Wednesday, 3/12/14
Day 15, Düsseldorf

Today, we had another English class with a different teacher. We were analysing 'Of Mice and Men' characters, and again, the students were too shy to speak up. I was talking to a German student and he said that the teachers point out all the mistakes made by the students, making them more hesitant towards speaking out loud. "Yeah sure, they get some words wrong," I said to him, "but they still get their message across, and that's all that really matters."

We had orchestra at the end of the day, and all the music students got together and played Christmas songs for their concert. They sounded really good, but the instruments were very unbalanced. 6 clarinets, 4 trombones, 2 saxophones, 4 tubas, 3 french horns, 1 bass player, 1 drummist, 1 trumpet, 4 flute, 1 cellist and 1 violinist! Pretty much the opposite of our orchestra! They played well, (I think Macleod is better) but lacked the players of importance.

Tuesday, 2/12/14
Day 14, Düsseldorf

I had an English class today. It was really good, because the teacher made them speak in English. The Germans were analysing 'American Beauty', but they were underestimating the skill of their English. In my opinion, they made a few mistakes, but they were very good, and using words I didn't even know! They also depend on the ability of the teacher and what kind of accent they have, too. It's sometimes funny when a German student speaks English with a British accent, or an American accent, even if they've never been to either of the countries.

Monday, 1/12/14
Day 13, Düsseldorf

The first day of December! I got a few pinches and punches, but nothing too bad. Just like the first day of school, I had religion. I learnt that it is not a compulsory subject, but most students do it because it easy. As usual, I had no clue what was going on, and I didn't even bother.

My host, and a few others had exams, so we got frees during the lessons. We played Korean poker during these hours, and we played loudly. Soon enough, a teacher came in a told us off for being to loud, in German. So we were quiet for a bit, then he came in again, more aggresive with his voice and  raised his voice, in German. I was a bit nervous, because our teachers said that they wanted no complaints from the school. In the end, everything was okay.

~Charlie