My name is Maria Elosegui, I am 15 years old and this year I got the chance to be part of the European Class in the Stiftsgymnasium in Xanten, Germany. The European Class is an eight years old project, which gathers students from different nationalities and the schools own students in one class in the tenth grade. I would like to share my opinions and experiences in the European Class so far.
This class consists of two third German native students and one third guest students. Each guest student spends half of the year in one hostfamily and the other half in another hostfamily. The lessons are mostly in english nevertheless there are some exceptions like chemistry, physics and foreign languages (latin, spanish, german and french). During the whole year the students organize trips around and outside the country, throw parties, organize some special events and also get to know eachother, eachothers cultures and broaden our horizons.
In the first term I was living in a town called Menzelen which is a suburb. My host sister had an older brother and her parents were farmers. She enjoyed riding horses, her brother played football. Even though they were a busy family they still took me to my handball trainings. We would go to theaters, restaurants, to see my hostsisters riding competitions as a family. I have also met her grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends, who I still keep in touch with even though i am not living with them anymore. Although everything is great with my hostfamily, school and friends here I take my chance to visit my family and friend back in Spain in the holidays.
So far my time in Germany has been amazing in every possible way, I have improved my intelectual and language skills and made really good friendships, that will hopefully last for the rest of my life.