Day 6 - Day 6 - September 24: 1st day of school

Today was the first day of school for us Germans at South Burlington High School. Most of us took the typical yellow school buses there. For the first block, everyone was in the class of their respective exchange student, for example in Science, English literature, etc. After our first impressions of the school, we left together with the Americans and were allowed to paint a painting on the theme 'Impressions of Vermont' at the Davis Studio. For this, we could choose photos of already painted pictures and repaint them. There were cows or other animals of Vermont, beautiful autumn landscapes and sunsets to choose from. Jan and Cindy, two women who work at the Davis Studio and offer various art workshops, showed us some techniques and gave us acrylic paint, various brushes, an apron and a blank canvas. After about 2 hours of creative work, we were finished, let our paintings dry and admired each other's masterpieces (see photos).

In the end, we were allowed to take our paintings with us.

When we arrived at the school, we had lunch from the cafeteria at 12:30 p.m., then we followed Mr. Craig, a teacher at the school, out to the football field. In the warming sun, we all stood in a circle to get to know each other's names, and we played a few icebreaking games such as 'Speed Dating', where we talked about the purpose of the exchange or the differences between Germany and the USA, for example. Games like 'Ice Floe' (see photo) added a bit more action and team strength.

or 'Alaska' (by the way, Team Grey won both :D). We also played 'Blind Leading' in groups of three, where one person was blind, one person was mute, and the third person was only allowed to see the mute person. The blind person had to collect Frisbee discs, with the mute person describing the way using sign language to the third person. The third person, in turn, was allowed to describe the way to the blind person in words. After each game, we discussed what is difficult about communicating and working together and how we could do better next time. In a closing round, everyone expressed their excitement for the next few days and looked forward to the exchange with a positive and motivated outlook. At 3:20 p.m., school was over for everyone and each returned to their host family's home.

Today was our first day of school at South Burlington High School. Many of us took the typical yellow school buses there. In the first block, we were "shadowing," which means that we joined our exchange students in their classes. Some of us had English literature, science,... After getting our first impressions of the school, we went to the Davis Studios with our exchange partners. There, we could choose between pictures of Impressions of Vermont (for example, leaves, landscapes, cows, and other local animals,...). For every student, Jan and Cindy, two women who work there and do workshops, prepared acrylic paint, aprons, a blank canvas, and different brushes. After 2 hours of work, we all finished and could take our paintings with us. We drove back to school to have some lunch. After that, Mr. Craig, a teacher at South Burlington High, played some cooperation games with us to get to know us better. We had a lot of fun and are all excited and really looking forward to this exchange.