This school year we have a guest in school. Her name is Annie McCauley and she is from Wellesley/ Massachusetts, outside of Boston. Annie is 23 years old, open-minded and wanted to do something new and different after college. That’s why she came to Germany as a foreign language assistant.
She learned German in high school and studied it in college, so she already has some German skills, which she wants to improve during her year here. She said, “German is horribly difficult,” but nevertheless she wants to be able to have spontaneous conversations in German after this year.
Moreover, Annie is very interested in early childhood education, which she studied at Smith College, and thinks that childcare should be taken more seriously. Here in Germany she lives with a family in Bensberg. After school she likes to sing and cook and she is learning to knit.
Annie also mentioned that there are some differences between Germany and the U.S.:
For example, the classes in Germany are much bigger and also the school day is different. Annie always went to school until 3 pm. Then she had extracurricular activities and after that she had to do 3-4 hours of homework.
She has also noticed that most of the people in Germany have a balance between work and free time: “I think that the relationship is different here,“ Annie mentioned. Many Americans work from at least 9 am until 5 pm and they are always overworked, but don’t realize it. Americans could really learn from Germans in that respect, she said.
In Germany she really likes the bakeries and that everyone is friendly and says “hello“. But Annie also misses some people from Boston and driving, because she isn’t allowed to drive a car in Germany. However, she shared with us that “it feels empowering to go everywhere you want with public transportation“.
So we welcome Annie in our school and we wish her a great year in Germany.
Sofia Watermann (Q1)