Donnerstag 14. Juli

Hallo Freunden und Familie,

As I am starting this blog post I have come to realize that it’s only been a week since we left Chicago, yet the overwhelming amount of exciting and eye-opening cultural experiences we’ve had so far on this trip have had me feeling as though I have been here far longer. Most notably, having been able to go through the daily routine of a German high school student for the past couple of days have helped me overcome the feeling of being a tourist in this town. Every day this week, my Austauschpartner Markus and I have woken up at 6:15ish, eaten our Bröt und Müsli (bread/toast and cereal) and biked to school for classes at 7:40. Luckily, Markus is one of the few exchange students who lives in Tiengen, the same town the school is located in, so it takes us only about five minutes to bike there every morning.

I get to tell people I lived here for two weeks.

Unlike all the other classes I have sat in on this week, the first class Markus and I attended this morning covered a subject I hadn’t previously been exposed to at Glenbrook North: Religion. I learned today that KGT Gymnasium does require all students to take a religion class, through there are three possible choices for this subject: Catholic, Protestant, and for those very few who don’t follow those two religions (note that Markus told me on my first day here that I was the first Jew he’d ever met), there is an Ethics class offered as well. In KGT, students are actually required to disclose their religion to the school; on Markus’s school schedule, right under the “Name” and “Grade” sections, there was a line that read “Religion: Katholisch”. As an American Jew going into a German Catholic class, I had no idea what to expect, other than perhaps a very strict teacher reading aloud excerpts from the Bible at some point. Luckily, this was not the case. In today’s religion class, the teacher actually led a pretty introspective discussion on the relationship between science and religion and how they can coexist. Unfortunately, however, the teacher did appear strict enough for me to refrain from taking a picture of the classroom.

Luckily, I was still able to steal this picture of the outside of the school from Meghan. 

After Religion, I had read on Markus’s schedule that we would be heading to Physics next, which, to be quite honest, I already have trouble understanding in English. However, during our fifteen minute break in between classes, Markus and I found out, to our great disappointment (kidding), that Physics class was cancelled, as was posted on the wall of daily class cancellations outside the Mensa (cafeteria). This was quite interesting to me, as I don’t think I’ve ever had a class outright cancelled throughout high school. Unlike schools in the US, German Gymnasiums simply allow their students to go home early when a teacher can’t make it instead of using the often unnecessary solution of hiring a substitute teacher who is unfamiliar with the subject they are filling in for.

While we had a field trip planned with the group to visit Luzern and the Alps today, that was unfortunately moved to Monday due to various weather conditions (stay tuned for Sarah’s blog about it soon). Despite the fact that our exciting plans were cancelled for the day, one must realize that we’re living in Schwarzwald, where literally everything is exciting, so there was no feeling of disappointment. So, following our brief school day, Markus and I went along with Simon and Luke Amen (or as I like to call him, Luke #2) to drive down to Konstanz, where we had agreed to meet some other Austauschpartners.

Konstanz Altstadt

Konstanz is a fairly large town (~80,000 people) about an hour and a half away from Tiengen. It is notably where a lot of people in the Schwarzwald area go for shopping, as their town of 8,000 people doesn’t quite have something analogous to Northbrook Court or Old Orchard closeby. While I wouldn’t consider shopping to be one of my favorite hobbies, I must say that I unsurprisingly found our visit to Konstanz very interesting. While there was a three story mall we spent some time in (including a large supermarket on the bottom floor), we also spent some time walking around the town, which was also largely comprised of various shops that we couldn’t help but stop in (and occasionally were forced to stop in due to rain). Despite the fact that it was a largely commercial area with typical stores we have in the US such as H&M or Gamestop, the architecture of the town was still in a fascinating medieval style similar to that of Tiengen.

The large mall in Konstanz

After a few hours of wandering around Konstanz, we had to go home to be back in time for dinner. I was greeted back in Tiengen with a lovely meal as usual from the Strittmatters. During these meals, I am put in a situation where I am forced to converse in German, as neither  Markus’s parents nor his little brother Andi speak English. I’ve found that after several days of real life experience, I really have gotten more confident with everyday conversation to the point that I don’t have to plan what I say minutes in advance like I did the first couple days I was here. Overall, I’ve felt that this trip has been extremely valuable not only from the aspect of improving my German, but also in giving a new cultural perspective as well, and I am incredibly thankful for this opportunity. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for Dylan’s post tomorrow, should be a good one!

All mistakes were intentional,

Luke “Luke #1” Cherchenko