Bjarne - Day 19 (24.3.) LAST DAY OF SCHOOL

Last day of school 

Today was the last school day. 

After waking up at 7:15am in the morning my exchange student and I ate breakfast. I ate like every morning some cereals, brushed my teeth and packed my bag for the school. We had to leave a little bit earlier, because we had to buy lunch for me. We left at 7:45am and picked up Tony like every school day. After that we drove to a baker and my host mother bought some bread for me, we arrived at school at 8:45am. The school day didn’t start with lessons, but with church services, at the school they call it chapel. It was split up in two church services, that split up half of the Senior School students. 

The first church services started at 8:55 am until 9:15 am and all the Germans had to sit on the stage. It was very interesting to see how they do the church services, it was led by a Reverend. A girl sang a song, another women did a preach and Bruce and an Australian student said the Lord's Prayer. It was really funny to hear it in too different languages at the same time. The second church services was the same like the first. It was a great experience.

The first lesson what we had was chemistry. It was really interesting to saw the differences between the German chemistry class and the Australian class. 

After that Bruce Jason and I had free time for 45 min. We walked through the school and explored the school property.

At 11:37 am the 3rd period began. They had math class and learned something about Quartic polynomials. 

The last period before the lunch was “active for life”. So they had to walk to each classroom what they had to day and a pedometer counted the steps.

After that, we had lunch for 50 min. I ate my sandwich and drank apple juice. It was really good. We talked too many Australian students and had fun. At the 5th and 6th period we had sport. It was really cool because we had sport outside. We were split up in four groups and played soccer and European handball. After that we played rounders, Its like baseball. The Australian student weren’t so good at soccer and handball, but in baseball. 

The school finished at 15:32 and Michael, Tony and I were pick up by Michael’s mother and we went home too ate lunch. We did not eat much, because in the evening we wanted to go to a birthday party for Luke. 

At 7:00 pm Michael’s dad brought us to the party. It was really awesome and they had a good DJ, nice food and there were so much people. The party ended at 12:00 a clock and I was really tired.

The day was really awesome but also sad. Because it was the last time, I get to see all the Australian students. But some students will visit us next year.

Reverend – Pastor 

Quartic polynomials- quadratische polynomiale

Pedometer- Schrittmesser

Nikita - Day 23 (28.3.) SAYING FAREWELL

Today was my third last day in Melbourne (28th of March 2016). I woke up at about 10:30 today. We had a cheeky sleep in because my host buddy Timmy had 4 friends over for a “farewell – sleepover”. I had a great time with Timmy´s friends as we went for a walk to the park first and had a really fun FIFA tournament after that. Timmy has some great friends and I bonded very well with them. So after we woke up and had breakfast Timmy´s friends went back to their houses. After we digested our breakfast, we had a shower and put on some classy clothes as my host mother Jasmine took the family out for a lunch. 

We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant called “Gold Leaf”. 

The food there was very traditional, so some of the food I have never eaten before. An example they served us are the Chinese dumplings or the deep-fried Won Tons. I was really full after we ate however it was delicious. 

After we returned home after lunch we organized to meet up with some other exchange students at Watergardens shopping centre. Watergardens is a popular shopping centre where a lot of students who live in the area (Taylors Lakes, Keilor & Hillside) would shop, chill and hang out. (Here is the link to the shopping centre: https://www.watergardens.com.au/). 

So then we met Roman, Leon T., Leon H., Kenan and their exchange students. We walked through the mall together and bought some souvenirs for our families back in Germany while Timmy went to get a haircut. After about an hour he was finally done with his haircut. Then the group of us got some food and sat together on a big table at the Watergardens food court. We ate and talked to each other for ca. two hours before the other boys parents came to pick them up.

Soon after the others left my host mother came to pick Leon T., his exchange student Tom, Timmy and me up. Leon and Tom came to our house because Timmy invited them to go in his Spa.

By the time we got home it was pretty late, the sun was just about to set. It was around 7 o´clock when we got home. So we changed our clothes and went to the Spa which was pretty heated. Then we played music and had a deep and meaningful conversation. Afterwards Timmy´s mother called us for dinner. We ate nice dinner and towards it Leon and Tom got picked up by his host mother.

