3 things 9/18

Well, if anyone doubted my poor communication skills before, these past two weeks should have wiped away any uncertainty. School started on the 13^th, and since then my life has just kind of been a whirlwind. I apologize because even though I love getting mail/emails/facebook posts/ect, I haven’t done a very great job of responding. On the first day of the welcome orientation in Vienna they told us that if we spend two ours a day on the computer, it would be equivalent to losing a month of our exchange (I did the math, its true). So in the recent weeks I’ve been choosing to do other things instead of being on the computer, but here I am a week and a day late to do the three things for Saturday, September 18^th.

1. The Song of the Week. The song of the week seemed like it was a good fit for the beginning of school, but we also sang it in music class on the first day. My music teacher is a famous pianist in Linz and when we went to class on the first day he handed out music books, sat down at the grand piano in the classroom and played the songs suggested by the students. I think I am going to LOVE music class. Just Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd.

2. Something That is Different From Home. I think it’s pretty obvious that the school system is different, but it is in a way that I love! I think it would be easiest for me to put the differences in list format so here I go:

1. For starters each class (mine is 5A, with kids mostly a little younger than me) has their own classroom and instead of the students moving from room to room in between classes, the teachers do the moving with a few exceptions like PE, art, and music. I really like this because it allows breaks to be real breaks instead of just walking immediately from one class to another.

2. Another thing is the schedules aren’t the same from day to day. We are on a one-week system with a certain number of each class each week.

3. Classes are only 50 minutes

4. We have typically six classes a day, so school gets out around 1:30.

5. There is no cafeteria and most people bring bagged food for in between classes and then eat lunch when they get home

6. We’re not allowed to wear shoes inside the building.

7. We have to stand up when a teacher enters the room and remain standing until he or she tells us we can sit down.

3. My Favorite Part of The Week. My favorite part of the week is still just as difficult to pick as the first week but I think even though everything about school was fantastic, it has to be this one moment with my family. It was on Sunday afternoon when I went to lunch to find a little heart shaped polished stone sitting at my place at the table. They explained that that all four of them had a heart like this one and when someone needs support or love they give all of their hearts to take with them. Since I am now a member of this family, I get a heart. I got to take the hearts on the first day of school and actually, I think helped.