If someone had told me that I would move out of my home exactly one week after turning 14, just six months ago, I would have laughed in their face. Yet here I am, writing my first blog post.

I’ve been here for a almost over a month and a half, and life has been fantastic. Of course, I’ve had my ups and downs, but that’s just part of life. I miss my family, who are all back in Sweden, but I’ve made friends here. I’ve suffered a significant back injury and had to get an MRI, and I’ve been asked out by about eight guys, which has been … speciall i guess. I’ve gotten very, very frustrated with the German system and how things generally work here. Personally, I think they have the strangest systems ever, like the military greetings that everyone has to say at the beginning of each class in school.

It starts with the teachers entering the classroom, and everyone sits down in their assigned seats. Then the teacher stands at the front of the room and shouts, “Guten Morgen, Klasse 8b” (Good morning, class 8b). Everyone in the class then stands up and replies, “Guten Morgen, Frau/Herr (last name of the teacher).” I mean, that’s not normal! The first time they did it, I nearly burst out laughing because it sounded so weird. And the classrooms are completely crazy—it’s like the U.S. meets Germany. The room is split in two, with about four rows of four desks on one side (the same on the other side), and sometimes we sit on benches with nowhere to put our stuff. The blackboard where teachers write things is actually a chalkboard. Like, what is this, the ’50s? They’ve also set up a rule that absolutely no one can use their phones in school (except the teachers of course), lessons are 1.5 hours long (with no breaks!), you have to pay for school meals, and if you want a locker, you have to pay for that too. It’s way too expensive.

On the first day, all the students received a paper to take home with a list of all the items we needed for school and things we had to buy since the school doesn’t provide the essentials like they usually do in Sweden. Here’s a little list of some of the things I’ve had to buy:

• 13 different schnellhefter (loose-leaf binders), (each for a different subject, all in specific colors)
• 1 notebook for every subject I have (they also have to be a specific color, and you get a lot of shit if it’s lined instead of squared)
• New gym shoes because apparently, you can’t have black soles, and they absolutely MUST NOT be Nike Air Force
• A “Geodreieck” (a type of triangle ruler)
• A brand new pencil case with way too many different pens
• A fountain pen
• White-out
• Various highlighters because they really like to be organized here, if you haven’t noticed
• A calendar, which you have to buy at school for 5 euros
• And many more things.

That really hurt my bank account, but hey, now I can’t go around buying sweets and stuff like that so thats a plus. But stil, I’m broke and have no money.. But I just have to deal with it what more can I do I mean.

I’m really grateful that I even have the chance to do an exchange year in Germany at 14. However, I think I haven’t quite realized that this isn’t just a long vacation and that I’m actually here and going to school and learning a total new language. Because fun fact, I don’t speak a word of german. I would have never believed that I’d end up in Germany of all places. It’s going to be an interesting experience, that’s for sure. But for now, peace out : )

Sincerely,
Mozzie <3