After this relaxed but also exhausted day I was happy to go to bed and prepare for my last full day in the maybe most beautiful city on this planet!

Last but not least I would like to introduce some new words that I have learnt in Australia:

1) Snags – Australian word for sausage

2) Board shorts – swim shorts

3) Banter – having a joke

4) Arvo- afternoon

5) Servo – gas station

6) She´ll be right - it will be okay

Leon T. - Day 22 (27.3.) EASTER

Today Jaydin, Leon H., Tom, me and Jaydin's brother Deren all woke up at around 11:00 o'clock. The reason for us all sleeping in the same house, is that we went for a little 3 day trip to the beach house of Jaydin's family. After waking up and slowly regaining our energy, we went down to the beach, which was only a few minutes away from their beach house and luckily not stony at all. After arriving there, just the very few of us went for a good, but very cold swim, that sadly didn't last very long, because the water was freezing cold.

After returning from our little excursion to the beach, we ate a good breakfast consisting of bacon, eggs, toast and hotcross buns with everyone. Then we proceeded to pack our things into the car, because we were about to leave the beachhouse at Ocean Grove, since we had to prepare for a nice Easter buffet dinner at the Langham Hotel in Melbourne later on with everyone we went to the beach house with, as well as with my host mother and other family members on the part of Leon H's exchange student.

At roughly 7:00 o'clock each one had arrived and we began to eat through the gorgeous Easter buffet, which had a huge variety of starters, even more main dishes and a very satisfying amount of desserts.

Just a few examples of the main dishes we got to enjoy, were a chicken curry, a cauliflower vegetarian curry, a lot of meat dishes and two things I had never tried in my life before until this day. Those two things were Peking duck, which is traditionally eaten with scallion, cucumber and sweet bean sauce with pancakes rolled around the fillings and Oysters, that were freshly cooked and refined with chopped bacon on top of it.

I think everyone greatly enjoyed the dinner and there was not a single thing that I ate which I didn't like. I reckon that almost everyone felt that way since there were no complaints at all and we all had a great time while talking and eating.

Three words I learned here in Australia:
Bottle-o: A shop that sells alcohol and is often attached to a pub.
Bloke: A really good and nice guy that everybody likes.
Fuck oath: Commonly used instead of the words "I'll say!" or "Damn straight".

Yarah - Day 18 (23.3.)

Today we were at the Royal Botanical Gardens to take part in the Aboriginal Heritage Walk.

My day started at 7:30am when I woke up. That is a little bit later than normal because I usually have to leave the house at 7:15am to catch the bus to the Keilor Campus. But today we [Georgia, Ryan (who is my host brother) and me] were driven with a car by my host dad Shane because yesterday we had house performances. I really enjoyed the house performances and wish we have something like this at our school, too.

We arrived at 8:45 at the Canowindra Campus, which is the Campus for students of year 9, and the meeting point for the German students when we drive into the city.

We took the tram at 9:13 am in the direction of Flinders Str. Our group was complete except for Enrico and Irina who missed the train. At Flinders St., we took the number 8 City tram to drive to the Royal Botanical Gardens. As we arrived at the Gardens, we met our guide and Irina, Enrico and Mr Eicker (who had waited for them at the tram station).

The name of our guide was Ben.

First of all we had a smoking ceremony with different leaves that represent the three generations: grandparents, parents and children.

This ceremony was to welcome our group. It was something the Aborigines did when someone new arrived at their place. Wominjeka!

I liked the smoking ceremony because we were part of it by lying eucalyptus leaves into the fire which Ben made. However, the smoke was disgusting. It did not smell very good. After the ceremony, we went to the lomandra plant and three of us (Nikita, Bruce and Yasmin) ate some of them. They said it taste like celery. In earlier times, the Aboriginal women used the Lomandra grass to make wattle baskets, so it is very flexible.

After the Lomandra grass, we went to the Paper Bark Tree which only exist in New South Wales and Queensland in the nature. The tree is very dry and before we left it, we had to hug the tree. (Comment Mrs Otten: Each guide in the Botanical Gardens has a special "hugging tree" that guests have to hug. There is a special bond between the guide and tree. One of the guide had a giant redwood tree as his hugging tree and when he retired, that tree died within three days. I think that is pretty impressive and shows the connection between the Aborigines and their land.)

