Exchange Report: Thomas Schorn
Salem Schule, Germany

I was fortunate enough to have gone to Salem Schloss Schule in Germany. It is in the south of Germany, almost on the Swiss border. It is an excellent German school and is know as the best. It is extremely cold and there was snow on the ground for about one and a half months of the three months I was there. The school is split into three parts junior which is for grades 5-7, the middle school which is for grade 8-11 and also includes the pre IB system which I was in. It is the equivalent of grade 10. Then there is Salem College which is for grades 12, 13 and the IB course; which is the international course. It is a full boarding school and is also co-ed. There are about 350 pupils at the middle school and about 700 in the entire school. There are 14 wings which are like houses. They range in size from about 17 to 27 pupils in them. There are no mixed wings. Everyone in is a study of between 2 and 4 people and once you reach your last year you have your own study.

The school is in a castle with lots of history in the building. The school is extremely beautiful and as a result it is a huge tourist attraction in the area, it was weird to go to class some days and see tourist walking around taking pictures. The grounds are not owned by the school though; the school is a tenant, and has just been bought by the German government because of its historical significance.

With each different school year at Salem, the rules and regulations of boarding life become more relaxed, which places a higher amount of responsibility upon the pupils and by the last year you are almost free to do anything you want. I must admit it was very different not really being controlled by many rules. When I arrived I was not told any rules. After being at very strict schools my whole life, it was a big shock. My school day was made of three lessons of an hour and a half each. If a teacher was more than 10 minutes late you could leave, whilst I was there this happened about once every week. After school we sometimes had sport but when you take a sport you only practice once a week for about an hour. So for most of the afternoon you were free, during this time, you can walk into the local village or just chill with some friends. You then had a prep session of one and a half hours and then super. Then until 9 30 you were again free to do whatever you want. Salem has recently introduced a new uniform in 2005 for class and lunch; it requires students to wear blue jeans and a Salem jersey or golf shirt. Otherwise you can wear whatever you want the rest of the time. They have no hair regulations so everyone has a different hair style. All the people there are very different and are accepted as who they are. This is one of the biggest things at Salem; they want you to be you. They don’t want you to be average; they want you to be the best you.

I found that the independence at school was not out of the ordinary and was one thing that was at most schools around Germany. The German people are very law abiding and do not take advantage of anything, for example in Munich on the underground they do not have these gates where you have to put your ticket through to get on a train, like in London. They simply just have tickets, but the German people still do not take advantage. This was great to see and so different to the way we as South Africans behave. The streets around Germany also very different to the ones you find in South Africa, they had no speed limits. This was my first experience of Germany; going in a BMW taxi at 180 along the roads. But at no point did I not feel safe. The streets were also very clean and there were no cows on the road. These were a few nice changes.



Sport is different to Hilton, you only have one practice a week and as a result it is not as competitive. In order to get some exercise I did many sports; rugby, indoor hockey, handball, basketball, fitness and water polo. The practices are one hour each and there is very little you can do in that time. There are also very few schools in the area, and during the whole time I was there, there was only one match. It was played against Salem College.

Culturally Salem is a service school and is very involved in the local communities and areas overseas. There is a big emphasis on the correct treating of other members of the community and as a result there is a huge amount of respect for one another. They have to join a service like the fire brigade. In addition each pupil must on a regular basis work in the kitchen and help cleaning up the school grounds and the areas around the school. They take this so seriously that they cancelled the one rugby fixture so the school can clean up the local village.



When I first arrived I was tired after a long series of flights that started in warm Durban and ended in -5C Zurich. Once I arrived in Salem, I was kindly greeted by a staff member and preceded through this massive castle to my room. I then met my room mates; who were both German first language speakers. They were friendly and offered me some extra comforts. All I wanted to do though was get into bed, but the fire alarm went off because of the boilers letting off so much steam due to the cold. So I had to go out into the ice and snow and wait for the entire Salem fire brigade arrive to go see if there was a problem. The fire alarm is taken very seriously there. But the cold I was subjected to would be one that I would be very used to in a few months.

My first day in class was confusing. Firstly I had no idea where I was going, there was no one helping me around, I was left to fend for myself in a school where classrooms were all over the place. Class was nerve-racking as when I eventually found my classroom everyone was already working. I then introduced myself to the class and said proudly that I was from South Africa. I then met some of my new class mates and even though I did not know it some of these people would turn out to be great friends.



The next few weeks were hard on me as I was struggling with the new language as well as having to fit in, in a new environment. It was a true challenge and I had to keep going. I started playing lots of sports to make other friends through that. This idea turned out to be a challenge as well because I was being taught new sports in German. Through rough translation and hand signals I learnt. This is one valuable lesson I learnt. That even though you have no idea what someone is saying to you, you can still communicate with them and I had a few. So I was slowly understanding more and making more friends.

As I had just started getting good friends in my grade, they left. My entire grade went on work experience. This left me at school again. I was then moved into the grade 9 year. So I was forced once again to start from scratch. This was not as bad though. I new a few of the guys in my class from around school. I made some good friends in the few weeks I was with the grade 9 year. After just two and a half weeks it was holidays already.

For my holiday I decided to go travelling Europe. I first went to London. Once there I met my cousin first and he showed me the ways of the big city. I then met up with a great friend from Salem and we got to see a little of the town. Finally I met up with Dawid and Platt. It was so amazing to see some friends in a strange new place. We managed to do everything London has to offer; we saw Big Ben, the London Eye and all the other great tourist spots. We also managed to see some of the Super 14, this was one thing I had been missing as the Sharks were doing so well. This time flew by and I learnt complete independence as I was finding my way around with out the help of my parents. London was great and I learnt many useful skills that will be valuable in the future.



I then went to Munich to meet up with a kind family friend. In five days I managed to see the entire city, it was beautiful. There are so many tourist attractions that I really had to rush. The experience was great as I got to interact with some of the most traditional people of Germany and was taught about their customs.

Once I got back to Salem I was almost at the end of my journey. I was also glad to be back as I now had many friends at the school, in my grade and the grade below. It was great to see everyone again. But my time was up in a couple weeks so I made use of my last few weeks with these great new friends.

My time had ended and it was very sad to leave. I had discovered many things about myself and have benefited in so many different ways thanks to this great experience. It has opened so many doors for my future. It is something that I will never forget and I am glad I took my opportunity to go.