The differences and similarities between Estonians and Germans by Tarmo

Recently, our school had a big students exchange with a German school. 18 students from Kanepi Gymnasium, including me, and 5 teachers travelled to Nordrhein-Westfalen, a German region, where the Evangelisches Gymnasium Werther was located. The program was packed full of interesting activities and wonderful sights to see. On one day, we were with our hosts and we attended school lessons with them. I was in three lessons that day, which included English, Latin and some kind of lesson about family life. On the day of our arrival to Werther I attended PE lesson. A big difference between the German school and the Estonian one is that Germans are way more active in their lessons and their education system is harsher than ours. Students want to be active in their lessons and they have great conversations with the teachers about current subjects. I still don’t know how long the lessons are because at one time it was 45 minutes the second time it was way longer. The grade system is also different in Germany, where grade 1 is the best one you can get but in Estonia it is the worst one.

Nonetheless Estonians and Germans mix up perfectly. It was wonderful to witness that all the Estonian students had great time with their German counterparts. On several occasions the German exchange students organized some non-school related activities, like bowling, eating at restaurants or visits to the Christmas markets, which were awesome to go to. The Estonian Christmas markets are way different compared to these, mainly due to their size and the goods which are for sale.

The trip to Germany was a successful journey for everybody. We all had a blast and enjoyed it very much. Now we are ready to host the Germans in return.