Then we went to a Tea Tree. The leaves smell a little like lemon and eucalyptus. It is a medicine tree that is good for headache and migraine.

After the Tea Tree, we went to a eucalyptus tree which was older than 300 years old. There are ca 1000 different sorts of eucalyptus, but only 40 of these sorts can be eaten by the koala.

After this interesting news we went through the “rain forest” which was very beautiful.

At the end of the “rain forest” we stood near to the lemon myrtle tree. It is used to make tea and its leaves smell like lemon.

Right after seeing the tree, we drank the tea of the lemon myrtle tree. While we were drinking the tea, Ben showed us the original map of Australia and the flag of the Aborigines, which is like the German flag with black, red and yellow. In the flag, the black stands for the people, the yellow for the sun and the red for the blood (or the sand). At the end of the tour, we had to say what we liked most about the tour and what we learned. We talked about Ben’s origin and how his childhood was as an Aborigine.

Then we went to the shop of the Botanical Gardens and bought some gifts for our families. On the other side of the road was the memorial monument, the Shrine of Remembrance. It remembers the people who died in the first World War, but we weren’t allowed to go inside. Then we bought something to eat and drove back to the Canowindra Campus. Bruce, Janna, Elena and I took the bus from the Canowindra to the Keilor Campus at 3:30 pm. I met Georgia at 3:45 pm at the Keilor Campus, drove with the bus at 4 pm to Sunbury and from Sunbury to Gisborne. We arrived at our home at 5 pm.

At 5:30, Georgia and I ate a little snack. After that we drove with Shane to Colleen, who is a friend of the family, and made a silk painting of Australian animals and landmarks. I had so much fun even though I couldn't draw well. Georgia and I will finish our painting on Monday and I’m very exited to see our “masterpiece”. We came back at 8 o'clock and ate dinner. After the dinner I started to write the blog post.

I really enjoyed my day today it was very interesting and I had a lot of fun.

Three words I learned here in Australia:

Creep: It is a synonym for crawl. I learned it while I was playing “Pictionary" with Georgia, Georgia C.and Janna. I had to draw it and had no idea what this word means.While I was trying to draw it, they often said ‘crawl’ but never ‘creep'. At the end, I had to say the word because they didn’t know what I was drawing. We laughed about my drawing and the word, and so I learned this word.

Random Tree: I learned the word today, and it denotes a tree that is over 300 years old.

Obsession: I took this word because I didn’t know another new word, so I asked Georgia for a word. It means if you like something too much then you have an obsession for that thing.

Jason - Day 17 (22.3.)

Today the mainly and most interesting thing happened in the evening.

After waking up at 7:30 in the morning some German exchange students (me included) and Mr. Eicker caught the train at the train station “Watergardens”, which is located next to the shopping mall “Watergardens”, at 8:53 for being at the arranged meeting point (state library) at ten o’clock. 

We had to take out sheets for the scavenger hunt with us for answering the remaining questions. One of our exercises was finding the two guards of the clock. In the first moment we didn’t know what that means but what we found then was a big clock in a shopping mall surrounded by giants GOG and MAGOG. 

GOG and MAGOG

A British legend says that the giants GOG and MAGOG are the guards of London.

That is actually what I did the whole morning until 12:20pm. That was the point when the working time changed into free time. Some boys of our group and I went shopping and we had to catch the train at central station at two o’clock. 

Some of us stayed in the city until the house performances. In this time I stayed together with Bjarne and Nikita and we had lots of fun.

House Performances 

In the evening the house performances took place in a big building at Southbank.

The students of the Overnewton Anglican Community Collage are assigned to one of the four houses. The four houses are:

- Curie (red)

- Newton (blue)

- Edison (yellow)

- Pasteur (green)

The House Performances are a competition, in which the the students have to present what they developed the weeks before (dancing, singing, acting, …). After the students of the houses present their work, judges evaluate the performances. 

This year the red house (Curie) won the house performances which was good for me because my exchange student Ethan is part of Curie.

This night was very interesting because I haven’t ever experienced something like that before. I was very impressive because what I saw this evening is comparable to performances in German theatres.

I think this evening is one of the things of the time in Australia I won’t forget.

