Hi

Now I've been here in Ackworth School for over a week.

The whole building is huge, although there aren't many students, perhaps 160, and even a lot less boarders. Some of them come from China or Taiwan, but only five from Germany, including Susanne, Peter and me.

I share my room with a Chinese girl. She's quite nice (as everybody here is) and keeps me informed as far as duties and dates are concerned.

School starts at 9:15 am, but we have to be in our study rooms for registration at 8:40 am. Every Sixth Form student (Sixth Form are the years 12 and 13, which do AS- and A-levels, something like Abitur) has got a study room with one or two other students. I'm in the 12th year, the "Lower Six".

At 8:55 we have to be in the meeting house. When we're all in there, we have to be quiet for five minutes, then somebody makes a short speech and plays a song refering to his speech. Afterwards the lessons start. Every student has chosen four subjects, each with seven lessons a week. A lesson lasts only fourty minutes, and there is a break after the third and one for lunch after the fifth period adding up to 90 minutes in all.

The lessons are very different from those in Germany. Courses consist of only 5-14 students. They don't have to put up their hands, but just say something or don't. In any case, the student-teacher ratio is a lot better than in German schools.

I've chosen chemistry, maths, English literature and art. What I like about art is that we are given projects which we have to completel, but we don't get strict instructions.

Maths is really easy. The topics are those which we did two years ago.

Chemistry isn't difficult either, but we get lots of homework.

English literature is the only really difficult subject. We're reading two books, one of them is written by Shakespeare. The other one is even harder to understand, even for English students, so I was given the choice to skip two of seven English lessons in which the other book is dealt with.

It's strange that the teachers change in the subjects. For example in English I've got three different teachers and they all teach different topics, which have to do with each other.

The people - whether teachers or students - are absolutely friendly. It already happened several times that when I asked them for the way to a room or place I couldn't find, they went with me through the whole building to this place although that meant that they would come too late to where they were going to.

The only thing I really don't like about the boarding school is what we can do in our leisure time, or better what we  can't do. During the week we are only allowed to go out until half past five, but until 4 o'clock we are in school. On weekends we can go out until half past eight. That's not long but okay, because in the nearest town you can't do much in the evening anyway.

We already joined a tennis club, a photography club and a Spanish club. That's all for free. But nevertheless our free time is often boring.

But all in all it's nice here.

Now I'm going to have a lesson...