My name is Jonas, and I’m an exchange student from Germany. I arrived in the US on August 11th, 2016. I will explain my views on a couple of things based on my experience so far.

The school system is very different in Germany. For example, we have one class for every subject and the students don’t move between the periods; the teachers have to move. We can’t choose our classes. The school chooses our schedule and we have a different schedule every day. I think that the German school system has some good points and the US system does too. The one class system can be good when all of the students are about the same level, but the US system with different classes can be also great. You know more people, so maybe you can find more friends and the classes are more individualized. The point that you can choose your classes in the US is awesome. You can choose classes which help your future job and it is much more personal. I like both systems. They have their bad points and their good points.

One more difference between the US and Germany is how proud the US people are about their own country. There are flags everywhere and in the morning you stand for the flag. In Germany we never stand for our flags and we don’t have many of our own flags.

The laws and rules are a big difference too. In Germany you can’t buy a gun so easily, you need permission for it and normally you get this permission only when you are a hunter or a policeman. Also alcohol is different, in Germany you can buy “low alcohol” like beer and wine at 16 and hard alcohol at 18.

All in all, I have enjoyed my time here very much so far and I think both countries have their good and their bad points, and I can’t say that I prefer one of them over the other.