Day 7, Tag 7- 25.September: Shelburne Museum

This morning we all met in the auditorium at 8:40 for the start of school. We then took a typical yellow school bus to Shelburne, a small town about half an hour away from South Burlington.

There, we visited the Shelburne Museum, an open-air museum showcasing old houses from the 'early settlers' period from all over Vermont. Unfortunately, today's weather was not ideal for an open-air museum: rain, wind, and 10 degrees Celsius - typical Vermont.

Nevertheless, we had a very interesting tour. First, we saw a family house where a fire was burning. There, we made candles out of beeswax, although they were quite thin due to time constraints. We also learned about the lives of these 'early settlers'. It was interesting to discover that their way of life seemed familiar to me, but I was surprised to learn that the house was from 1840. Based on the stories, I would have thought it was at least a hundred years older. Fabienne was also surprised to find out that her own house is 100 years older. But because American history is much shorter than European history, anything older than 100 years is considered 'historical'.

After leaving the family house, we went to a nearby barn where we made ice cream. Then, we visited a school from the 1840s and had a spelling bee contest. We also visited a toy store and tried out two games ourselves.

After the tour, we had free time to explore the museum. I first visited another museum on the premises, which recreated the penthouse of the founders of the Shelburne Museum, including their collection of French Impressionist paintings. I also checked out the paddle steamer displayed on the premises, the last of its kind in America.

After leaving the museum, we returned to the school and joined our exchange students for lunch. It was very interesting to see the differences in school levels. My exchange student is in their final year, and we learned about how air enters the lungs.

After school, I also visited the high school library and was very surprised by how large and comfortable it is.

All in all, it was a very exhausting and interesting day with many insights into life in Vermont.

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Today we met at 8:40 in the auditorium and took the bus to Shelburne Museum. For those who don't know, in Shelburne Museum, old houses from all over Vermont are shown and preserved. Sadly, the weather was not very fitting for a day in an outdoor museum, it was cold and rainy.

We got a very interesting tour of some buildings in the museum anyway, we started off in a family house from 1840, where we also made candles. Coming from Europe, for us it was amazing to realize how young the house of the 'early settlers' was. As Fabienne remarked, her house is about 100 years older. But of course, Europe's history is longer than America's.

After making the candles, we went over into a barn and made ice cream and then we saw the school where we had a spelling bee contest, which was fun. In the end, we saw a toy shop and tried some of the games ourselves. After the tour, we explored the museum on our own, some of us went to see the house in which the founder's penthouse from New York with its collection of French impressionists is displayed. And finally, I visited the ship that is shown before we had to go.

After lunch, we 'shadowed' our exchange students in class. It's very interesting to see how different the American school system is compared to the German one.

All in all, it was very interesting to learn so much about Vermont this day.