Meine Erzeugnisse

Last Friday was the official last day of the first semester and, therefore, we received our mid-year grades. Mine were not too bad, with the exception of English, which is, personally, very embarrassing for me. But, on the bright side, we only had a half day of school on Friday and had today, Monday, off.

So, here are my grades and explanation: They score on a number based system from 1-6, with 1 being the best a student can receive and 6 being the worst. If I didn't receive a grade in a class, it is because the teacher couldn't give me a proper grade because I was either not there enough times or because I didn't participate* enough, and because of those two reasons, the grade would be so bad that it might be bad for my self-esteem and they don't want to hurt that. Keep in mind that they are only doing that because I am an exchange student.

Now let me explain just how they grade. A student's overall grade is based on two things: mundlich and schriftlich. *Mundlich, which makes up around 90% of the overall grade, is determined by how often a student answers or asks questions in class and whether or not those answers were correct. Schriftlich, which makes up 10% of the overall grade, is based on turned in assignments and tests. Because of this, exchange students have a hard time getting good grades, because of the lack of language.

The main reason for the absence of most of my grades are that I wasn't there. This is not because I skipped, it is because I was put into another German class instead of certain other classes. I also had an intensive German course, which lasted the entire day every Wednesday, as well as a weekly meeting with a teacher-liason on Tuesdays.

Finally, my grades:
German - --
History - --
Economics/Politics - --
Geography - --
English - 3
Math - 2
Physics - 4
Chemistry - 4
Biology - 4
Music - --
Art - 3
P.E. - 2

Yes, I know, English should've been a 1, but I really didn't answer many questions in that class. It was my personal opinion that the other students in the class were the ones learning the language and, therefore, I should be the one answering most of the questions. However, my teacher thought otherwise, apparently, and I will act next semester accordingly. Fortunately, these are just mid-year grades and are taken like progress reports. So I have until the end of the year to get them up. Here are my end of year goals gradewise:

German - 3
History - 4
Economics/Politics - 4
Geography - 3
English - 1
Math - 1
Physics - 4
Chemistry - 3
Biology - 3
Musik - 3
Art - 3
P.E. - 2

If I get better than that, I will be overjoyed. But just getting those as grades at the end of the year, I will be very satisfied.

Let's catch up....with pictures!!

Here are some pictures of the various shinanigans that I was a part of during the break, before my camera broke.



Two friends of mine from my class at the Christmas Market in Itzehoe. Rika and Jana.


I had to take this picture because, at the time, they were playing "Feliz Navidad"!!


Me and Valeria (Italian), at the Christmas Market in Hamburg.

Anton (German) , Lex (American), and LaShaTanya (she's French)

My Christmas loot. :D

My very nice host family from Blunk.

The wonderful giant spinning ornament in the Hamburg train station.

My favorite thing about Germany: candy stands.

I am pretty sure that I was more afraid of him than he was of me.

Yes. I did play a spinny organ thingy.

Ostsee. Pretty, regardless of how cold it was.

Let's catch up

Okay. This is probably going to be one of the longest posts so far. But I will try and keep it short.
Here is what has happened (that I can actually remember) since my last post.

Christmas:
On the Wednesday before Christmas, the school got out around noon. It was probably one of the most fun school days I have ever had. We had P.E. in the morning and played Badmitton. Then we spent the rest of the school day watching The Hangover (in German, of course). After that a couple of friends and I went to the Christmas Market in Itzehoe. We certainly were not the only ones. It seemed as if every teenager was there. Anyway, we enjoyed a nice Glühwein and Hot Chocolate with Amaretto and french fries. That night I met up with a couple of friends and went to the club, which was free for that night.

On the 24th, we all opened our presents. I got a lot of great gifts!!! After we opened the presents, we walked through the woods behind our house to my host-grandmother's house. There, we ate a wonderful German meal!! Duck, red cabbage, potatoes. It was all delicious!!

New Years:
For New Years I was in a town called Blunk, which is near Lübeck. I was super excited to know that I was going to be celebrating New Years the traditional way!!! We walked around the town throwing firecrackers at things, which I actually thought was a little stupid and had no point. But then, at midnight, everyone started shooting off fireworks. And I mean EVERYONE!!! You could look across the horizon and just see the fireworks going off at all of the houses. It was amazing.
We also ate steak, homemade pretzels, potato salad, and then had a traditional Berliner for dessert.

Winter Break:
Speaking of Blunk, that is where I stayed for the two weeks of winter break, while my host family was in Spain. It is a complicated story as to why I didn't go with them, and I don't want to go into it, so just know that they went, and I didn't. Anyway, they were a great family and we did a lot together. The mother was actually an exchange student in Canada for a year. We went bowling a couple of times and played card games a lot. We also went to the East Sea and walked around on the beach. It was cold and snowy, but still pretty!

Recently:
After the break is school. boring, never changing, school. But I do get to see my friends again and that is always nice! The first week was pretty bad, but this week has been better. I am slowly getting back into the school-mode. but....only 13 more weeks until the next break!!!!
This weekend was my host-grandmother's 60 birthday. We had a great party! I ate deer for the first time in my life (I think) and it was very good. Except for the music, the party was not bad at all. The only thing they listened to is what they call deutscher Schlager. Think very old pop music. Not my cup of tea.

That is pretty much what I have done since the last post. My second camera broke (not my fault) so I will be waiting on another camera. This one actually uses film!! Old school!!

I got a great package from my family and letters from friends. I also would like to announce that my nephew was born over the break! Little Bahnam Augustus Scott!!! Man is that a mouthful. I hope he gets a nickname!

Overall, this was a great Winter Break!

.....

The winter break was great, but coming back and going to school is not fun at all. I really don't know why, but trying to readjust to the school routine has been really hard on me, hence the lack of posts this week. I still don't feel 100%, but I just wanted you all to know that I am at least still alive. I will hopefully post about my break on Saturday or sometime next week, if I feel better. Until then, Happy New Year!!!