In Australia I learned many new words. Three of them are:

Insomnia: describes the feature not being able to sleep. I learned the word in one of the German lessons in school. In that lesson we talked about what the student want to be or to do in the future.

Billabong: “Billabong” is a typical Australian Word. It describes something like a waters and has its origin in the aboriginal culture. I heard this word first time in the song “Waltzing Matilda” and wanted to find out what it means.

Arachnophobia: is the technical word for fear of spiders. When we went to Sydney zoo,  Ethan used this word because I told him that I don’t like spiders.

Time to take a look at the exchange - what do our students think after two weeks?

Bremen vs. Melbourne

My past 2 weeks were very interesting. I have experienced a lot, for example the weekend holiday at Cairns with the Great Barrier Reef or the Great Ocean Road. Everything has been a totally amazing experience, which I will maybe never experience again. That is because I’ve learned a lot. Now I want to write a text about my personal opinion from the two cities Melbourne and Bremen.

Melbourne is much bigger than Bremen. That is not bad, because small can be comfortable. But I prefer bigger cities.

Higher - The buildings in Melbourne are higher than in Bremen. I live on the fifth floor and that is very high for me. But behind our building, there is an building which is twice as high than our building. I can’t imagine living in an apartment that high.

Living - Living in an big city like Melbourne is cool but not normal. I only had to go out of the door to stand in front of the Ethiad stadium, the second stadium for Australian Football in Melbourne. After no more than ten minutes with the tram you are in the city to go shopping. A dream - because in Bremen I need an half hour.

But the living here has drawbacks, too. I have to drive half an hour to school. That is a big difference to Bremen, because there it takes no more than 15 minutes on the bike to my school. Every time when you want to go to an event out of the city you have to drive with the car. It’s a little bit annoying, because you have to wait until somebody can drive you. I would miss being independent.

Inner city - The inner city from Melbourne is big and very modern. In Bremen the inner city is old and comfortable. I prefer the intimacy of Bremen for shopping rather than the stress of the big city.

I can’t say which city is “better”. Every city is special in his own way. I like both kind of city and I hope I can come back to Melbourne some time.

My past two weeks

My past two weeks in Australia were very cool. My host family is very nice and I had a good time there. The first Monday we had a welcome breakfast at the Keilor campus with our exchange students and afterwards I went to the Canowindra campus in the class from my exchange student. The next two days we went in the city and saw many interesting buildings. On Thursday we all went to the zoo and saw kangaroo and koalas. On Friday I went to school again with my exchange student. We had the athletics sports carnival . It was very funny and I came first at shot put. On Saturday we went to Grampians. It was so cool and I saw so many things. On Sunday we went to Phillip Island. First we went to the Koala conservation center and met Målin and her host family. Afterwards we went to the Nobbies ocean discovery center. This was also very cool and we had a lost of fun. In the evening we all went to the Penguins Show and saw the Penguins. We met 9 other German exchange students with their host families. On Monday was Labor Day and this day was a little bit boring because my exchange student had to do homework the whole day. On Tuesday we went to the great ocean road. We saw the 12 Apostles, a waterfall, a lighthouse and we went surfing. It was so cool and a good experience. Today I am again at school. I like to learn something about Australia and it is so funny here with my exchange student. It liked everything here but the food is different. 

This weekend I will go to the 1000 steps and to the Queen Victoria Market. 

Food

The food here in Australia is so different than in Germany. First I want to talk about the eating habits. Mostly the family members stand up when they are finished with their meal and don't wait for the other people who are still eating. In Germany the families eat together and wait for the others. 

In the morning the most families eating white bread with butter and vegemite. Sometimes they eat cereal or eggs. The students eat their lunch in school. Often it is a sandwich, some fruits and some candy or lollies. In the evening they have some warm food. The meat taste a little bit bitter and here are some vegetables I never saw before in Germany. The rice and the potatoes taste also a little bit bitter. I like German food more than the Australia food because I don't like the bitter taste.

