I was awoken today by the sound of a 5:30am alarm. 5:30. About 3 hours earlier than I had woken up before on this trip. I fixed my hair, walked downstairs, and was greeted by a nice hot cup of tea. After devouring a delicious breakfast, my exchange student and I departed for the train that would take us to Graz. Today was the first day we went to school with our exchange students. Anto and I arrived at school at around 7:30 with Alex and his exchange student Hannah. Anto and I began this marvelous day with German class. In German, we listened to a student giving a presentation about Unterm Rad (Beneath the Wheel) by Hermann Hesse. This story was generally about an academically talented boy’s adventure through school. At the end of the report, the German teacher quizzed the other exchange students and me on the plot summary and other specific details. This provided an excellent challenge for us along with improving our interpretive listening skills. At 8:30, German ended and we transitioned into Psychology. In this class, we learned about social psychology, which was a complex topic to understand for us. At 9:25, Psychology ended and our entire exchange class started a tour of the school. I got to see a biology lab, the library, the teacher’s lounge, and much more! After about an hour of touring, we all headed to a welcoming party, made by our exchange students. There were a lot of authentic Austrian candies, cakes, and breads: I had a huge amount of cake, brownies, and apple juice. The party ended with a city scavenger hunt, in which exchange students and friends traveled around the city and helped each other to completely fill out a sheet of obscure questions. With nine people collaborating together, we finished with ease. After school, my exchange student and I hung out with Leo and his exchange student Valerie at their house, where we played ping pong, swam in Valerie’s pool, and ate goulash. Having fun with exchange students and a close friend was a great end to the first school day. ~Chris
