1993 School Magazine

Another twelve hours on from Bangkok airport, we touched down in Frankfurt International airport. Many of the Australian students had host families who lived in the area around Frankfurt. Susie was one of these people and so Meg and I said goodbye to Susie as we went to catch our train that would take us to Essen. The train ride was very beautiful as it very closely followed the Rhine River. We could see the many little villages as well as the old castles that lined the river. Meg and I met our host families for the first time at Duesseldorf train station and from there we went on to BSsen. The first week of our stay was spent going to school with our respective host brothers or sisters. I was fortunate enough to go to our sister school, Maria Waechtler Schule. Many of the students are bilingual, as half of the lessons are conducted in English and the contrast between Australian and German schools was quite evident. The classes were co-ed and started at 7:45 am. At this time in the German winter, it is still dark. The classes themselves were rather similar to our classes in that the standard is high and homework is set. The two major differences were that students did not wear a uniform and were allowed to eat in any class except in the science labora- tones. in one particular art class, we all put in some money and two students went to the bakery and brought us all back something!

our German skills and we learnt very quickly how to rectify situations when we had the directions wrong. Berlin is a very beautiful city but very expensive. At the end of a most enjoy- able week, we returned to our host families. Our six week holiday in Germany coincided with SI Nikolaus Tag (St Nickolas Day), Christmas and New Year. The Germans seemed to love celebrating these special occasions. The streets and shops were very decorative. Christmas is CGI- ebrated on Christmas Eve with a special dinner. New Year's Eve was definitely a new experience for me. We went to a friend's house for dinner and then went to Essen University for the fireworks. I was expecting a professional display but found that everyone brings their own bundle of fireworks. The result was fantastic but the thing I will never forget is how closely the temperature seemed to resemble that of the South Pole! German television was very interesting. Many of the shows were familiar to me and included "Wheel of Fortune" "Neighbours", "Mother and Son" "Columbo" and some of the American soaps. There were no subtitles as they were all dubbed. 11 took me a while to get used to the words not matching the actors' lips. The three major movies that were showing were "The Bodyguard", "Beauty and the Beast" and "Home Alone 2". The cinema complex in Essen is one of the largest in Europe with sixteen cinemas as well as a cafe The time finally came to say goodbye to all of the friends that we had made and our host families. After spending six weeks in very cold temperatures, we were not prepared for the Australian summer. However, we quickly adjusted back into normal life but will never forget our trip to Germany. On behalf of Susie, Meg and myself, I would like to thank very sincerely Mr Miles, SAGSE, Maria Waechtler Schule and especially our host families for making the trip a most rewarding experience. GERMAN CAMP Das Deutsche Camp 1993 was again held over the Mothers' Day weekend at Camp Warrawee at Petrie. Four girls and two teachers from Grammar took the plunge and caught the bus straight from the German verse-speaking competition on the Friday afternoon Speaking in German 24 hours a day may not exactly be your cup of. tea, but we were surprised to find there were fewer dif- ficulties than expected. The theme of this year's camp was "Walpurgisnacht" (or as most Australians know it, Halloween), and so all groups were named after famous (and some not-so-famous) German ghost stories. These groups undertook most activities, and housekeeping duties, together. Friday night was spent settling in and getting used 10 the con- stant German. The time after dinner was spent singing songs, from German folk songs to German translations of the Beatles songs; playing games; watching a German movie; and, of course, doing the chicken dance. Saturday night was divided between learning to play European handball, learning some German dances (in German of course) and preparing for the concert that night. Each group had to devise a performance of some sort, based on their particular ghost story. Michelle Glover

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Miehelle Glover in front of the German Parliament

The geography exam was on Australia's climate so the \us Iranan students had their brains picked for information ike "What is the mean temperature in July in Mt Is a?" in inglish class, I was surprised to learn that the students found makes peare easier to analyse than a complex newspaper am- :Ie. I was also constantly asked about English grammar ;ome of the questions were really difficult to answer but howed that the German students had an incredible knowl- dge of our grammar. School finished early in the afternoon rid we went home to have a hot lunch 'he second week of our stay was spent in Berlin. The fifteen tudents who were staying in Essen travelled there by bus, vhere we met up with the students who were staying in ;rankfurt. We stayed in an international youth hostel but pent most of our time at tourist attractions like the handenberg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie and the palace Sans IOUci or at the Weihnachtsmaerkte (Christmas markets) Vhile we spent most of the time in the former West Berlin, re did visit the fonner East Berlin. We were fortunate to be Iven a guided tour around the historical Reichstag (German 'arliament House). We had many opportunities to practise

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