Hamburg: Rathaus -- City Hall

Jack Hadley and Kyle Shropshire at Hamburg Central Station

Lübeck: Lunch at the historic Kartoffelkeller

German Schools by Ali Gove

During our stay in Bargteheide we had the opportunity to go to school at the Kapernikus Gymnasium with our partner students. For the six days we visited the school we followed our students to their classes, attempted to understand their teachers, and sometimes participated.

The schedule at the Kapernikus Gymnasium is very different than our schedule which only changes once a year. Students at the Gymnasium take more classes at once, for shorter periods, and have them only a few times a week, not every day. These classes included Latin, French, English, biology, chemistry, geography, history, sport, music, art and more. Students also have the chance to practice their foreign languages by taking a major subject, like geography, in that language.

Food seemed to be everywhere in the school. Bread was sold in the morning in the school and everyone had a snack, which they had brought from home, which looked more like a lunch. Actual school lunch is prepared by volunteering mothers and sold at a similar price to our school lunches, although they were far tastier.

Aside from the academics, discipline and rules at the Gymnasium were also very different. The most obvious to us was the ability to leave the school during a break or a free period. Students use this freedom to walk outside during their breaks and visit the bakery during the longer periods. Other than the ability to leave, discipline for minor acts, like tardiness were also different. When a student comes in late (even 20 minutes late) teachers merely tap their watches to let the students know that they are late. In our school, unexcused tardiness is punished by serving a detention, something that does not exist in the Gymnasium. Compared to the Kapernikus Gymnasium, Beverly High School seems like a prison because of its strict policies.