Hello World!

February 6, 2014 by Igor Miller 2 Comments

Good day fellow blog readers,

My old laptop broke and I have finally received my new one. This means I am able to start blogging again.

Many great things have happened in the last month-and-a-half, such as Christmas with my host-family, celebrating New Years at a ski resort in the Swiss Alps, seeing my mother and nanny, the mid-year seminar and most recent, switching schools. This weekend, I will post a few updates about those things, but today, I will speak about what is currently happening.

This Monday, I began a new chapter of my life in Germany by going to another school. It is a “Integrated Together School” which in English means that the Hauptschule, Realschule, and Gymnasium are all mixed together, creating a “together school”. As I said before, Hauptschule- bad kids, Realschule- the average, Gymnasium-the good ones, well, most of the time. So pretty much, a normal American high school.

I switched schools due to my grades, having a few A’s, B’s, C’s, and a D. An A / 1 is almost impossible to achieve, even for the Germans, so technically a 1 and 2 would be about the same as an A in the USA. In Germany an A-1, B-2, and so on. It goes until 6 which is an F. So I believe, a 1 or 2 should be the equivalent to an A.

For example, in P.E., to get an A+, one must be able to swim 400M under 7 minutes and run 5 miles in 30 minutes.

So this is the main reason I switched schools, because my grades are the most important thing. In my new school, I also have no 7th and 8th block, which allows me to do extracurricular activities, such as mountain biking. I currently train with Germany’s Master/Chamionship Mountain Biker, who was first 3 times in Germany. Today we trained on endurance, climbing hills, and technique.

My school that I go to now is also very nice. My classmates are great, the classes are at my level, kids are my age, and the subjects are interesting. I currently take English, German, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Math, Sport, Ethics/Philosophy, Socioeconomics, Art, and a few other subjects that have slipped my mind, all being Honors.

Life here is wonderful and I look forward to everyday that happens. I am staying with the same host-family until the middle of June and I find them totally great, supportive, smart, and hard-working. My host-brother and I get along well and I have much fun when we go mountain biking or do something together. Most of the time, it is the highlight of my day.

All in all, life’s great and stay tuned for this weekend! 🙂

Best Regards,

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