Sport

Meine vergangenen zwei Wochen in Australien vergingen wie im Flug. Ich habe sehr viel erlebt, wie zum Beispiel die "Great Ocean Road", oder die Ausflüge am Wochenende mit meiner Familie. Dabei ist mir sehr viel aufgefallen, wie beispielsweise die Sportarten. In Bremen haue ich mir den Kopf mit Sportarten wie Handball oder American Football ein. Hier in Australien, spielen die Menschen sehr viel Cricket eine Sportart, die ich nach etlichen Erklärversuchen meines Austauschschülers immer noch nicht verstanden habe. Australian Rules Football ist eine der härteren Sportarten in Australien. Sie ist eine der Sportarten, die von den Schülern in der Pause gespielt wird. Der neunte Jahrgang hat ein eigenes Gebäude mit einem Sportplatz. Ich finde, dass die Atmosphäre und die Stimmung an dieser Schule um ein weites besser ist, als an unserer Schule. Alle Schüler an unserer Schule sollten sich umgehend das Benehmen, die höfliche Atitüde und den Umgang mit den Lehrern hier an der Schule aneignen. 

Ich hoffe, dass die nächsten zwei Wochen genauso spannend, interessant und faszinierend werden wie bisher. 


My past two weeks 

Meine letzten 2 Wochen vergingen ziemlich schnell. Ich wurde sehr nett aufgenommen. In der Nacht als wir ankamen hat meine Gastmutter direkt Schokocroissants in den Ofen getan, obwohl es 2 Uhr nachts war. Ich bekomme hier also (zu) viel zu Essen.
Mir war eigentlich nie langweilig. Meine Gastmutter hat bis jetzt für fast jeden Tag etwas organisiert. In der ersten Woche war es ziemlich warm und wir waren oft schwimmen oder in der Stadt, auch mit anderen Austauschschülern.

Am Wochenende waren wir auf dem Moomba Festival mit einigen anderen vom Austausch. Das war ziemlich lustig und ähnelte unserem Freimarkt ein bisschen. Außer, dass man bei uns auf dem Freimarkt alle Fahrgeschäfte bezahlen muss. Auf dem Moomba Festival kann sich ein Armband für 45$ kaufen und damit kommt man einfach so in alle Fahrgeschäfte. Das finde ich ganz gut und man kann viel Geld sparen.

In der nächsen Woche hatten wir am Montag Schulfrei, da Labour Day, ein australischer Feiertag, war. Darum waren wir an dem Tag im Highpoint, ein Shoppingcenter, zum Shoppen. Ich finde es sehr faszinierend, dass die Geschäfte und Shoppingcentren an Feiertagen teilweise bis 5 Uhr geöffnet haben.

Am Dienstag sind wir mit allen Deutchen an die Great Ocean Road gefahren. Das war für mich bis jetzt das Highlight des Austauschs. Wir haben eine Bustour gemacht und nachts in verschiedenen Hosteln übernachtet. An den ersten beiden Tagen sind wir nur rumgefahren und haben Regenwälder, Wasserfälle und die Twelve Apostles angeguckt und eine Führung bekommen. Am Anfang fand ich das noch sehr schön und interessant, aber am Ende wurde es etwas langweilig, immer wieder Steine im Wasser anzusehen. Am Donnerstag, also unserem letzten Tag an der Great Ocean Road, haben wir einen Surfkurs gemacht . Alle hatten viel Spaß und standen mindestens ein Mal auf dem Brett.

