My experience as being an exchange student and having one at home by Adam




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                  In March, during a whole week, I hosted a German exchange student so we could practise our English and meet different places by traveling. I’m going to talk about the good things we got from that.

I think the most important one is language. My German student was able to speak a bit of Spanish, but we talked in English anyway. That helped me improve my English, because in class we just read or write, but we never get to have a real conversation with someone before. We tried to know a little about each other, so I had to look some vocabulary up.

During dinners, we talked about the differences between our cultures, for example, the celebrations of our countries, the most typical foods, our schedules for waking up, going to bed and eat… It is surprising how countries that are that close (they even have the same time zone) were so different in some things. For example, Germans are used to get up early and go to bed early, but Spanish both things later. 

One day, I took my student to my classes. I’m studying a Baccalaureate of Plastic Arts in an afternoon schedule, and she is studying Languages in a morning schedule in Germany, so she was able to see how my classes are. We could compare teachers, for example. Here, teachers are closer to the students and we call them using their first name, but there they the bus home, 11 p.m.

During that week, we met the mayor of Vigo and made a bus tour watching the graffitis around the city, we spent a day in the Cíes Islands, and we made our own graffiti on a school wall.
We also visited some beaches with the other students, such as Samil, and others with my family, such as Arcade and Pontesampaio. We also went to Tui.




                  Then, during a week in May, I went to Hamburg. 

It was amazing. One of the things that impressed me the most was how much they care about the Earth, recycling plastic and using bikes all the time. I wish we had the same way of thinking in Spain. 

I think the hardest part of this exchange were the schedules of each country. Our biggest meal is lunch, but theirs is dinner, so I was hungry at hours they weren’t, and we ate at times I wasn’t hungry at all. Anyways, after three days or so, I kind of got used to it, so it was ok. 
But I couldn’t get used to the sleeping schedule. For me, waking up and going to bed that early was a shock, but it was completely worth it.

The family of my exchange student were so nice and we talked a lot. I’m glad I met them.

Our first day there after our arrived was Sunday, so we all met in the harbour. It was its 100th anniversary, so there was a spectacle with boats, stands with typical food and a lot of people. The next day we had breakfast all together at school, and then we did a <<harbour ralley>> in groups to get information and take pictures for the exhibition that was going to be celebrated on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, we spent the morning in Art class preparing said exhibition (we made artwork of it and tie-dye t-shirts), and then on Wednesday we celebrated it. We met the Spanish ambassador there. 

Tuesday was my favorite day. We watched the insides of a war submarine in the morning and we visited the Miniatur Wunderland in the afternoon. Both those things were incredible, I never saw something like that before.

On Friday we watched how their Spanish class is, and we visited Lübeck, and island where the chocolate covered marzipan is very famous. We visited a church, a big store with a museum and a restaurant about that sweet, we explored the place and we watched a jumble sale of traditional handmade stuff.

On the last day, almost everyone of my partners in this trip were having a barbecue, but my exchange student attends a dance school, and that day she had a performance, so I went with her to see her.

I spend the last day with my exchange student and her mom, and we visited the city, as we did some days during the week when the school activities ended. They both were so lovely and funny. I had such a great time with them and I hope I can see them again some day. 


                                                            

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