Category: 2020/21 Carlotta M. (Germany) Blog Blogger High School Exchange School Year Abroad Study Abroad UK UK High School

Hello and welcome to my blog!

My name is Carlotta, I am 16 years old and I am going to live in Southampton, England for one year. Because of Covid, everything is a little bit different this year. I was supposed to go to Canada but Canada didn’t open its borders and then one week before my flight I got the information that I am going to England.

There was a lot going back and forth but then I finally arrived on 31st August!

Now I have been here for almost two months and I am going to tell you about my experiences so far.

On my first morning I felt really weird. It felt a bit surreal to think about living in a new country and in a new family for one year. But in the afternoon my host mum Tracey showed me the neighborhood and we drove down to the sea. The weather was great and everything looked really beautiful.

 

My first day was Monday and my school started the week after. So for the next few days I didn’t really have anything to do. I met up with a few of the internationals I had already met, but other than that I didn’t do that much.

I think it is really important, especially in the beginning to go out a lot and do stuff with friends.

Because as soon as you sit in your room and are alone you start thinking about home and missing your family. I can speak from experience.

But after one week school finally started!

I had chosen my subjects before and I have to say the choices are so much better than in Germany.

 

 

 

I had to do English and Maths and chose History, Geography and Film Studies. The Itchen Sixth Form College is a really big school with about 2000 students aged 16 to 19. My School day starts at 9:40 and ends at 15:30.

Because of Covid I have only two subjects every day. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. I thought at first they do it always like this and found it a bit strange.

But they are just doing it now so that the students don’t change rooms that often and don’t walk too close in the narrow hallways.

In general I like school here more than Germany. All the teachers I have are really nice and supportive and class participation isn’t important for the grade which I really like. However the homework is more important.

 

During the week I don’t do that much in my freetime. Sometimes I stay in school a little bit longer to talk with my friends and then I go home and do my homework.

Normally the college organises trips to London or Winchester for the internationals but because of Covid everything is cancelled right now.

That’s why we have planned some day trips ourselves! A few weeks ago I went with some of my friends to Portsmouth, a city by the sea about one hour from Southampton.

The weather was so beautiful and we went on the Spinnaker tower to see the city from above. For lunch we had burgers and I have to say it was the best burger I ever had!

 

 

I have to say that while it is sad that we can’t do a lot of the cool things and trips we could normally do, the college still offers some good alternatives like free bowling and cinema tickets and some arts and crafts possibilities we can do.

So that have been my first two months in England in a nutshell!

I hope you enjoyed reading my first entry and I am looking forward to tell you about my experiences in the next year.

 

Carlotta