<p>Ah, sounds horrible:( ah, I hate snow now. I used to love it when I was young, and it really is beautiful, but I don’t like the cold weather. In Illinois, it’s 90 degrees one day, then 60 the next. Very bipolar weather. I love rain, but when it rains, it’s freezing cold, verses when it rains in Florida. That rain is refreshing welcoming, because of how hot it can get. There’s hardly any beauty in Illinois. Just open fields, suburban neighborhoods, bitter people, and chicago. Believe me, chicago isn’t as great as people think. I just need to escape. I miss the beach especially.</p>
<p>The thing was for me when I first moved to Germany I despised the winter seeing as when I lived in Florida I had a vague notion of what snow really was. After a while though I began to LOVE the winters there. The winters were not these cold windy days that put anything you wore to shame. The winter cold was easily countered with minimal clothing even when you would reach the negatives you didn’t actually feel all that cold, I don’t know why. I love both Florida and Germany to me they are both my homes all though I do not believe that I can return to Germany anytime soon. And personally dressing for winter is more fun.</p>
<p>I’m the opposite:) I LOVE dressing for warm weather. You can wear shorts and a tank top, or a dress. I’m sure I’d miss the winter a TINY BIT, but I could see all the know and freezing weather when I visit illinois on christmas break:) Snow and winter is okay, but only in a certain extent of time. Then I just hate it.</p>
<p>Well I am a guy so when I dress for the winter I have a load of choices on the ways to layer-up with your clothing. With the warmer weather you end up wearing much of the same thing. Besides that most of my wardrobe is trying to still recover from the years spent in Germany. I do not have the variety nor fashion sense needed to dress for the summer. Winter is a whole other thing even with a limited wardrobe with some imagination you can make almost anything work all you have to do is layer you attire smartly. yes I am straight lol my friends make fun of me.</p>
<p>Because you have a fashion sense? Believe me, i’ve come to learn that just because a guy has a better fashion sense then you, doesn’t necessarily mean he’s gay:) i’ve always wanted to visit germany, considering i’m daily german! Seems like such a beautiful place, very different from the states.</p>
<p>It is different. Things are not as, for lack of a better word, hectic in the day to day living. When you are there however you have to be prepared for some very weird weather. Things can go from nice sunshine at the beginning of the day to a snowing around noon to more sunshine to ending with a thunderstorm. And if you do ever visit Germany stay to the south the north does not have anything really worth visiting.</p>
<p>I’ll keep that in mind:) what was school like there? I was supposed to house a german exchange student, but I couldn’t because of my hectic work. I do know, however (if i’m correct) that english is mandatory to know? I would imagine their schooling is at a higher legal then ours, too.</p>
<p>Well when I was over there I lived on a military base so all I know about their schooling is from my friends who attended the schools. There are three levels of their high school and middle school education since they are all in the same building. Their is the the highest level which is called the gymnasium which is like a very high level prep school. It is like a fast track to a university and trying to go any other way is really difficult. When I attended one for a week part of my German class I got to see what they where taking at the 8th grade level as far as classes go. They where doing the same level English as I was in my classes. The person who I traded places with was taking Latin, french, english, and german. As well as geometry, history, and biology. Each class was about 30-45 minutes long and the rest was homework. Their workload is intense and about half the kids take that route to schooling. The other two levels are more focused on blue collar jobs. They focus on teaching you the skills necessary for the career that you wish to pursue. For example if you wished to become a baker then you would take classes that would further that goal while at the same time getting a basic education similar to a non-honors class in american high school. For the most part if you already know what trade you want to take up you start to apprentice at the age of 16 and get signed up with the guilds and what not.</p>
<p>They have a really nice system that does not facilitate incompetence at any level but it would take a lot longer to explain it all that is sort of the basics. For the most part anybody from the gymnasium would have no problems in the typical american high school education system.</p>