Family Relationships

Die Beziehung zwischen den Kindern und ihren Eltern unterscheidet sich sehr von der in Deutschland. Ich finde die Beziehung hier ist besser, denn ich habe das Gefühl, dass die Schüler immer zu ihren Eltern gehen, wenn sie Hilfe brauchen oder irgendeine Arbeit o.ä. ansteht. Natürlich können wir das in Deutschland auch, aber irgendwie macht das keiner. Meine Austauschschülerin hatte letztens einen großen Streit mit einer Freundin. Das hat sie ihrer Mutter erzählt und die Eltern von den Beiden haben das dann versucht zu klären. Das hat aber nicht gereicht und deswegen ist die Familie dann auch noch zu uns nach Hause gekommen, um das zu klären. Wenn ich zu Hause Probleme mit meinen Freunden oder anderen Personen habe, bekommen meine Eltern das meist gar nicht mit oder ich rege mich höchstens bei denen über diese Person auf. Das war's dann aber auch.
Außerdem ist mir aufgefallen, dass die Eltern sehr darauf achten, dass ihre Kinder die Schule ernst nehmen und ihre Hausaufgaben machen. Ich glaube meine Mutter weiß gar nicht, was bei uns in der Schule so passiert. Einige Eltern bei uns in Deutschland können froh sein, wenn sie überhaupt einmal einen Elternbrief bekommen würden. Wenn wir eine Arbeit schreiben, sage ich meiner Mutter vielleicht mal "Ja, wir schreiben morgen Mathe. Ich lerne jetzt mal ein bisschen". Das war's dann aber auch.
Das könnte aber auch daran liegen, dass die Eltern hier viel Geld für die Schule bezahlen, was bei uns ja nicht wirklich der Fall ist. Ich denke Privatschulen in Deutschland sind auch nicht so teuer, wie die Privatschulen hier.
Auch ziemlich auffällig ist, dass hier alle alleine essen. Wir Schüler essen zwar zu alle zusammen und warten auch gegenseitig auf uns, aber der Vater zum Beispiel isst immer im Wohnzimmer vor dem Fernseher und die Mutter und die Oma (die hier auch im Haus lebt) habe ich noch nie essen gesehen.
Ich habe auch von anderen Austauschschülern gehört, dass alle immer nach unten zum Essen kommen und gehen wie sie wollen und alle immer alleine essen.
Das Letzte, dass mir aufgefallen ist, ist dass alle überall mit dem Auto hingefahren werden. Die Eltern nehmen sich also immer Zeit für ihre Kinder, um sie zur Schule etc. zu bringen.
Das liegt aber auch daran, denke ich, dass Melbourne sehr groß ist und alles ziemlich weil auseinander liegt.

My two weeks

Ich bin heute aufgestanden und habe mich gefragt: “Sind tastaechlich schon zwei Wochen um?!”

Ja so ist es in der Tat. Nach 14 Tagen in Australien habe ich schon eine Menge neue Erfahrungen gesammelt, neue “mates” (Schulkollegen) kennengelernt und das Leben der Australier kennengelernt. Es ist so anders hier, vergleicht man die Gewohnheiten, “Ticks” und den Lifestyle der Aussies mit unserem Leben in Deutschland. Nicht alles ist besser, es ist aber auch nicht alles schlechter. Mir gefaellt zum Beispiel der Umgang der Menschen untereinander hier. Die Hoeflichkeit der Leute, zumindest derer, die ich bis jetzt kennengelernt habe, ist wirklich makaber. Allerdings ist es manchmal etwas komisch sich fuer Kleinigkeiten zu entschuldigen, die man in Deutschland einfach als Nichtigkeit abgetan haette. Das liegt  einfach daran, weil wir es nicht so gewohnt sind. :P

Ich freue mich schon sehr darauf, mit meinem Austauschpartner shoppen zu gehen. :D

Leider hatten wir da so gut wie keine Zeit fuer. Zeit vergeht hier wie im Flug, “time runs”. Das finde ich sehr schade, es liegt aber daran, dass wir hier gut zu tun bekommen bzw. beschaeftigt werden, was ich aber auch gut so finde, schliesslich wollen wir hier auch etwas erleben.

