A GR. 10 learner from Capricorn High School, Tshegofatso Masenya, has safely returned to the city after spending six months in Germany on an exchange student programme.
Tshego shared her experience in Germany with CV.
“The thought of spending six months in a foreign country sounded like a dream that was almost too good to be true. At first I did not know what to expect, what the people would be like, or how hard the language would be to learn. I wondered if I would eventually make friends and, most importantly to me, what the food would taste like,” she told CV.
“Everyone told me how advanced Germany was and it did not even take me a day to realise this was true. One minute I was at the airport, the next I was ushered onto a train that literally hung in the sky. The view from this train was breathtaking.
“I then realised how funny the Germans were. One would automatically assume that they all drive cars like BMW and Mercedes-Benz, but no, they choose to ride bicycles instead. I must say it was a lot easier to get around without all the traffic. Mercedes-Benz cars are used by taxi drivers as taxis. That’s right, the car that is so glorified in South Africa is nothing more than a taxi in Germany,” she explained.
“The weather made it difficult for me to get out of bed. It got as cold as -10 deg C. It also snowed on one or two occasions. Snow may be beautiful and fun to be in, but it is freezing cold.
“The food took a lot of getting used to, especially as they prefer to have a hot meal for lunch instead of having it for dinner. For dinner, bread is served.
“I missed eating pap so much that it was the first thing I touched when I came back to South Africa. After six months of eating over 300 types of bread and cheeses and bratwurst, schnitzel and sauerkraut, it was understandable,” she laughed.
“Germany is incredibly safe, so safe that I could ride my bicycle alone at night. They do not need garages there, the cars and bicycles are just parked outside and nothing happen to them. The houses do not even have security gates, alarm systems, fences or electric fences.
“The school was awesome and free; no school fees and no uniform. The schools there are divided into three systems. Learners are assessed in the fourth grade and separated into three different schools according to their IQ level or learning abilities. Hauptschule, Realschule and Gymnasium. Hauptschule is for learners who are slow when it comes to learning and it ends after gr.10 . Realschule is for learners who are not very slow, but not exactly fast either, and it also ends after gr. 10. Gymnasium is for the brainy learners, ends after gr.12 and after that comes university. In the Gymnasium, all the sciences are studied and subjects like economics, business studies, accounting and EGD that we have here are unknown to them. They have to study science, it is compulsory.
“If there are things that I will dearly miss about Germany is my beautiful red bicycle, my host family, my friends and everyone else who contributed to the success of my exchange.
“I smiled, I laughed, shed a tear here and there, played, learned, grew and found myself and I would do it all over again.”