<p>That’s what I noticed. I remember a friend of mine who had an exchange student this year so, obviously, the student shadowed my friend through the day. When she came into my algebra 3-4 class (which is the normal level for a junior) my teacher asked if she was also in algebra 3-4. The student said she took it her freshmen year, and that was ‘normal’ for their age. I couldn’t believe it. Then again, when she came into my AP english class, she was having some difficulty anylizing the book Walden, but she seemed very intelligent. It got my thinking, 'no wonder we’re considered one of the less intelligent countries. Are education is nothing compared to their’s. I was very impressed, especially considering almost all the students were able to speak, at least, three languages. I couldn’t even learn Spanish.</p>
<p>Well the thing is with their system you end up divided into your different school around the 5 or 6th grade depending on when you take the test. The kids who do the whole study abroad thing all come from the gymnasium and are going to the university. Where as in our system we lump all of the kids together. The kids who are going to go on to a higher education gets their education watered down by the kids who have no drive to complete a high school level education. In the German system the schools are self-selecting in a way only kids who are going on to a university would apply to these schools and after that the schools do not cater to ineptitude they will only offer assistance outside of that class they will not slow down the class to match the speed of the slowest person.</p>
<p>Late bloomers get the short straw in their system</p>
<p>Hum, then I suppose in some ways, it isn’t better:/ which did you perter?</p>
<p>If I had the time to get used to it I would have preferred their system however, just that one week of work was a big shock to my system I did not realize how large their workload truly was.</p>
<p>Still, germany sounds like a wonderful place. I hope to travel after college, see the world, experience new cultures, things, and situations. I’ve never been outside the country, though I was offered to go with a selection of kids in honors orchestra and play in London, for violin. The money just added up to an amount I didn’t agree with, so I stayed. Besides, I rarely find enjoyment in violin anymore, despite i’m still playing it…</p>
<p>Sounds like me and sports. Besides that being in the type of family that I am in even when we were in the civilian side of things we still moved at-least once a year up and down the east coast so I am looking forward to staying still for awhile… At the same time if I can manage to find a study abroad opportunity in either Ireland or Japan I am sooo gone.</p>
<p>Ireland sounds simply wonderful. I have a friend who has family that lives there, so her family visits every once in a while. She says it’s so beautiful and scenic down there, like another world. So much green, too, which sounds like a refreshing change! I would imagine college would be great for you. People who live in the same place for a long span of time begin to consider it a perminet fixture in their life; it doesn’t seem like you had that. You’ll probably love college:) Yay for sports! Though I couldn’t get involved in high school, which makes me sad. I adored soccer. I even loved track in middle school, but couldn’t continue on to high school because I got my job beginning freshmen year-not enough time. I still enjoy running around the neighborhood though, even though I loved hurdles:)</p>
<p>I have been to Ireland and I thought that it most have been one of the most beautiful places in the world, however, I thought the same thing about Germany too but it was a different kind of beauty. I also have the exact opposite issue due to me doing sports I haven’t had enough time to get a job and for that reason alone I am beginning to regret not trying harder to get a job, perhaps a weekend job with a forgiving boss. As far as track I love it. They give me the one thing that I excel at and they say beat the guy next to you. I just run as fast as I can for 100 or 200 meters and see where I stand at the end of the day it is awesome. Never could do hurdles I would always jump too high.</p>
<p>Originally, I didn’t think I’d be good at hurdles. But after practice one day, we were all messing around, so I tried it. Turns out the only reason i’m really good at them was because I did cheerleading for 8 years, and the movement of the legs over a hurdle is a jump in cheerleading, called a ‘herki’, and I had the highest on the squad. So I thank cheerleading for that one. But my talents don’t really relate to sports. Just violin and writing.</p>
<p>Sports is probably the one thing besides science that I am good at. I have never really had an issue with sports unless it is baseball and on that one thing I have just given up. I am fairly good at languages and I learned the trombone lol. I am hoping that I can swing my parents to my point of view and I do not have to do sports in college.</p>