminals and their motives.
I like it a lot that I have so many choices that I don't have at my German school. I have the options of engineering, criminal justice, culinary arts = cooking and baking, and digital photography. Schooling is easier here compared to Germany. For the most tests I don't have to learn, because often I can use my notes or they are multiple choice tests. The homework isn't very much or not difficult. But I've already heard from other exchange students or students who moved to my school that it is more difficult at other schools.
Although I think that American schools are easier and I consider the school is feasible here for everyone. The teachers are so much friendlier and if you have problems you can ask them for help. For me also the English language was a bit difficult at the beginning but now it isn't weird. It's totally normal for me and it doesn't make a difference to sit in a class in which I learn in English. Obviously I don't understand all but I can handle it. The school day ends at 4:50pm except on Wednesdays it ends at 2pm. After this I go straight to my practice.
I started with Volleyball and now I'm doing Basketball. For volleyball I was unable to tryout because they occurred before I arrived. When I arrived I was able to practice with the girls on the teams. After the week, the coaches decided that I can play in the Junior Varsity team(JV). That was a big pleasure for me, because I never played volleyball in a club before. At my school we have Varsity, JV, JV2 black and JV2 red. At some schools it's not possible to join a team when you missed the tryouts. So my advice is that before you arrive send the coach of the sport an E-Mail that you would like to join the team, but you wont be there when the tryouts occurs. (Because the most tryouts start before the exchange students arrive) For Basketball I was obviously there for the tryouts because at the most schools basketball is a winter sport. So I register for basketball and before the season started I already had open gym.
Open gym are basketball practices which are not required, but it helps get into rhythm after a long time off. Then after 2 weeks of open gym practices I had my tryouts. They were like normal practices. I was able to make a team although I only played basketball in my sport classes in Germany. After 6pm my practices end I go home, take a shower, eat dinner and finish homework. Then the next day it starts all over again.
I am looking forward to the second trimester with the different classes, new people and a new season.
My day starts here in Oregon City at 5:40am. This is the time when I have to wake up to get ready for school. It's earlier than I have to wake up in Germany, because my school bus comes at 6:48am to pick me up. Since the ride last only 10 minutes, I always meet some friends before the first period starts (7:40am).
At the Oregon City High School there are trimesters and you have the same five classes every day. The first trimester ended at the end of November with finals. I had a lot of options of classes, because it's a big school. Only two classes are required for me: US-History and English. I will have to repeat this year in Germany. Therefore I was able to choose the classes that I want (electives but I chose some harder classes to have an easier start back in Germany). For example in the first trimester I had US-History, Choir, PE-Activities, Criminal Justice and Algebra. Criminal Justice is a subject in which we learned about how to investigate crime scenes. We also learn how CIA works and about different theories of crime. We studied different criminals and their motives.
I like it a lot that I have so many choices that I don't have at my German school. I have the options of engineering, criminal justice, culinary arts = cooking and baking, and digital photography. Schooling is easier here compared to Germany. For the most tests I don't have to learn, because often I can use my notes or they are multiple choice tests. The homework isn't very much or not difficult. But I've already heard from other exchange students or students who moved to my school that it is more difficult at other schools.
Although I think that American schools are easier and I consider the school is feasible here for everyone. The teachers are so much friendlier and if you have problems you can ask them for help. For me also the English language was a bit difficult at the beginning but now it isn't weird. It's totally normal for me and it doesn't make a difference to sit in a class in which I learn in English. Obviously I don't understand all but I can handle it. The school day ends at 4:50pm except on Wednesdays it ends at 2pm. After this I go straight to my practice.
I started with Volleyball and now I'm doing Basketball. For volleyball I was unable to tryout because they occurred before I arrived. When I arrived I was able to practice with the girls on the teams. After the week, the coaches decided that I can play in the Junior Varsity team(JV). That was a big pleasure for me, because I never played volleyball in a club before. At my school we have Varsity, JV, JV2 black and JV2 red. At some schools it's not possible to join a team when you missed the tryouts. So my advice is that before you arrive send the coach of the sport an E-Mail that you would like to join the team, but you wont be there when the tryouts occurs. (Because the most tryouts start before the exchange students arrive) For Basketball I was obviously there for the tryouts because at the most schools basketball is a winter sport. So I register for basketball and before the season started I already had open gym.
Open gym are basketball practices which are not required, but it helps get into rhythm after a long time off. Then after 2 weeks of open gym practices I had my tryouts. They were like normal practices. I was able to make a team although I only played basketball in my sport classes in Germany. After 6pm my practices end I go home, take a shower, eat dinner and finish homework. Then the next day it starts all over again.
I am looking forward to the second trimester with the different classes, new people and a new season.
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