Nikolaus School Party

On Friday the German “Nikolaus” came to our school here in Munich. He looked a bit Santa Claus, but they told us that it‘s a completely different tradition. Anyway, it was fun!!!

In the morning, we started school like every morning, but then we got a bit suspicious, as our teacher told us a few minutes before the break to stay in class, he would be back in a few minutes. In fact, when we left our room, we found out that the cafeteria and another room had been decorated in some Christmas style. Biscuits, gingerbread and candles everywhere…

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German with a good taste!

I’m here studying German in Berlin and really enjoying it, but I’m really learning more than just German – I’m also learning how to cook!

I must tell  ou about my favourite German class. Actually, I hadn’t imagined, before coming here, that the words ‘German class’ and ‘favourite’ would really combine in my world… but at this school in Berlin I’ve learned that studying and fun really can be combined.

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A Dream Come True!

Hi! My name is Sophie, I´m 20 years old and I come from Sweden. Here I am, second from right, along with some of my new friends.

I have during the last three months been studying German on the little island in the south of Germany, called Lindau. I decided to take a year of from my school in Sweden because I wanted to do something else, something fun, interesting but also something that would be educational.

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Five fun-filled weeks in Frankfurt

It is hard to believe, now that my 5 weeks on a German course in Frankfurt are drawing to a close, but when I arrived, I was actually quite nervous. A foreign country, a language I then hardly spoke and living with perfect strangers – of course I was nervous!

But when I saw the smiling face of my host mother, holding a sign with my name, I somehow knew everything would be all right – and I would come to realize that it would be so, so much more than that!

Upon arriving at my home for the following 5 weeks, I immediately felt most welcome. I had dinner with my host family and after getting over my initial shyness, I actually began joining in already. Everybody in Germany was so nice to me – My hosts, the teachers at the school, even random people on the street!

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Incroyable! Wunderbar!

They say that French is one of the richest and most beautiful languages in the world, but if you ask me one thing it does lack is an appropriate superlative to describe Montreal. “Incroyable” is probably the closest but it still feels insufficient. Wunderbar, on the other hand, best captures my feelings about Montreal. I came to this conclusion near the end of my stay. I had just seen two amazing free shows in Old Montreal; coupled with a trip to ‘Tam Tams’, Montreal’s weekly drum circle and cultural festival.

I realized that I had just had an entire days’ worth of entertainment without spending a dime! I walked along the St. Lawrence River in the Old Port satisfied with the fact that there are very few places in the world where you can do that. Certainly, not in Berlin that’s for sure!

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Chile today …Argentina next!

I have been at the Santiago school for five weeks now, and I absolutely love it! I know that my spanish has improved tremendously and I have so many opportunities to practice it. Immediately after arriving, I felt very welcomed by the teachers and staff. Everyone is so friendly here!!

I was a little nervous as to what my host family would be like, but I absolutely love them. I live with a woman and her 4 year old daughter. Everyday I can practice my spanish by talking with them. They live about 10 minutes walk to school which is perfect for me.

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A Taste of Italy!

I am sitting on a terrace watching the sun set over the hills above Sorrento. What could be more splendid? Well, the fact is that I am doing this after spending a fabulous day discovering how to prepare and cook delicious Mediterranean dishes and after tasting and enjoying the fruits of my labour. The word labour does not quite conjure up the delights of such a wonderful day!

How did I end up here, sitting on a terrace, overlooking the Mediterranean….? You may ask! Well I am studying Italian language at an Italian language school in Sorrento. Not only do we study the language but the school has realized that in order for the language to come alive for its students, they need to touch, taste, feel, hear and see Italy outside of the classroom. This gastronomic experience is just one of the tours that the school organises for their students and if you ever come here – Don’t miss it!

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My two months in Lima….

Thinking back on my two months in Lima, I’m having a difficult time classifying my time here, and I think that says a lot in itself about the Peru that I’ve gotten to know! There’s so much diversity here that you can’t place much in categories, generalize and get away with it – there’s far too much here for that. From the three climate zones – la costa (the coast), la sierra (the mountains), and la selva (the rainforest) – to the people that inhabit those regions, to the obviously vast differences in the socio-economic makeup of the country; there is just too much variety to say any one thing about Peru.

That variety provides students with great opportunities to see some amazing places. Being situated in Lima, you are in the perfect place to travel throughout the country. As one-third of the Peruvian population lives in Lima, everything runs through the city. You can take flights to take weeklong tours of the jungle or to spend time hiking up to Machu Picchu or take a bus for a weekend to the Nazca Lines or to a northern beach town. And with the school, you can adjust your schedule around these trips. Take a week off to travel and come back for more time improving you comprehension.

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Retail Therapy in Montreal!

One word and one word only comes to mind when I think of Montreal: SHOPPING! As your average red-blooded American girl, I already had my share of shopping experience under my oh so fashionable belt when I arrived in Montreal, BUT even I was soon exhausted from going from boutique to fabulous boutique in this amazing city!

Of course, I’d come here to learn French, and that’s what I did – not only in my classes every morning in the school – but also every afternoon, out exploring the city and its wonderful shops!

There simply isn’t enough time in the day to see every store in Canada’s fashion capital and thanks to their expansive underground, you don’t even have to go outside the city centre if you don’t want to. Sure, they have big name chains but what makes Montreal shopping particularly special is the little shops you can’t find anywhere else. What’s best about these tiny boutiques is that you know no one back home is going to be wearing what you’re wearing.

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My (second) trip to Cologne!

I got my first taste of Cologne in 2006, when I travelled there with a few friends during the Football World Cup and camped out with thousands of other fans on the meadows by the Rhine. So when it came to deciding on a location for my German course, I can’t say that I took a long time to think about it!

The memories of welcoming, friendly locals, the spirit of fun and excitement and all the sights and places that I hadn’t gone to on my first visit, immediately convinced me – I definitely wanted to go back to Cologne!.

So, I travelled to Cologne to start my German course. The school was great, located right in the centre of the city, with great teachers and a great mixture of students from all over the world!

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