Emily Out Of Water: School life and 2 weeks in Italia

So much has happened since I last wrote on the blog but I think I’m just going to post about school because that’s probably the biggest thing since then.

I really like my class at school, the first day I wasn't sure because they weren't like my friends back home but now I think I just needed to have more of an open-mind. Sure they’re different to my friends in NZ but that’s good because this whole thing is about doing new things and meeting new people. The class has about 25 students and only 2 of them are boys which seems crazy but it’s a human science school and apparently most guys choose technical, or science/math schools.

Everyone in the class is so lovely and they were all so interested in New Zealand. I brought in the yearbook from my school and suddenly the whole class was a swarm around my desk because they all wanted to have a look. They all speak some English but there’s only one girl who I can have a normal conversation with because she spent 3 months in England last year. I've been asked about 10 times how Australia is, or what my school is like in Australia especially on the first couple of days hahaha. My teachers all seem nice enough for now too.

The school gym

The actual school is very plain and boring because it’s very focused on academics and nothing else. There’s no sports in the school or any clubs, it’s literally go to school, learn and go home. I guess it’s good because the teachers can put everything into the academics but then I like school in NZ because it’s not just about the grades it’s about the whole thing, there’s so much you can do and so many more opportunities. The classrooms here are so bare. There’s a blackboard, a cross, a map of the world and a no smoking sign and that’s literally it on the walls. It’s very boring and again I guess it’s so you focus on your work but every little thing helps to make it more interesting and I think that if these kids went to school in NZ, or another country, for a day they would never want to go back to Italian school. For me it’s okay because I’m here to learn about the differences, meet the people and learn the language but for the kids who have had to come here every day for years and who actually have to try and learn from their teachers I don’t know how they do it.

One day at dinner my host family were asking me about school in NZ and when I had finished explaining the differences my host Mum was like “and do you like school in NZ?” and when I thought about it I actually kind of did. I didn't jump out of bed every morning excited about school but when I was there I don’t think there was ever a day where there wasn't some laughing and actual interesting lessons so yeah I think I did like it really.

I don't want to make the school sound really bad because it really isn't. It’s just very, very different to what I’m used to and I think it's going to take some time to become accustomed to it.

These are some differences I've noticed in the school so far:

The teachers are the ones who move around classes, not the students. Also the students stay with the same class for the whole 5 years of high school.
We have school on Saturday!!!
There’s only one building at my school and it’s 3 storeys high (I’m on the third floor so it means a lot of stairs every day!). It sounds like this is what it’s like at most schools which means you’re stuck inside all day.
There’s no technology in the school so it’s just a blackboard in the class for the teacher. None of the students have laptops with them and some of the teachers have iPads but apparently that’s a new thing this year and barely any of the teachers even use them. I never thought Smart Boards were useful until now that we don’t have one and I realise how great they were to have in the class!
There’s no posters or anything in the class, it’s just bare. Also only 2 windows so it’s pretty dark and they always seem to have the lights on.
Only 2 boys in the whole class of about 25!
The most popular brand of bags is ‘Eastpak’ and almost everyone in the school except me seems to have them.
The desks are in rows so there’s no table groups like we have in most classes in NZ.
They have no smoking signs everywhere which is kind of strange because you wouldn't think they would even need them. Being a school it seems kind of obvious…
The teachers just talk the whole lesson! There’s never handouts, or activities, or group work or going to the library, or ICT or anything it’s literally teacher comes in, talks for 45 minutes and leaves. The other day one of my teachers just read out a book the whole lesson! There was no point her even turning up haha
Instead of choosing subjects at school, you choose your school. There are scientific schools, linguistic schools, human science schools, classical schools, art schools etc.
It’s pretty strict no phones. In NZ we’re not allowed phones but that doesn't mean we don’t use them and most of the teachers don’t even mind as long as we do the work but here I haven’t seen one person on their phone! It’s good I guess but I feel like at the schools in NZ if you’re given more freedom you learn to make your own decisions whereas if there’s heaps of rules and it’s all so straight forward you don’t learn life skills and whatnot you literally learn maths and English and go home.
Most of the teachers call the students by their last names, other than my English teacher who likes to point at people and say “him” or “her”.
There’s no tuck-shop but there’s a vending machine which has the cheapest iced tea ever! Only 0.80 which is about $1.50NZ for a bottle! I think a lot of my money will be going on iced tea…

I really like my class and I’m so happy with it all but it’s very different to my school in NZ. I do however think the whole system could be improved so much, it’s incredibly old fashioned, but then there’s endless things that could be improved at my school in NZ too, I guess it's just because I’m use to them that I don’t see them as easily.

I’m starting to understand way more in class but I think because at the start I barely understood a thing I've learnt to block out the voices because they’re useless and don’t make sense to me and now that they actually do make sense I have to tell myself to focus and listen instead of daydreaming all lesson. It’s like the cicadas, you learn to block the noise out because you’re so used to hearing it and it’s so pointless to listen to and you really have to focus if you actually want to hear them. Well the cicadas are my Italian teachers haha.

I'm really bad at remembering to take photos but here’s some of other things I've been up to in the past week: