GERMAN HIGH SCHOOL CULTURE SHOCK (from an american exchange student)

HEY! today I discuss some school culture shocks I've experienced while studying abroad in germany, as well as the differences from my american high school! I was so surprised to see that something as universal as school can be so different, but I've had a great experience so far. I hope you enjoy and subscribe for more videos!
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- Caroline Ruby

[@tomekk895]

Nice video. Usually you switch rooms in "Gymnasium" to the special equipped room too (chemistry, physics, geography etc). Not switching like at your school is related to COVID restrictions/hygiene rules.

[@keeeksmonster]

Yeah but you don't switch for every class though I mean math class, german class, english class etc are all in the same room and the teachers switch like she said It is just for the classes where special equipment is needed like chemistry or art etc

[@anacaly]

@@keeeksmonster That depends. We frequently had to switch rooms, even for German or English. Not always, but often.

[@fipsvonfipsenstein6704]

@@keeeksmonster Some schools have special classrooms for foreign languages. In my time, it was also possible to choose a second foreign language. The whole class had basic English as the first foreign language, and when the second foreign language was on the schedule, the class was divided into different rooms. Some had extended English, others had French, and some had Latin. Later, Spanish and (I think) Russian were added - but that was after my time. Oh, and there were usualy separate rooms for music, too. Probably because the music teachers regularly got hernias when they had to lug the grand piano from one class to another.

[@merandareast2552]

Our gymnasium kiddo changes classrooms for every single subject.

[@ThePixel1983]

I didn't change rooms for geography, but for physics, chemistry, biology and a few rare times for language classes to the language lab

[@dermetaller15]

"Everyone dresses really nice." As a German, I can assure you that this is not the case. Aside of other factors, it very much depends on which school you go to and in which neighborhood the school is located.

[@Lost.prod21]

Yeah

[@neuropretense]

I have seen people in US go to the groceries wearing scrubs, crocs and latschen and other things we normally wear nur zuhause oder auf der arbeit, very impressive stuff maybe thats why she thinks people here are so put together.

[@dermetaller15]

@@neuropretense ... Yeah, what she said

[@Liilaify]

the average German student dresses really nice compared to students in American high schools, believe me ....

[@Dodammert]

Jogginghose all day haha

[@Jeahkir]

Remember: there are 16 different Bundesländer in Germany with 16 different systems of school... So your experience only counts for the Bundesland your Gymnasium is in. And moreover, schools are different in the Bundesland too.

[@iviik2181]

I am from Slovakia and I would say that that is how pretty much every school in Europe works, we have different schools that’s why everyone is so fascinated to study in America

[@MohammedAli-hl4mr]

in the uk here we have lesson all lasting an hour a break lasting 15-20 mins depending on the school and a lunch lasting 30m-1hr depending on the school

[@pabloperez7942]

The high schools in Argentina are also like the german ones. (No switching classrooms, diffrent schedules, no specific places to eat, etc)

[@tommasochiti4237]

Yeah lol, I'm from Italy and I somewhat I felt like she was gonna describe my high school, therefore I realized pretty much all the schools are the same across EU.

[@Mustafa-re3te]

wrong

[@erdalsarkulak1356]

Hi, Ivica I am looking for text friend. I want to improve my English level. Would you like to be friends with me?

[@Hannah17540]

So normally in "oberstufe" you also switch classrooms for the different class. I have every subject with different people, I'm in 12th grade.

[@carolineruby]

Ahhh okay! Thank you for telling me!

[@lillyknc]

@@carolineruby For my school the whole room changing thing starts in 6th grade

[@cloudyskies15]

@@lillyknc Same here, I think even in fifth grade

[@Isabella-mc5cc]

Yes in my school ( I’m in the 12th grade) you switch the classrooms ( but in the 11th grade you don’t switch ) but this is from school to school a little bit different.

[@kaedeshirakawa1979]

@@Isabella-mc5cc true, for me the switching started in 10th class and sometimes already in 6th class when you had like latin or french in another classroom but the rest was in the same room (NRW)

[@andreaseufinger4422]

Hi Caroline: Be careful: Some of your observations are very specific to your school in germany. Nowadays, you usually have lunch rooms, the phone rules are different from school to school etc.

[@akosuaka]

almost every example she gave, she mentioned « specifically at my school » or « at least at my school » so I think she was trying not to generalize too much

[@Natalie37854]

Wait, you mean when people talk about their experiences at school, it’s specific to their experiences? No way!

[@Emi-ye2ut]

@@Natalie37854 doch

[@braincytox7314]

we are even allowed to leave the school for lunch

[@andrecostermans7109]

I wonder about the smoking 'habits' students and teachers , is it exceptional for this school ? Certainly it will not be tolerated in most Belgian schools , some have rules upon teachers even not to put up smokes in a certain distance towards schools.

[@angelikaboer9637]

Lots of schools (not Gymnasiums only) have cafeterias, to sit down and have a warm meal. The open windows are because of Covid19, it wasn't before. Have a good time in Germany!

[@Wiolakozuchowska]

I thought that every school in Germany have a cafeteria 😅

[@raidyyn4211]

@@Wiolakozuchowska I’m from germany and still in school and tbh I’ve never heard about any kind of school which doesn’t have one well at least I don’t came across to any of those which haven’t a cafeteria so I would say if it’s so it’s pretty rare that a school doesn’t have one.

[@Xizile93]

My school didn't have a cafeteria, just the Aula/Foyer where there was some space to sit down (barely any tables though), and people mostly ate there.

[@nose-vm3gu]

I was really surprised that you don't have breaks in the US. I live in Chile and we have 15 minutes between classes, plus the lunch break that's usually 45 minutes.

[@michaelschuckart2217]

"Students stay in their classroom". Yes mostly, but Biology is a bad example, because for physics, chemistry and biology there are usually special class rooms.

[@tihomirrasperic]

you forgot about music, it is the most specific and often the school has an orchestra

[@kaedeshirakawa1979]

@@tihomirrasperic not really. Normally the rooms for chemistry/physics/biology have the most restrictions since there can be dangerous chemicals stored.

[@claudiafresskeks8651]

And art lessons are in another classroom as well

[@Nikioko]

Arts and music as well. And PE, of course.

[@daniellecollier7276]

The same can be said about some of her observations about US schools. We had 15 minute breaks between all of our classes (except lunch of çourse), no Cafeteria (I'm from Southern California, we have a place where you can buy lunch, but we would just eat outside around the campus wherever you felt most comfortable, unless it was raining, then you'd go to your favorite instructors room with your friends). Our classes were all 90 minutes and we switched off everyday, but every HS in our district, and beyond was vastly different in that regard. Another school in our district had 45 minute classes, but doubled up on "important" classes like history, math, science, etc.

[@Oktoberfest_Flavour]

One of my teachers once explained the schedule to us with the fact that a human brain can only pay attention for about 90 minutes. After this period, the attention and understanding ability drops significantly. Hence, school "lessons" are usually 2 x 45 min per session followed by a break. That is also the reason why most films last around 90-ish minutes... our brains get lazy after XD

[@carolineruby]

I wish the USA did the same!

[@mijp]

Yes, that's nearly right. Attention drops after around one hour. After 90 minutes it is at the bottom. That is the reason for 45 minutes. 45 minutes is a 45 minutes high. If you give the brain a rest after 45 minutes for just 5 minutes, it is up to nearly its full capacity. So, shorter would be better than 90 minutes. Our teachers did always a short brake after 45 minutes in a "double-hour" to ensure, that we can follow the rest.

[@berndhoffmann7703]

isn't it three minutes today?

[@sakura44553]

Depending how the brain is trained... The comments here do not keep in mind that we are individuals. Everybody knows, that the time to be able to concentrate is depend on the interest, the night sleep before and so on. No research can show a fixed time!

[@tonka9573]

I currently heard a german 'Bildungsforscher' (educational researcher) speaking about the root of the 45 min lesson. It stems from the monasterys, where our school systems formed, and the remaining 10 min were used to pray, 5 min for bathroom or so.

[@riesenpurzel]

Also interesting for me as a German in his mid 30s to hear a foreigner's perspective. For most parts, I can confirm. But I am also shocked to hear that it is "common" nowadays that students smoke outside with the teachers... that was definitely, at best, a super rare case 15 years ago.

[@obinator9065]

Smoking has actually reduced in the recent 15 years.

[@dererstespieleramtisch4504]

So in my town in Lower Saxony we also smoke in every break. sometimes the teachers know that many are not yet 18. but the older teachers are not as strict as the younger ones

[@JoniniTheChickenNugget]

Cool video! Loved how it was really simple and got to the point, I'd definetly watch more of these!

[@juliaclaire42]

You can't say it's the same overall in Germany. It depends from school to school how everything is managed. The schools are mostly free to decide on their rules.

[@an9828na]

I agree! In my school (i am done now🥳) it wasn’t allowed to smoke at all and we hab to change rooms for classes as well as the teacher! These are just 2 examples..

[@disco.jellyfish]

Abitur in Bremen is worthless, though. The only thing you can become with that is a teacher in Bremen.

[@peteroconnor6394]

Julia Claire, this American girl is NOT typical for Americans because she talks about German schools without mentioning Waldorf schools. She's very provincial, with all due respect - she talks about her German school as if it were a shopping center. But she must have parents who have more money than most American youth who cannot afford to attend a German school. She ignores German and American REALITY.

[@timonbubnic322]

@@disco.jellyfish But you dont do Abitur to go work if you go on a gymnasium right? If you already go to a gymnasium then you want to go to university, isnt it better to go to a berufsschule if you want to go work right away? We have almost the same system in Slovenia, if you go to a gymnasium you must go to university

[@disco.jellyfish]

@@timonbubnic322 Well thats the theory. Reality is that many companies require you to habe Abitur anyway, even if you dont got to university. So in theory you are right, but such a scenario is only realistic for most but not all jobs. If you, for example, wanted to work in the media branch, 99.99% of the time Abitur is required.

[@jessali_]

I went to 5 different Gymnasien in Germany, and they were all so different, even though they were all in the same state. The schooldays at one school were 8-5 every single day, except Fridays. One school had varying hours, anywhere between 7:20 to 5:30. One year, my Tuesdays started at 9:20! One school started at 8:30 every day. Some schools had cafeterias serving real food, some only served junk food, one school didn't have a cafeteria or even vending machines at all because students were expected to go home during lunchbreak. Also keep in mind that different states (Bundesländer) have completely different school systems. Hope you have a great time here. :)

[@Nikioko]

I went to 5 different schools in grade 12 and 13. I needed the breaks to get on my bike and switch schools.

[@jaquitavulpix3418]

When I finished Gymnasium in 2014 I had never heard about a weiterführende Schule actually having cafeterias. That's still so strange to me, I grew up thinking that was a distinctly american thing. We had a little food 'stall' in the breaks from our janitor couple, they sold prezels, Brötchen and Dampfnudeln. Our lessons also most of the time finished at 13:05, in the Oberstufe we got afternoon lessons, too, but at most 2 times a week. And these where from 14:00 to 15:30, so we had enough time to walk to some Pizza or Döner place or go home. The only thing that was after 16:00 was PE. Having Nachmittagsunterricht/afternoon lessons *at all* was still kinda a new cultural discussion and not very normalized, at least not where I lived. I can't imagine having to stay in school that long all day :o But yeah, the Bundesländer reeeaally handle it differently.

[@Enyavar1]

@@jaquitavulpix3418 my school had a cafeteria since the late 1990ies, at least. How else could we eat lunch before the afternoon classes? Granted, most days we didn't have those, but starting Oberstufe we had afternoon lessons at least 3 of 5 days per week.

[@jaquitavulpix3418]

@@Enyavar1 Well we were expected to eat at home or to buy something in town. And I made Abi in 2014. i never heard of a school having a cafeteria then.

[@Enyavar1]

@@jaquitavulpix3418 Did you attend school in a city? I was in a rural area, where kids had a school route of maybe ~5 km, mean value. Buying food in town would have meant Döner for lunch every day. I guess parents disliked that idea.

[@destinyovensen1895]

I was an exchange student through AFS in Schorndorf, Baden-Wurttemburg in 2017-2018! Your video made me really nostalgic for my time there! Enjoy it to the fullest! It will go by so much faster than you think, and the friends you make will be lifelong!

[@carolineruby]

That’s amazing! Thank you!

[@emmaravenklar8852]

In Germany you switch the classroom every lesson, because you often have lessons in subject-specific rooms (like biology, physics or chemie). So we also need the break for going to the other room. And of course we have a lunch room and a school kitchen

[@BlauerBooo]

"Of course" - na also das ist schon noch eine neuere Entwicklung :D Vor 10 Jahren noch hatte das fast keine weiterführende Schule - Gesamtschulen ausgenommen. Ich habe 2010 Abi gemacht. Da wurde es gerade umgebaut auf dem Schulgelände und eine Mensa gab es erst für die Unterstufe. In meiner Schulzeit gab es nur den Kiosk des Hausmeisters... mit Frikadellenbrötchen oder Schokoriegeln. Und es gab auch keinen Ganztag. Selbst in der Oberstufe war spätestens nach der 7. Stunde um 14.05 Uhr Schluss. Ausgenommen den nachmittäglichen Sportkurs oder wenn jemand einen Zusatzkurs belegen musste (Sowi/Geschichte). Mit G8 sah das schon anders aus. Und an Gesamtschulen gab es immer schon Langtage, wo dann aber am Nachmittag oft Hausaufgabenbetreuung, AGs oder sonst was stattfanden, nicht unbedingt reguläre Mathestunden. Eine wirkliche Mittagspause und auch die Möglichkeit eines Mittagessens jedenfalls gibt es soo lange noch nicht flächendeckend...

[@Nr.1Mimir]

It's chemistry not chemie :)

[@lisamo1013]

Bin zwar aus Österreich, aber ich hatte auch erst auf der Uni eine Mensa. Im Gym gabs bei uns auch nur so einen kleinen Kiosk mit ein paar Tischen, aber nicht genug für sie ganze Schule.

[@AB..__..]

@@Nr.1Mimir Unless you're British.

[@enimaroon4631]

Whenever I read stories that take place in America and tell about people dressing up, I get confused if the jeans are mentioned as fancy clothing. For Germans those are the most plain and casual thing to wear. If students turn up to their final oral exams in baggy jeans, some teachers actually send them home to get dressed properly. The room thing depends on the school. My school had different rooms for each lesson, so we had to switch rooms the whole day. Only the younger children stayed in one room for most of the day. Also ac is not a big thing in Germany, period. Smoking is sadly still a thing with students. I think it's mostly a way to be rebellious during teen years. In my school, many students smoked in 9/10th grade to be part of the cool group. Most of them had stopped by the end of the final school year.

[@carolineruby]

So cool! Thank you for your comment!

[@irener.3849]

I grew up in Europe but my daughter was born in the US and goes to school here. Girls wear leggings and baggy cropped sweatshirts, unless they come to school in pajama pants and tank tops. I can’t get used to it.

[@martinprochazka3714]

In Czech Republic they won't even let you in on the high school final exams if you''re not wearing a suit.

[@germangarcia6118]

@@irener.3849 Yeah. It's not that jeans are fancy, it's that americans daily clothes are basically their pajamas.

[@jblev736]

I'm curious as to why? Intelligence should not rely on clothing. In fact, comfort has been proven to help many improve in cognitive tasks. I'm from California, so that's my "bias", but it's common to have athletic shorts and a t-shirt and people are quite smart (especially in comparison to other parts of the US - not that that is the best barometer)

[@kimmycupreacts]

That's interesting about the language. I took German in high school (I'm from the USA) and my teacher "Herr K" ONLY spoke deutsch in the classroom. I thought he was nuts at first, but it worked!

[@florentinenice9146]

Was he German because maybe that's why. Growing up with "On English please I can't understand you" or "en français madmoselle (forgot already how to write it)" is making you a different person

[@ducklingscap897]

@@florentinenice9146 I don't think that has anything to do with it. Actually using the language in class frequently makes it way easier to learn the language. If you rarely ever use the language then you won't really learn it. I had several teachers who immigrated and went to school in different countries. There was often a teacher like that because it is simply the best way to learn.

[@florentinenice9146]

@@ducklingscap897 that was a joke... 😅

[@peteroconnor6394]

Jimmy up - if your German teacher called himself Herr K, ask him if he thinks he's Kafka.

[@karstenbalamagi8463]

@@peteroconnor6394 referring to kafka he would be "herr koiner" which literallly means he is mr nobody. so i guess he dont think of himself as kafka...

[@xavierwarren9799]

Wow first off thanks to you for sharing your opportunity. Also, big ups and agreement to the whole language concept. It totally hits me everytime I travel.

[@palu9379]

Great video - easy to follow and (looking at the title) more positive than I expected. 🙂 Of course, some details vary among schools (such as changing rooms) and specifically the share of smoking students is decreasing (finally!). But overall I would say that your observations are true for the majority of Gymnasiums here in Germany. We are glad to have you here and bring your first hand experiences back to the U.S.! (and in this case: to the world!)

[@CHarlotte-ro4yi]

It’s really interesting to learn about the differences in language learning. Until now I never understood how one can say “I took 3 years of Spanish” but then all they can say is Hola and Gracias. So thank you for mentioning that difference and enlightening me! Also I hope you have an amazing experience, happy to follow along

[@jankrusat2150]

I took Spanish in Gymnasium, starting in Grade 11 until the Abitur. The teacher expected us to be able to read and understand Spanish poetry and literature after about 1.5 years, and to write essays about them. We. e.g. read poems by Federico Garcia Lorca and the "Crónica de una muerte anunciada" by Garcia Márquez. It helped though that in our school we had several children of political refugees from Fascist dictatureships in south America, who were native Spanish speakers (e.g. a boy, who's father was a government minister under the Allende government in Chile, several Argentinians, a girl from Bolivia and a girl from Uruguay). They all went to my Spanish class (as they knew the language already, it gave them easy credits for the high school diploma). I also learned English, starting grade 5 in elementary school (which continued to the Abitur) and French between Grade 7 and Grade 10.

[@CHarlotte-ro4yi]

@@jankrusat2150 I had a very similar experience, hence being fluent in all three languages came rather easy to me.

[@jankrusat2150]

@@CHarlotte-ro4yi I'm fluent in English (actually with an Irish accent, since I lived there for a couple of years), but not in Spanish and French (mostly due to lack of opportunity to use the languages. As for Spanish, I can use it now in conversation and correspondence with a Cuban aquaintance, but while I have quite a big vocabluary, my grammar is very rusty. french is quite similar. but let me spend a year or so in a French- or Spanish speaking country nd I would be fluent.

[@paranira6466]

yeah, ive had Latin for 6 years and at the end we were expected to translate basically any poems and literature from the time. After that we had emglish starting at grade 6 which has evolved into politics and social and/ or economic issues just on english. There were ä 3 years french too and had to be able to make a acceptable oral conversation the first year.

[@Enyavar1]

yep, what does that mean, in the US they only teach vocabulary in the first year and nothing about sentence structure? Or what?

[@NoahKahan67]

The “Oberstufe” usually has their own room where they can hang out between free classes or breaks :)

[@an9828na]

Schön wärs gewesen 😂😂😂 das ist leider nicht immer so

[@jankrusat2150]

For us it was the cafeteria of the tax office across the street. Students from grade 11 on were allowed to leave the school grounds during their breaks (we also had to do it because our school used some classrooms in a nearby school for the blind as we were running out of space). With the younger students it was a legal matter, as they had to be supervised by an adult.

[@kaedeshirakawa1979]

For my school students from 10-12th grade were allowed to stay inside and we had in the entryway like 10 sofas each being able to seat 3-4 student. The thing is that were were at lest 150 students per grade xD

[@spickinicki3307]

Thank you, this was very interesting. My Gymnasium was pretty much the same way you describe your experience. I didn't realize that there are next to no breaks between classes in US highschools. That sounds so stressful!

[@Scripticus]

Thanks for the review, especially your observation about learning Spanish through immersion. Nice job!

[@nhannah8009]

The not switching rooms is probably Covid related. At my school we didn't switch classrooms while the stronger lockdowns, now we never have classes in the same rooms anymore though.

[@kbodychek]

Actually, it‘s not COVID related at all! Basically, from grades 5-10, you have a classroom that you really stay in with the same people for most lessons. All people from this class have the same schedule (but of course, the schedules from the different classes throughout the whole grade differ). You only switch rooms if you‘re taking different courses (for example, part of the students of class 7A are taking French alongside students of class 7B, the other ones are taking Spanish). Then you split up into new groups and switch classes. Also, if there‘s special equipment needed (for music, biology, chemistry etc.) you switch rooms, but there you stay with the same people. It‘s different when you‘re in grades 11-12 or 12-13, though - there, you switch rooms a lot because all the lessons are split up into heaps of courses. Depending on the profile you elected, your schedule looks different than everyone else’s! There may be differences between different schools and different regions in Germany, but this is the structure most schools use.

[@marsultor6131]

@@kbodychek it always depends on the school. In my school each teacher with an own class was designed a classroom, so when we weren’t kn lessons with our classteacher, we had to change rooms to the room of the other teachers and so on. Special rooms like for chemistry or biology are an exception of course.

[@Emi-ye2ut]

@@kbodychek wir nicht wir hatten nur in der 5.klasse ein klassenzimmer.

[@selectivemutismhelp]

We only had to switch classrooms for half of 9th grade but they then found out it doesn't really make sense, so the second half of 9th grade we stayed in our classroom (except for chemistry and physics). (Realschule) And at technical secondary school (FOS) we never switched. We chose the subject when we enrolled to the school so everyone had the same classes (except when you were in a mixed religion class)

[@player-ye3hk]

No, its not - that part is usual in germany. With the exception of "special" classes like physics or chemistry. We had only one general subject teacher everyone had to go to, which was because he was in a wheelchair and 90% of the classrooms were upstairs (There were elevatory, but the halways were narrow and usually filled with students, so hard to get through even if you had use of your legs...)

[@iallso1]

On your point about learning a foreign language and the fact that it is immersive, and students having to learn to keep up. I know in continental Europe language is taught at primary schools and not starting in high school, so most kids should already have the fundamentals. It is those early experiences of language learning and a sturdy base of those fundamentals that enable the progression to a deeper level of learning.

[@MK-fw9wx]

only true for few Bundesländer. Language lessons in primary school are a joke. Just be prepared to husstle if you are going to a Gymnasium in Germany - success is your responsibility. If you are failing (I know many do fail in the early Grades bc they chose to learn Latin or several languages so they have less free time) you will have to change schools.

[@silviav.2660]

That is true, but only for English classes. In a German "Gymnasium", it is required for the students to learn a second foreign language (usually French, Spanish or Latin) starting from 6th or 7th grade and at least until the start of "Oberstufe" (which is 10th or 11th grade). So we have 4 years of language learning in the second foreign language, with at least 4 periods every week, and the teacher usually only speaks that language in class. (Note that this only counts for the "Gymnasium", but actually nowadays most students go to Gymnasium and not to the other school forms that we have.)

[@iallso1]

When I started high school in the UK I had to study French for 3 years. It wasn't the immersive experience discussed here, the teachers spoke English and translated. We were taught grammar and nouns but no rules about pronunciation. The class moved along too fast and there was (in my opinion) no support for those that struggled and dropped behind. By a few weeks into the first term I was totally alienated to the idea of French and for that matter any other language learning. It was 3 years of hell and I dropped French at the first opportunity. I would like to be multilingual, I travelled in Europe a reasonable amount and was envious of those people who were multilingual, I just think that the way language is taught needs to fit the different learning abilities of the student body so as not to exclude a proportion. I know that I wasn't the only person struggling with the subject.

[@florentinenice9146]

@@silviav.2660 6th to 10th is actually 5 years (6,7,8,9,10) so it would be 5 or more year's. I am pretty sure you have to learn the language starting 6th (G8). At least we had to. And you could then learn another (3rd) language too. My sister's school did also give the students the option to learn Italian in 6th grade. Not to mention all the electable subjects (Wahlfächer?) you can learn like Chinese, old Greek, Arabic, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese etc. Depending on the school.

[@kaedeshirakawa1979]

@@florentinenice9146 uhm no. in the 10th class you can rechoose your subjects. in my school we had to choose latin or french in 6th grade and in 10th we choose to not continue those languages and/or to choose a new one like Italian. so it is 4 years

[@DasTamii]

I think that really depends on the school. There are also schools with catheterise and warm cooked lunch, we were allowed to use our phones in breaks, especially in lunch break, yes, we have fix classrooms here, but in my school we also had subjects where we have to leave the classroom, for example biology, chemistry, music, shop class, drawing and of course pe… we also had 50 minute lessons and only 5 minute breaks (and then 50 minutes lunch break)… In our school smoking was not allowed. So it really depends on the school :)

[@finngluck977]

Bruh rauchen geht unter 18 ja nie aber wird immer gemacht, 5 min pause yallah raucherspot hinter irgendner ecke, ab 18 scheißegal da rauch ich vor der schule über der straße mir doch wayne

[@josefineseyfarth6236]

At the Gymnasium I went to, the "normal" school day started at like 7:55 am. During 5th and 6th grade, there were 5 lessons á 45 minutes (sometimes also 90 minute blocks). There was a 10 minute breakfast break and a 60 minute "break" which was divided into 3x 20 minutes for lunch, homework and freetime in the schoolyard. Food could be purchased by order (like 2-3€ each day, you could pick from 3 complete dishes 1 month in advance), so they had an external cuisine/ company prepare the meals and bring them to school. And you could also buy snacks at school or just bring your own food. As the cafeteria was really small back then, this 1 hour was for 5th and 6th graders only, the others had to eat ahead (usually 12 to 0:30 am) or after school. This resulted in most students above 5th or 6th grade not going to the cafeteria at all. From 5th to 10th grade, the usual school day ended at 3:15 pm (sometimes also 1:25 or 2:15 pm). In 11th and 12th grade though we had "Kurse" (courses) for which you wouldn't just switch the classrooms, but also the classes mixed. Only for the very basic classes like German and maths you were with your "actual" classmates, otherwise the people varied according to which courses they chose. The daily schedule was pretty much equal to the years before, but like once or twice a week - and again dependent on which courses you chose - we had a "0. Stunde" (a "lesson 0") which started at like 6:50 am. Besides that, in the "Oberstufe" lessons were mostly packed into 90 minute blocks with a 10 minute breakfast break and a 30 minute lunch break. After- school activities mostly took place between 15:15 (3:15 pm) and 16:10 (4:10 pm).

[@eseruwu]

in my school we had classes in our classroom lieke math, history, german, english and so on. But like sports, arts, music, biology, physics and chemistry (+ some extra classes) we had to switch rooms too. (because they have the supplies needed there mostly)

[@nanahoub.9098]

it's so interesting to hear about you experiences. I'm German, so I never thought any of that is strange. This video gave me more perspective, thank you!

[@knotheadusc]

I have been living in Germany for seven years so far (this time). But I have never had any experiences with the education system. Thanks very much for this video! I hope you're enjoying your time here!

[@RubyDaLynx]

I'm from Greece and the things you described are surprisingly similar to what I've experienced. There are many differences too of course, but still. What you said was especially true about the food stands (Just different snacks, that's obvious), smoking, using phones, and leaving the school at different times each day of the week. Also having a specific classroom but sometimes moving for certain subjects, opening the windows instead of using AC, literally everything. Thank you for sharing, I didn't know you did things so similar to us, it's kinda neat

[@carolinaalves239]

I love the first point of the list because here in Portugal (where I’m from) it’s the same way! In Europe we don’t have a big culture of athleisure (spelling???) so most ppl dress “nice” for school!!

[@madrooky1398]

Ah well the school experience can be so different all over Germany. Mine is also already some years back, so i would not start to compare without having an hours long forth and back.... but i love to remember how i started playing drums because of a friend did, but we did not have a proper music room in our small school. It was a normal class room, mostly used by teachers for brakes and do some out of class work most of the time. We had two drum sets there, and some other instruments, but nothing like a big school can provide. Anyways, after a while my friend and i practiced there, teachers were listening, and started to bring their own instruments, and it developed to proper jam sessions over time. We even met at the afternoons, when the school actually was closed. And at some days, even on weekends, the school director who lived only a few houses away would let me in to practice playing drums for some hours alone. That was very cool, and mostly the only times i really enjoyed going to school, alone, and making noise... Haha

[@sharegreats2157]

Really good observations. I passed my "Abitur" in 1980, and while watching your video I was interested in how far things might have changed in the meantime. Not so much as far as I can recognize. Smoking was common back then too and staying in the same classroom also, except for Physics and Chemistry, Music and Sports lessons. Those themes had their own cinema-like rooms for presenting experiments. No restaurants in the holy halls of studies was mandatory.

[@lilylily3430]

Thanks for sharing, it really is a Nice video!! ❤️ Good luck for your study and have fun ❤️❤️

[@chrisbaertl5708]

We started switching classrooms in the last two years, but we didn't have classes in our regular class like before: We chose our different subjects and had other classmates (and rooms) in each subjects. All in the 90s..

[@witty2u]

Enjoy your stay. 🙂 Just a quick info that you might appreciate. - Plural of Gymnasium is Gymnasien. As you will notice, you will learn a lot more in less time over here in general, and this not only in language classes, but in math and science classes too. Because of the devided school system, it's possible to learn faster, and a lot more advanced stuff.

[@jumper8392]

It's just very pleasant to listen to you. I used this to wind down, although my school days have been over for some time xD

[@cailleanmccain]

Found your video in the "recommended" section and I must say I like it. I am long out of school but it seems that there hasn't changed much, neither in Germany nor in the USA... As others mentioned, not every school is the same, you know that. In my Gymnasium in Northern Germany, we had a totally German "Stundenplan", but some American ideas regarding school layout, as the building originally was from the 70s and renovated shortly before I started there in 1992. So part of our school day was always in the same class room, but there were various rooms we had to go to, like for biology, chemistry, physics, music and arts classes, oh, and geography as well. Back then, you were allowed smoking at the age of 16, so all smokers of age would be found in the "Raucherhof", something like an outdoor smoking lounge. For a long time, there was just the school kitchen, where some parents would cook for those students who liked a hot meal during the day. You had to sign in beforehand, and the kitchen actually was for students to learn cooking, but simply not in use all the time. After I finished school in 2001, they extended the existing main building and included a cafeteria. Oh, and regarding the American schools, I took part in a student exchange in 1998. Our smokers were pretty annoyed with the strict no-smoking policy and got themselves caught and in trouble for smoking, inevitably... ;) And when the American students were at our school, they were delighted to find that legal drinking outside school is allowed from the age of 16 and somehow got their hands on some hard liquor (which is not allowed for under-18s, just wine, beer and stuff like champagne), but were lucky enough to not get caught... fun times! :D

[@exn207]

In the late 1990s die "Raucherecke" was a very important place at our school. In Germany there's a tradition that students on the way to the exams were treated as adults. All students older than 16 and being 11th -13th grade (the last 2.5 years on the way to the Abitur) were allowed to smoke in the "Raucherecke". Also Theachers. The "MSS-Parties" were also a very important institution. These parties were organised by all students of 13th grade for earning money to pay the bills for the prom and everything after the prom. These parties took place in a local club and yes, there were a lot of teachers, and yes, beer was cheap. "Everthing after the prom" means that you finish school on wednesday, friday is prom night ("Abi-Ball") and saturday till there´s no beer and no food left you´re having fun on a camp site. Sleeping in tents, barberque and beer and everything else. Back in those days you finished exams aroung 24th of june. Party until 30th june, starting military service 1st july...(Germany stopped conscription in 2011). The first day basic training was funny...Around 70 % of the draftees finished "Abitur" and were in a bad condition....

[@saadbintalha3999]

Would you like to change the back of the picture nicely, I'll delete the back of your picture nicely, you hired me background removal: file format is png, jpeg, • Model photo background removal • Pure white background • Remove background you can hire me

[@nadiary7991]

What you're describing is so close to my experience in a swiss Gymnasium (I'm swiss myself)! I graduated in 2016, so not that long ago. Admittedly is was a private school and smaller than other Gymnasiums in Switzerland, so traditions are generally easier to uphold. In Switzerland the smoking an (beer) drinking age (or, when you're allowed to buy cigarettes) is also still 16.

[@nadiary7991]

@@theRealJohnnyG. what do you mean 😂

[@francescaballarinmcguire6427]

Welcome in Germany! Your experiences are very much connected with your specific school. In the Gymnasium my kids went, for example, there is a cafeteria since 2010. Telephone rules are established by the school, so they can be very different even in the same city. As well as the switching classes, or opening windows before or during the class. Every region in Germany has different ideas how school should be done and leave a lot of freedom to the school itself for the normal day managements.

[@Nicole-fp6gh]

In both of my US high schools, we had a short day once a week. On this day we usually had activities after school, like band or sports practice. A few of my schools also did not have AC, but this was many years ago. I did experience the same thing with language learning in the US. I took two years of Spanish and did not learn much even though I received high marks.

[@corvalanjuani8880]

What a great experience! The fact that you uploaded this video could be helpful to people who are also going on an exchange to Germany. I could also notice that german schools are very similar to those in my country, Argentina. Greetings!😁

[@temper44]

I'm way past high school so I can't really relate, but I am impressed that you traveled across the world to get a new school experience. I wish I had done that back in school.

[@leosvideos2002]

Hey Caroline, just found this video and its very interesting! I myself was a german student in a Gymnasium till this year and I finally graduated. And I can tell you, the german Abitur is one hell of a ride… In what grade are you in? Usually there are two different systems within the Gymnasium, from 5th to 9/10th grade you have a classroom, your specific classmates and a classroom teacher. You stay in the room (except for sciences) , the teacher comes to you. Also its more common to have single 45 min classes after each other. In the other system, the „Oberstufe“, from 10/11th to 12/13th grade, you will only have subject courses, switch to different rooms and different teachers. Here, the subjects will be always paired together in two hours each, a „Block“ as we call it. At my school, we had a 15 min break between each Block for eating and switching the rooms. In the Oberstufe I often had 8 hour days, so these breaks were really important for my concentration. In Germany though you can‘t say the schools are the same everywhere in the country, each state/Bundesland has a different rules and expectations with how a school should be and what the students need to learn. The Abitur in Bayern is known for being the most difficult, while the Abitur in Schleswig-Holstein is not as hard. I hope you have a great time here! I will watch your videos :)

[@carolineruby]

Thank you so much! And I’ll answer some of these questions in my next video :)

[@freen773]

Really? We see the abitur as being rather easy for most parts of germany at least

[@marsa74]

@@freen773 It was "one hell of a ride" perhaps 30 years ago ... but today? Nahhh ...

[@Dutch_Uncle]

Some years ago the final grade for the Abitur as set by a committee from the state education authority which visited each school and conducted an oral examination of each student, covering the classwork. It made, at least in Hessen, for a standardized system, with confidence in the uniformity of the degree.

[@jonas1630]

From what state are you?

[@nias3202]

Thank you! I enjoyed your video a lot. The looking down didn't bother me at all. I can relate very much to what you have said. I still wonder how I could get up 6am every day during my school time. Now while studying at university getting to my desk before 10am feels very early😅.

[@analennyja]

It's similar here in Slovenia 😊 They do say we are using "German school system". And for changing classrooms: We currently don't change classrooms, because of the virus, but usually we change them for every class. Oh and we do have a cafeteria or at least special place to eat lunch.

[@tonyprice1786]

I learned French the same way- a Frenchman, who gave us all French surnames. all addressed as monsieur: Le Prix (me) Mr La Cloche (Bell) Mr Fils de Richard (Richardson) and from the moment we entered the class, everything was discussed and conveyed in French, and it worked wonders as nobody could "hide". It makes the brain operate totally in the language. Many years later, i still converse with friends in French, read in French sometimes, and enjoy maintaining the links and visits to France.

[@christopherhall6471]

This video randomly popped up on my feed and I just had to watch. But interestingly enough, I studied abroad in Heidelberg for college from 2006-2009. It was my first time in Germany and I basically did it on a whim with little more than 2 months preparation. It was initially supposed to be for a semester and I ended up staying for 3 years. I'll be honest, it was the best decision I'd ever made. Enjoy your time in Germany and stay away from the Lucky Strikes and Stella's.

[@Dutchbelg3]

In Belgium phone rules are very strict! And in secondary school clothing rules too! There are even some schools that keep a school uniform ! Food (lunch ) is also regulated ; not all items are allowed (certainly no warm items). And there is no smoking at or near the school! Beer is not so strict ;-) I do not have numbers but I do belief there is less smoking over all in Belgium.

[@BMF6889]

Interesting comparison of school cultures. First you are very lucky to be an exchange student and have the opportunity to live in Germany for a year. I had a similar but very different school experience. I was born in 1946. My dad was an Air Force pilot flying bombers, so I grew up as an Air Force Brat. This was during the Cold War so bomber pilots were moved around the country every year or two and sometimes in the middle of a school year. I'm not sure I can remember every school I attended but some states were Missouri, Massachusetts, Alabama, Florida, North Dakota, California, Newfoundland (Canada), Louisiana, and in some cases twice in a state. For example, for Junior High (as it was called back then) I attended Clearwater JH, Redland JH, South Dade HS, Sidney Lanier HS, Minot HS, Fresno HS, and back to finish at Minot HS. I was constantly facing new students, new teachers, new text books, new teaching methods, new cultural differences, and new environments. It was both a curse and a blessing. It was a curse because it made learning so much more difficult and every new school I attended, the locals had already established long term cliques and "base kids" were not considered a part of the local cultures. Also the strategic bomber bases were necessarily located in remote locations away from populated areas . In North Dakota for example, in the winter we waited for the bus on the Air Force base and the wind was usually blowing ice crystals and/or snow at 30-40 MPH at very low temperatures. The family at our bus stop would open their garage so we could get out of the wind until the bus arrived. It was an hour bus ride to the High School. Minot High did not have a cafeteria, so during lunch you either walked into town to buy a hot dog at the local pool hall or you brought your lunch and ate in the gym. There was zero opportunity to date a local girl and being a military base there were very few teenage girls on base and they were constantly either being transferred out or transferred in. In the town of Minot in those days (1964), base kids were disliked. By some miracle, I maintained a C average and managed to get accepted into college. My 4 years in college were the most stable years of my life. It felt weird as had this feeling that I wanted to move somewhere. This was a time that the Vietnam War was at its peak and the draft was taking everyone who didn't have a waiver. As a history major in 1967 it was 100% certain that I would drafted into the Army. So to avoid the draft, I joined the Marine Corps and after completing Officer Candidate School (OCS) a 12 week experience of pain and mental and physical challenges, my first full time job in my life was as a Marine platoon commander in Vietnam 1968-69. Hard year. I lost a lot of good Marines that year and when I returned to the US in December 1969, I was mentally and physically exhausted and had an internal infections the doctors couldn't diagnose. So I'm back in the US, but my parents are stationed in the Philippines and my brother who was a Marine was still in Bethesda Naval Hospital after being severely wounded in Vietnam. Lucky for my my girl friend, who was attending a university, invited me to spend Christmas break with her and her parents. It was a very shot time, but we got engaged during that visit. She was the best thing that every happened to me, but unfortunately she suffered from severe depression and the marriage didn't last 4 years. Anyway, I served 21 years in the Marines with 3 years in combat. My last tour of duty was with US Special Operations Command assigned to the Joint Analysis and Studies Group (JSAG) and spent most of that time in Latin America with 3 Army Officers conducting strategic analyses of those countries. Interesting time. We had a Special Operations C-12 aircraft in support that took us anywhere we had to go at anytime day or night. There were a few times we had to take a commercial flight such as in Bolivia where the airport is above the ceiling level the C-12 could land. After I retired from the Marines in 1989, I spent the 26 years as an independent consultant supporting military technology programs. My responsibilities were to advise the developers, learn to use the technologies, teach the technologies to the military, and then be technical support on military exercises around the world in some very remote areas and conditions. In December 2015, I decided I needed to retire. The travel was becoming too much for me. For example, in the final 25 weeks of 2015, I was on the road 23 and a half weeks. I got home on December 22, 2015 and decided to hang my shoot'n irons up for good. I was burned out. I didn't want be in another airport, on another plane, rent another car, sleep in another hotel, eat in another restaurant, attend more boring technical meeting, right another technical 200 plus page paper, and more. The one thing I loved was being in the field with the military on their exercises. Most of these exercises (almost all) were in very remote locations in very primitive conditions for extended periods eating MREs. But I was used to it and there is nothing like the comradery in the military. I wouldn't trade any of those experiences for any amount of money. I'm 75 now and my professional career has been both painful and enriching. Both were valuable experiences for life and my future. But it wasn't just my professional career that was satisfying. In my "free" time, I became a private pilot with commercial and instrument ratings, I took aerobatic basic, intermediate, and advanced lessons. I took Mountain flying lessons in Alaska. I became a glider pilot. I was a sky diver, I was a motorcycle touring enthusiast putting over 65,000 miles on my motorcycles, I was a SCUBA diver / wreck diver / underwater photographer, I was a sailor that sailed around the Hawaiian Islands for three years, I was a X-country skier I was a, winter camper. I was a, whitewater canoeist. I was a, free rock climber and hiker. I was once pretty good finger picking Mississippi Delta Blues on guitar. I studied astronomy. I learned to speak Spanish, but today I would struggle getting from place to place and ordering food because when I lived in El Salvador for a couple of years, I spoke Spanish well, but since then I haven't had the need to speak it since then, I've forgotten a lot. I lived in Central America for 2 years on the economy and that was a great experience. One of my most important accomplishments was when I was assigned to Headquarters Marine Corps in Washington DC. I as assigned to the Officer Assignment Branch which in those day was a plum assignment. However, when I reported in, I was assigned as the Project Officer to automate the Marine Corps' officer assignment system which at the time were about 100 3-ring binders with most of the officer assignment logic in the heads of the Assignment Monitors. In other words they could make up the assignment criteria as they chose; and my job was to standardize it all so they couldn't make it up. Needless to say, I was hated. It's a very long story, but after 3.5 years I succeeded in the Marine Corps adopting my required goal. I did have a contractor that was supporting me, but they didn't have sufficient funds to program everything, so I learned to program in Natural (the precursor to SQL) and I wrote all of the output programs for the Officer Assignment Branch. It wasn't easy because when I got the job, the only think I knew about computers were that they were used on the NASA programs. So, my personal philosophy of life has been to live it to the fullest. I don't mean with money and privilege . I mean in personal experiences that define who your are at the core. And to accept any challenge you are given in life and solve it.

[@nickgoerzen4205]

Very cool Story!

[@carly200]

great video, got recommended to me, enjoyed watching it. it has been some time since I went to school, but I remember some of the things you talk about. But I guess it might be different from state to state in Germany as well, since the school system ist state responsibility... Enjoy your year over here :-)

[@carolineruby]

Thank you so much!

[@jankrusat2150]

When I was in high school (40 years ago) we had specialised classrooms for things like biology, chemistry physics, arts and music. The ones for the sciences were actually labs, where you could do experiments and had store rooms for chemicals and equipment, and the one for arts had work benches and cabinets for supplies, we also had a printing press in there. And as for music, one wouldn't expect the teacher to lug a grand piano around. So there was a special classroom just for music, with an attached closet for musical instruments.

[@carolineruby]

That’s so cool!

[@susannekarnowka5889]

Well I went to elementary and highschool from mid 90's to mid '00 and I second that... All the more specialized subjects that need special equipment etc had their own rooms which you would go to in your selected class band (let's call it that) and German, Math, English, Politics, History you get the gist were in our designated class rooms ... also Religion was split into catholic or protestant or ethics/philosophy (for non christians or everyone who didn't want to learn about religion)

[@MrHenrymcneely]

:D I think you're the first who invented the word "Dumpfnudel" Love it! Great video! Always good to see your own world from a new perspective.

[@alejoscally5407]

hi, yesterday I saw your video and I liked the way you explained it because I would have done it that way. have a nice day👋

[@PalmyraSchwarz]

Hi Caroline, smokers are actually on the decline in Germany. I am amazed that you noticed that teenagers in particular seem to be smoking more and more again. It was different a few years ago.

[@samiraansari5686]

From my own school I can say that it‘s not necessarily that many people smoke, but the ones that do, do it very openly (and as she mentioned sometimes alongside the teachers). I think that might be what she picked up on?

[@anneb2716]

The totala mount of smokers is on the decline, but if you look at the percentage conpared to the US there are way more smokers in Europe in general. (Hint Germany is the only 1st world country allowing tabacco advertisment on the streets/bilboards). I smoked as a teen and in my Gymnasium we had to typical smoker spots. One was changing all the time, since the teachers didn't tolerate smoking for under 16yo, the other been at the the same gate all the the time, where the smokers from the Oberstufe (grade 10-12 or 11-13, depending on your state) smoked, often with the teachers. I never heard of smoking in the toilets in Germany though. It also doesn't make sense to me, if you can just leave the school ground/area where your school makes the rules. Vaping wasn't a thing 10 years ago, when I grafuated, but I also don't see a lot of teens smoke anyway. Which I can understand, since inhaling the smoke of any addictive chemical isn't a good habit to pick up.

[@DangeHD]

Due to Covid and the lockdowns, stress etc. there´s a rise in smokers again.

[@ajana2424]

There are too many of these braindead smoking people, not only in schools, but everywhere. I cant stand to live in Germany anymore and be constantly annoyed by braindeads. Moving out is already in progress.

[@nunyabiz012]

I’ve noticed that about Germany as well. I often wonder why there are so many smokers around - given how health-conscious they always think themselves to be. You see so many people outside and living active lifestyles, yet nearly every teen or especially tween, seems to smoke. It’s really weird.

[@actualfruitcake9556]

Super interesting, thanks for sharing! I’ve always wanted to visit Germany

[@carolineruby]

Thank you so much! You definitely should, it’s a beautiful country :)

[@alengrm7488]

I’m studying in a Slovene gymnasium and I’d say that German schools are pretty similar to ours. In my school, classes start at 7: 10(ofc, it depends on a school) and usually last till around 12: 45(6 hours), 13: 35(7 hours) or 14: 25(8 hours). But, every other Thursday, my first class starts 2 hours later than usual(our class is divided into two groups at that subject for easier work). In normal conditions we would switch classrooms but because of COVID we have a designated classroom in which we stay through all lessons. Our school offers lunches as well but because we don’t have a kitchen, we’ve to walk to a nearby primary school in which we also eat(it’s only like 100 meters away so it’s not a big deal) Our main break lasts one school hour(45 mins) while breaks between lessons only last 5 minutes(except when we have double sessions and work the same as in Germany) About phones, our school allows phones through breaks. You’re supposed to have your phone silent or turned off during classes but if it accidentally goes off, professors usually don’t cause a big deal about it(unlike in Slovene primary schools)

[@babyyoda1898]

7:10? Thats even worse than ours

[@tobbbsosa]

A few days ago I saw your video and I found it quite interesting because of the culture and how it changes between each country.

[@tobbbsosa]

What a video

[@pastasolinc8411]

I noticed the smoking culture as well in Germany and it does seem to be out of hand for a visitor. We went to Zugspitze and we really had to find places where we werent smelling the smoke. It just sucks that people will go all the way up and not enjoy the fresh air.

[@faultier1158]

Smoking rates absolutely plummeted during the last 20 years though. When today's teenagers with their low smoking rates will be in their 30s or 40s, the teens of their time probably won't smoke at all. This process just happened earlier in the US and is already completed, basically.

[@franzi6715]

But Germans don't vape as much which is good considering vapes, especially the ones that are legal in the US, can be just as damaging if not more damaging than cigarettes

[@apokalyptolellek3345]

My Gymnasium is really relaxed with phones. We are allowed to use them in the breaks and also at the lessons. So its absolutely fine to pur the phone on the table in lessons. And we also have an cafeteria, where we can buy Nuggets oder Pizza e.g. But also real food like fish with potatos or sth like that

[@klasse4b343]

Dear caroline, I am a Geman student in grade 6, learning English. I like the way you speak, I understand you very well, because you speak clearly. Thanks, I learn a lot from you! Please keep up the good work!

[@andreaskonig3767]

Thanks for that. Nice video. Good to hear from a guest. Have a lovely time nonetheless.

[@fruzsimih7214]

I live in Austria and my sister was an exchange student in the rural US for a year in the 1990s. Her French teacher there had such a terrible American accent when speaking French that you could hardly understand her. But worse, she also required her students to speak the same way! When my sister came back to Austria, I had to practice the correct French accent with her because she'd often fall into "American French"...

[@salmathecopt7969]

Who cares

[@paddypleiner5518]

@@salmathecopt7969 obviously you, as you replied

[@martinm8991]

The Gymnasium I was on in Germany had a great lunch-room, excellent kitchen with healthy food, several options which were different each day. Back in the day it cost a few Euros (maybe 4 DEM, which is little over 2 EUR) and fast food joints in the vicinity of the school offered their food for students at exactly the same price (while everyone else payed regular = higher prices). And yeah, smoking is considered an important "human right" in Germany, horrible and sad . . .

[@ma.rtha.sophie8359]

hey, I'm from Berlin and my school is really different than yours. I also know other schools and just wanted to add that the schools are all so different here (in Germany). The rules are so different depending on the school. The Gymnasiums are in general different than the Sekundarschulen.The Gymnasiums are stricter and more intense than others. For example: I am changing clases and we do have a cafeteria. really love your videos

[@brigittahoffmann9283]

interesting to see the differences and very helpful to understand how the schools are designating the spaces and the education.

[@elyserylance3861]

Hope it’s going well for you! I can’t wait so see you when u come back with your lil German accent😍

[@carolineruby]

Thank you so much! Yes so excited to be a German girly😋😋

[@lisaberinger1682]

we switched classrooms A LOT☺️ i suppose it depends on which class (the younger ones switch less at my school ) and which school you go to☺️

[@bettycrockerbake]

Very nice, thought I'd share some things that can differ from school to school or region. Clothing is also dependent on the type of school you go to. My highschool was full of leisure wear, we were just not on a Gymnasium, or from well-off parents. Most school do have some designated rooms for science classes (Biology, Chemistry, Physics) so you have tools for equipment. Most schools indeed do not have a cafeteria, some do. Many have a small shop where you can get food.

[@hannamarie1157]

you're so adorable i might be moving to Germany next year for college but i really enjoyed this :)

[@carolineruby]

thank you so much!

[@killathugz240]

"As Long As We Weren't Calling Someone." 🙏

[@MTrekker2001]

Back in the seventies, I was invited to spend a day at Gymnasium with a neighbor of my grandparents. Smoking students had an ashtray at their desks and during lunch break we went to the local wirtschaft (pub) to have a beer and bratwurst.

[@sabgerland5298]

Nice video. I hope you enjoy your German experience. I am also US American and have lived here 40 years. Travel is educational. All the best!

[@dcilluffo8640]

Great information, thank you for sharing!

[@sleepysera]

I haven't had a schedule like that since elementary school, it's so short :0 From 5th grade, we had afternoon lessons 4 days a week (usually til 3:30 pm) and then til 5 or 6 pm in higher grades.

[@BlauerBooo]

Oh no :D Even in the last grades, aged 17 or so, I mostly finished around 1 or 2 pm. Except sports lessons in the afternoon. But there was no lunch breaks, no longer breaks in between... a lesson of 45 minutes is common in Germany. After each you got 5 minutes as a break. Sometimes you stay in your classroom and the teacher changes, so you can chat and such. Sometimes you have to change rooms, so the break is needed for that. Every two lessons there is a larger break of 15 minutes and you have to leave the classroom and be outside on the schoolyard for this. A regular schoolday counts 6 lessons, sometimes 7. Including two of those longer breaks. But no lunch break. That changed for most schools some years ago, so they offer a lunch and also end later in the afternoon. I'd say maximum at 4 pm though. A longer schoolday is reserved for the college students in some cases or for voluntary activities like a sports club or choir or acting class.

[@ierdnall]

American living here for 12 years. I watched some videos over the years, from others, to get an idea of their experiences. Most were cringe level and I was hesitant to watch another. To my surprise you had great takes and you seemed comfortable with the changes. Thanks for the positive review and hope you have FUN while you are here. ;)

[@peter_meyer]

Wow! More than 100k views within two weeks for your fourth video. Congrats!

[@jamesr1703]

Wow! I really enjoyed this. I'm 60 years old now and I was an exchange student in Germany at a Gymnasium for one year in the early 80s. Not much has changed. Unfortunately the kids smoking, with everything that we know today about how bad smoking is for your health, was and is mind boggling that an educated population would still be smoking so much in 2021.

[@sheilanixon913]

I am amazed that Germany , a very health orientated country , is still allowing smoking in public places. It has been banned in britain for many years indoors in public places , uncluding restaurants. One of my sons smokes , and he says that the looks he gets from the 82% who do not smoke (including me) makes him feel lik e a criminal. In High Schools , students and teachers are not allowed to smoke at all in hospitals they give in -patients nicotene patches as smoking is not allowed even in hospital grounds. In Britain the air is free from cigarette smoke ,

[@white_wolf_mk]

Well, Smoking is "common" under teenagers, bacause, as I know, on every class ther is someone, who is Smoking cigarrets, but all in all only a few are smoking.

[@jenni_music]

In my school we switch classrooms for different classes. Every teacher has an own classroom which they can also decorate and the students go to the teacher‘s room. We also have a cafeteria where we can sit down to eat. But unfortunately the cafeteria is closed because of covid and now we only have a kiosk :(

[@erdalsarkulak1356]

Hi, jenni I am looking for text friend. I want to improve my English level. Would you like to be friends with me?

[@rallischu1573]

Du machst einen sehr sympathischen Eindruck, und ich freue mich auf Deine kommenden Videos. Ich bin gespannt wie es dann klingt, wenn Du Deutsch sprichst.

[@jessiejamesferruolo]

Cool video. Ive been finished with high school for almost 20 years, but now I live in Germany and have a child here. Its cool to hear the differences between the countries, but also the difference in generations. When I was in high school between 2000-2004 cell phones were absolutely not allowed and of course vaping didnt exist.

[@kennalime5644]

It´s funny to find sooo many similarities with school in Spain. Are you planning on posting a vlog, Caroline?

[@carolineruby]

Yeah! I’ll probably do some travel blogs soon. Stay tuned!

[@kennalime5644]

@@carolineruby I will!!

[@timefliesaway999]

The smoking thing usually only is allowed when you’re over 18. When under 18, teachers will require a paper from your parents, so that it’s clear that your parents know that you’re harming yourself.

[@crazytricks11]

I was at a kind of... comprehensive school. It's a mixture of Gymnasium, Realschule and Hauptschule. You can basically graduate to four different levels (Hauptschulabschluss, Realschulabschluss with or without qualification for the Abitur and the Abitur itself)... So because of that system, we needed so go to classes with different levels. Thats why we changed classes since class 5 more frequently than you are in a Gymnasium. (Also changing to rooms with some special equipment. Always had biology at a biology room, physics in a physics room and so on. But yes, you're right that the rooms are used "randomly" - not every teacher has his own room, they're also changing them. And you don't even HAVE a "classroom" in Oberstufe at my school, you were constantly changing rooms) Also there were breaks (5 minutes) for classroom changes after every hour. When I was in "Oberstufe" my typical school day started at 7.30 and endet at 4pm. I had at minimum one free class per day. Some days were shorter indeed. And we had a cafeteria. You were able to buy some sandwiches and smaller stuff there in the main break and some lunch in the lunch break, which was usually one class long. We had two breaks at all - 30 mins and 15 mins. Lunch break only was on days, which were supposed to be longer than the average 6 hour school day. (obiosly they didn't care about that in Oberstufe) Back in High School before Oberstufe, I hat 3-4 days with 8 and 1-2 days with 6 hours of school. So the main differences you're observing mostly are because of Covid or your school itself. Here in germany, even the times for school hours are changing from school to school. The average school day at my school startet at 8.15 - yours at 8.05. Also the rules you're talking about are changing from school to school... Back when I was in school we were allowed to have a phone unless we were not using it during class. In language classes we sometimes were allowed to look something up but it's a few years ago so I suppose they were getting a little more strict on that right now... but yea - it still changes everywhere. But nice video :) thanks for sharing your experiences!

[@cirogimenezbachey8678]

We watched the video in my English class from Argentina🇦🇷 and I could understand everything very well. The school here is also very similar to the one in Germany. I really liked the video. I will probably continue watching more❤️‍🩹.

[@sleniger]

Great video :) I look forward to seeing what you get up to during your time in Germany! Also, it would be really interesting if you documented your "progress" of improving your Germany during the 10 months :) Maybe just include snippets of you speaking German every now and then in your videos

[@carolineruby]

Great idea! I will definitely make some progress videos!

[@mariamileshkina9669]

This sounds very similar to Russian school! We have 5-10 minute breaks after each 50 minute lesson and we stay in one class for most of the time, so instead of there being a math classroom, history classroom, etc. we have a class 7a room, a class 10b room.

[@Maria-fh4uk]

yes exactly!!! i’m russian and my school works the same!! Я из екатеринбурга:)

[@thesublimewolftsw4623]

I saw it on class and it was very interesting, mostly about clothes and the timetables, overall a good video

[@elisapenn]

found this vid really interesting! i didn't know anything about schools in germany and from what you say, they are pretty similar to italian ones

[@berndkielmann7790]

the sistem is diferent between the states in germany (federal sistem). And they are dieferences between Gymnasium and Gemeinschaftsschule. Her the schools (in SH) has Mensa (were you can eat)

[@honkytonk4465]

*system

[@silviav.2660]

Hi Caroline, I had your video in my recommendations and as a German, I find it really interesting to get to know your perspective in our school system here! I've got a question about the American system: You said, you always have the same subjects each day for half a year, and then they will switch. And you usually have 4 subjects each day. Does that mean that each day, you will have for example Biology in first period and Social Studies in last period? To me, from a pedagogical perspective that does not sound so good, as then, kids would probably start to hate the subject that they have at the end of the school day more, as then they are tired already. Is it like that? Here in Germany, we usually make sure that a subject ist not being taught only in the last periods. For example, if you have 4 periods of Math per week, and two of them are on Monday in 5th/6th period, the other two will be on another day in an earlier time slot, as students are much more likely to be more tired and lose motivation at the end of the school day.

[@carolineruby]

It’s exactly like that in the US, I don’t think it’s good for the best learning opportunities, but that’s how it is

[@dal8963]

We had block schedule so you took 4 classes called "A" day Monday Wednesday and Friday then 4 other classes on "B" day Tuesday and thrusday if the week before had 3 "b" days then the next week had "2" b days and so the days switched from you taking your "b" day classes 3 times or 2 times and you ended up visiting every one of your 8 classes every other day for 1.5 hours each. Or 4 classes a school day. it made the classes feel like they lasted forever and you really only did one lesson plan or as much work as if you only had a standard time of 45 mins and just had a ton of time you couldn't leave but had nothing to do. Then once you get to the last two years you can apply for work program and if you have a job and enough credits you can do 1/2 day of school from 8am-12pm or 11am-3pm so just two classes would be a half day and you would always have your last class of "a" day be the last class of all "a" days and same with "b" day always having the same "b" class in the same time each"b" b day

[@firstinthedance]

It is important to realize that, like in Germany, not all U.S. schools do things the same way. Schedules and other practices vary widely from district to district, and state to state.

[@novadhd]

it too much work to customize school schedules like that lol. Remember Americans are lazy haha

[@flippingfruitsforeuros3453]

As a German guy who did an exchange in the US this is very interesting to me. I would really be interested on how you will see difference’s in ours behavior. Like are people more open, funny, ambitious, plans for having a family and stuff. Sheeesh

[@danasoniahans5248]

Your video was realy useful and I loved it 😊💖✨️

[@miriam9108]

You're class should be really happy with this schedule, in my school we had at least one day a week until 16:15 since 6.grade, later even school days from 7:00 to 17:00

[@celinesiebert4858]

Is it even allowed to teach kids from 7:00? I've never heard of it.

[@Regenteufel]

Sounds familiar. In grade 12 my schoolday on Friday was from 7:40 to somewhat after 5pm. I did have third and fourth period off....however it was boring because there wasn't much too do during this spare time. I eventually used it for my motorbiking classes sometimes. We also had school til at least 03:30 once a week since grade 5 and later one it was rather normal. We barely got out of school at 1pm. And I had 13 years. The younger ones with Abi after 12 years had even worse schedules.

[@kaedeshirakawa1979]

@@celinesiebert4858 yes, its the 0. lesson. in my school that lesson was sometimes used when teacher and students agreed to have it in the early morning instead of the 9/10th lesson on a friday

[@craftyle]

My "Gymnasium" always started at 7 in the morning...

[@wernholttempelhoff9301]

I find your remarks about the room-switching theme interesting and wondered whether it would be better in Germany too if the students switched to the teacher in his classroom after each lesson. There is a saying which goes if the prophet does not come to the mountain, then the mountain must go to the prophet. Here the teacher is the prophet and the pupils are the mountain. On the one hand, it seems to be more efficient when one person changes class as if everybody change classes. That is associated with unrest for the whole school also. On the other hand, I think it's not bad if all students move physically after each lesson. That stimulates the circulation and brings a breath of fresh air into their brain. In the end I am undecided. Perhaps the German system is an example of German efficiency and the American system is an example of American sportiness. Presumably there is no right or wrong, may be it is just a question of the cultural background.

[@noahluppe]

With the amount of books students have (or had when I was one) it's far better for kids to have them in the class room in a personal locker than to carry them everywhere with them. My school transitioned to no homework but designated classes to do them for year 5-9, so most books except vocabulary could stay in school in the one room. And with the long breaks you get the chance to move around between classes. In year 10+ (so more comparable to high school I guess) we didn't have our own room, I think the situation right now is that it's far easier to isolate and trace contacts in one room.

[@ch.7763]

☺️ yes we don’t switch much class rooms ( mostly for chemistry, biology, sport, art and music) My school had a place for buying food and eat on tables- but yes mostly we eat in our classrooms or outside In the gymnasium you are also allowed to leave school property at break time (some times you have a 2 h break because classes fall out or you have a very long day ) So you can go short home if you make it in time back or go for lunch We have also much shorter summer breaks than USA and depending where you live less holy days ( no 4 of July break or Memorial Day 🤣 weekend )

[@fryfly5599]

wow you are getting out of school super early. I just got into 10th grade, and on my school we end on 15.30 every day. Which is 7-8 Classes depending on the day, and it will get even more in the Sekundarstufe II. We do have more and longer breaks though, which increases the total time in school of course. But we are allowed to use our phone in the breaks, which is nice ig. And yes, teachers and students 18 or older, will even smoke together. Also I was very surprised you called jeans "dressing nice". If I want to dress nice I would wear a suit (Which I sometimes do in school, if there is something important that day), which a lot of people do aswell, at least for special occasions, like first school day, last school day, some event like a musical competition in school, whatever there might be.