Where in the world is Kassandra? Postcard from Germany
Hallo! My name is Kassandra and I'm a student at Oshkosh West; however, I am spending my junior year abroad in Germany with the Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange scholarship, which is awarded to 250 American high school students every year and is jointly funded by the U.S. Congress and German Bundestag.
My first month was spent at a language camp in a quaint town in Lower Saxony called Bad Sachsa with 48 of the other scholarship recipients. These four weeks consisted of daily, three-hour long language classes, cultural norms, and many adventures to small surrounding shops and towns.
After these four eventful weeks, everyone headed to their respective host families scattered throughout Germany. The widespread accessibility of public transportation makes it extremely easy to get to every corner of the country, meaning no one spends more than five hours traveling.
Once we arrived at our host families, our American bubble popped, and since then we have been able to expose ourselves to German culture.
In Germany, there are several educational routes students can take. After fourth grade, all students are given a recommendation on which school level they should go to. The lowest level is the Hauptschule, which runs until ninth grade and allows students to start apprenticeships in blue collar fields immediately after. Then comes Realschule, which goes until tenth grade and allows students to start apprenticeships or enter technical school. Lastly, Gymnasium, which goes until 12th or 13th grade, prepares students to attend university after graduation and is the most rigorous of the three.
All CBYX students attend a local Gymnasium while on program. I'm currently attending Erasmus-Widmann Gymnasium in Schwäbisch Hall, which is in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. I am in 11th grade here and I am able to choose specialization subjects called “Leistungskurse” for math, English, and economics.
A major difference is the lack of school spirit here. Schools don't have mascots, school colors, or sports. There are some clubs called AGs, but the selection tends to be limited. Here, I've been able to join the orchestra and environmental club, similar to the Green Alarm at West.
Additionally, outside of school, I've been able to play tennis, volunteer, tutor English, and do much more.
In a lot of ways, Germany is relatively similar to the United States, but there have been some things I've come across that have really surprised me.
Restaurant culture is significantly different. Free, complimentary water is unheard of here. Oftentimes, one can expect to pay €2-4 for water, which is similar to the cost of beer. Self service is a lot less common, and one can be expected to be served at all sorts of eateries including ice cream cafés without the expectation of a tip.
Since public transportation is so accessible, a lot of German bureaucracy is dedicated to making the country less car dependent. This includes an extremely limited number of free parking places. For example, an Aldi parking lot here in Schwäbisch Hall charges around €40 to each driver for entering their parking lot while not within opening hours. Drivers licenses are also extremely expensive and regularly cost €2,500-€5,000 and are generally more when residing in a larger metropolitan area like Berlin or Hamburg.
Although driving may be costly, groceries and general items are significantly more affordable here. This is because Germany is able to produce a lot of their own goods and has major agricultural and dairy industries.
However, Germany hasn’t figured out how to produce a specific product. A few weeks ago, I was trying to buy canned pumpkin for pumpkin bread and ended up spending 20 minutes in the store for a product that isn't sold in Germany. Canned pumpkin is widely unknown, and instead fresh pumpkin is boiled and pureed as a substitute.
Quality of groceries tends to be taken into serious consideration. Companies can choose to include their nutri-score on their product. The scale goes from A-E, ‘’A’ being the best. Meat and animal products in general also state the quality of the animal’s life and which freedoms they were given. Here, typically-refrigerated products like eggs and milk are shelf stable.
Lastly, a major difference, which I didn't notice until math class, was the usage of a comma instead of a period for thousand and decimal places. For example, the number one thousand two hundred and three would be written in Germany 1.203 instead of 1,203. This means that one point five would be written as 1,5 instead of 1.5.
by Kassandra Bowlus-Jasinski
Published December 2nd, 2024
Oshkosh West Index Volume 121 Issue III