Alles in allem bin ich aber mehr als zufrieden, ich habe bis jetzt viel Gutes erlebt hier. Meine Gastfamilie ist super nett und wir verstehen uns alle richtig gut miteinander. Am Tag meiner Ankunft, dem Sonntag, waren wir bei einem Schwimmturnier meines Austauschschuelers. Ich war erstaunt, da ich eine derart grosse Schwimmhalle vorher nur im Fernsehen gesehen habe. Am Montag stand dann der erste Schultag auf dem Plan. Und was die Schule angeht, ist der groesste Teil Deutschlands entweder sehr altmodisch oder die Australier sind sehr modern in ihrer “education” eingerichtet. Jeder Schueler unserer Schule hat einen eigenen Laptop, der von der Schule ausgeliehen werden kann. Nach einem Jahr muss dieser dann zurueckgegeben werden. Zudem haben viele noch ein eigenes Tablet, das von zuhause mitgebracht wird. Papier scheint es gar nicht zu geben, unvorstellbar in den meisten Teilen Deutschlands, aber so ist es hier tatsaechlich. Der Hauptteil der zu verrichtenden Arbeit (Hausaufgaben, Aufsaetze schreiben etc.) wird von den Schuelern am PC, Laptop oder Tablet erledigt. Die Klassenrauume unserer Schule sind sehr modern, fast jeder ist mit einem Wlan Router ausgestattet, alle haben ein Whiteboard mit Folienstiften, nach einer “echten” Tafel haelt man da vergeblich Ausschau. Hinzu kommen die Beamer, welche an den Waenden haengen, die Soundsysteme, welche sich bei den meisten Klassenraumen aus zwei Lautsprechern zusammensetzen und hauufig auch Laptops, die speziell fuer die Lehrer vorgesehen sind. Ein weiterer sofort erkennbarer Unterschied zu der Schule in Deutschland ist die Schuluniform der australischen Schueler. Jeder traegt ein helles Oberteil, dunkel blaue Hosen bzw. Roecke und dazu weisse Socken. Das Oberteil ist vom Wappen der Schule, wie die Kluft eines Sportlers nach einem Erfolg mit einem Abzeichen, gekennzeichnet. Die Kleiderordnung wird streng eingehalten. Wir Deutschen Austauschschueler werden zwar nicht dazu angehalten, die Schuluniform zu tragen, muessen unsere “casual clothes” aber schlicht und dezent halten. Maedchen duerfen zudem keinen Nagellack auftragen.

Schaut man sich nun den Alltag der Schueler an, so finden sich weniger Unterschiede zu dem unseren in Deutschland. In Australien beginnt die Schule normalerweise gegen neun Uhr und endet gegen drei Uhr nachmittags. Zwischendurch gibt es immer kleinere und mehrere groessere Pausen. Jeder Schueler hat einen Spind, wo Schultaschen, Brotdosen und andere Dinge untergebracht werden koennen.

Einen Schultag durften wir an dem sogennanten Sport carnival teilnehmen. Man kann sich das hier so wie ein Sportfest in Deutschland vorstellen. Es gab verschiedene Disziplinen, aus denen wir uns einige aussuchen durften. An diesen durften wir dann auch teilnehmen. Das Laufen auf Distanz und Schnelligkeit hat sehr viel Spass gebracht und das sogenannte “Shot put” Werfen war ebenfalls super. Hierbei versucht man eine ca. 5 kg schwere Kugel so weit wie es geht von sich wegzuwerfen. Allerdings wird die Kugel an die Schulter gehalten und dann mit einem kraftvollen Stoss von sich weggedrueckt, anders als bei unserem Sportfest das Werfen eines kleinen Balles. Zudem geht es beim ‘Sport carnival” vor allem darum, genug Punkte fuer sein Haus zu holen. Jeder Schueler gehoert einem Haus an, es gibt vier von ihnen, sie wurden nach beruehmten Wissenschaftlern benannt.

Ich finde es sehr schwierig, zu sagen, ob die Schule bzw. das Schulsystem in Australien besser ist. Sicherlich ist das Equipment sehr beeindruckend, man muss aber bedenken, dass wir auf einer Privatschule sind, die staatlichen Schulen liefern den dortigen Schuelern nicht unbedingt einen solchen “technischen Luxus”. Ich fuer meinen Teil wuerde es interessant finden, ein oder zwei Wochen auf dem hier bevorzugten Weg gelehrt zu werden, koennte mir aber nicht vorstellen, meine Hausaufgaben per Mail zu schicken, geschweige den alles auf dem Laptop oder PC zu tippen. Dann doch lieber die “alte Schule” ; )

Wiete - Day 16 (21.3.)

Today we were at the Melbourne Museum.

My day started – like every other ‘normal’ day here in Australia -  at 6:45 am. I woke up, had a little breakfast, and went to the Keilor Campus with Uliana. Then I took the bus to Canowindra at 8:20 am while Uliana had to go to her class. In the bus, there were some other German students. In Canowindra we met the other German students and teachers, and then we walked to the train station called Watergardens to take our train into the city. When we arrived at the city, we went to the Melbourne Museum. 

In the museum our topic was: First Peoples of Australia (who were also called the Aborigines).

We learned a lot about the Aborigines: how they lived, how they were treated, how the British people came and took the country away, and the many different cultures, clans and languages.

For me the most interesting things were the different instruments, clothes and toys for the Aboriginal children. 

