die Schlossschule

Most of the time, I just blog about random experiences that happen that were fun or important or great; something. They've all been specific experiences with some general thrown in there. That's all well and good and I could have a blog chock full of them, because I have so many. However, I feel like getting the gist of my day to day life is important too. 

And, to be honest, I'm in school. Both literally and the other literal interpretation. The Schloss, while a historical castle, is now a boarding school (Gymnasium and Realschule) with classrooms and dorms in the actual Schloss and in the "Schulgebäude" (School Building).

We're not in the Schloss, though we do eat there and do other things from time to time, we sleep in the Schulgebäude and our classrooms are on the second floor. It's a pretty neat building and the windows are fascinating. I feel like I've probably written about them before. But anyhow, here is how the "typical" day is run.

8:00-ish is when Breakfast starts (8:30 announcements, so you need to be there)
9:00 - Classes start
10:30 - Break
10:45 - Class starts again
12:15 - Morning classes end
1:00 - Lunch
2:00 - This is where it gets complicated. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we have more class, but other days we just do activities and learn about German culture in other ways.
4:30 - Sometimes there is one at 4:30 too.
6:30 - Dinner and Announcements
7:30 - Activity #3! Usually, of course.
9:00 - Begin free time
10:00 - Internet off
11:00 - Lights out

Mind you this is a "typical" day at the Schlossschule. Sometimes the activities are only 45 minute sessions and sometimes they are 2 hours, it just depends. It's all pretty interesting though. Today one of them was about trash sorting and the like (actually rather confusing for an American, even one whose family has always recycled and sorted a few things).

This is the Schulegebäude

But anyhow, you must now be wondering exactly what I do in class exactly. Deutsch. I speak German all the time, but that is just my class. We've been sorted into 5 different groups based on skill. Two of them are for beginners with absolutely no experience whatsoever. I give them total props for being CBYX kids without knowing the language. Far braver than me. But of the remain 22 of us, we're split into three levels. Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced.

Since I've been learning German for four years and went to the Academy, I'm in the advanced class and we speak German. We use it a lot though, we're playing a Taboo/Cranium/Trivial Pursuit type game for a few days and we're tackling word order and verbs with prepositions. The latter two are the most fun, let me tell you.

But really, I love our teacher and it isn't bad at all. The time flies. We'll be in there and suddenly we are at the break in the middle. Takes me by surprise every time.

So that is my school day!

View from my classroom window