During the tour in the museum, we had some questions that we had to answer. It was really difficult because the questions were difficult and the answers were hard to find.

After we visited the museum, we went to a shopping mall which was close to the train station. We ate our lunch and those who didn’t have lunch bought something to eat. 

We met at the station and then we waited for our train. But there was a problem: Our train didn’t arrive. We took a later train so that we weren’t too late for school. Luckily my host grandmother waited for me, and then we picked up Uliana from the Keilor campus (senior school) and drove home.

At home we had a little lunch and Uliana had a piano class. While she was playing jazz songs like ‘Take Five’, I had time to write this blog post. 

Here are three new words which I have learned in Australia:

Impatient: 

Uliana said to me, “I just want this pasta to boil. I’m so impatient!” I didn’t know                                                                    what she meant, so I asked and she explained it to me. It’s an adjective that describes a person who cannot wait for things to happen.

Rehearsal:

This is also a word I have learned from Uliana. She told me, “We have a rehearsal for House Performance today.” So a rehearsal is like a practise for something. In this case, the ‘rehearsal’ was for Uliana’s House Performance.

Precisely:

I took this word because I didn’t know what other word I could take. I asked Uliana if she could tell me a word in English that I didn’t know and she said ‘precisely’. ‘Precisely’ is a word you can use to sound fancy, since it’s a fancy way of saying ‘exactly’ or basically’. 

All in all, it was a very instructive and interesting day! 

Laura - Day 15 (20.3.)

Today I woke up at 8:30 am. Because my exchange student Ashleigh had to work in a bakery this morning, I decided to go for a short run. I went jogging on a small way next to a flood-relief channel for about half an hour. Afterwards, I had a shower and a small breakfast (toast with nutella).

La Manna

Subsequently, Ashleigh’s mum took me to a special supermarket not far away from their house. It is called ‘LaManna’ and  the owners are originally from Italy. You can buy a lot of self made and local food there (fruit and veggies are Australian grown only!). In consequence of the good quality, the things they sell, are very expensive. When we went to the chocolate aisle, I discovered a lot of European or German brands like Lindt and Kinder Schokolade. Before the checkout, we had a small guessing game to see how much our purchase would be. Karen, Ashleigh’s mum, won and she assumed it would cost about $200. All in all we had to pay $250. The café at the supermarket had a lot of self-made food and drinks, too. I chose a chicken-schnitzel wrap with a banana-honey smoothie and it was very delicious.

Queen Victoria Market

At 12 o’clock I went to the ‘Queen Victoria Market’(or VIC Market) with Ashleigh and her mum. It is a big market close to the city center where you can buy nearly everything. Some of these include souvenirs, clothes, shoes, fruit, vegetables, fish, etc. and it is open everyday apart from Monday and Wednesday. We had a look around, I bought a few souvenirs and in the end I tried poffertjes (Danish pancakes) and paella. I especially liked the stallholders who shouted out advertising for their food.

Family life

In the afternoon, we had a short visit at Ashleigh’s grandma’s house. I got to know her ‘Nanna’ (that’s what they call their grandma) and Ashleigh’s aunt with her three children. They were all pretty nice but it is a family with a lot of short people so I felt like a giant. Normally I am very small compared to my friends but for once I felt tall. 

The Melbourne Star

At 6:30 pm, we went to the ‘Melbourne Star’. It is a giant wheel similar to the London Eye. When we went on the ride, it was perfect timing because we could see the beautiful sunset from above. In your cabin you have a perfect view over the city.

Dinner and Dessert

After that, we went to a street called Lygon Street with a lot of Italian restaurants.  We sat outside and I had a small pizza. Because of the ‘Grand Prix’ which is a car racing event, we could see a lot expensive cars like Ferraris and Lamborghinis. On the way back, we stopped at a big café called Brunettis to buy something for dessert.

Overall, I really enjoyed the day even though it was very busy. I learnt a lot of new things, met new people and discovered new places.

I would like to introduce three new words that I have learnt in Australia:

1. shnoz – it is an “aussie” word for nose (Nase)
2. pins and needles – it is when parts of your body “fall asleep” . It is called pins and needles because it feels like pins and needles are poking into your skin (eingeschlafene Gliedmaßen)
3. hiccup – you get it when you drink something with a lot of carbon dioxide (Schluckauf)