Camille Goes Places

Yes, you read the title right. Technically, I'm pretty sure my phone was stolen after I left it on the bus. According to Find My iPhone, when I began this blog post it was 10 miles away; a couple of days ago it is 2 miles away. Though I tried my best to get it back, I ultimately got a secondhand phone about a week later, and have since regained access to my contacts and WhatsApp.  Unfortunately, my photos from 20 February to 23 May were lost. But I'm trying not to be too upset about that: photos are not a necessity; they are just nice to have.  Nevertheless, that's no excuse for my delay in blogging. With only one month left of my grant, it's time to reflect on some of the things I have lost and gained lately, from objects, to experiences and wisdom. The last time I published, I was enjoying my first night of spring break with my mother at the Opera Ambassador Hotel in Paris.  Part 1: Paris (please read as "Pa'REE") On la rue , just doing how I do. Gaining...

Three countries, eight cities, and one very delayed January winter break update. Hanging out with the bestie in Freiburg Does this medium-sized college town have plenty of history and southwest German charm? Yes. However, my main highlights were Indian food and grabbing drinks at a speakeasy-themed cocktail bar.  From Freiburg im Breisgau, (as opposed to some Freiburg in somewhere else), Allison and I travelled to Strasbourg and Basel.    Learning about art and history in Strasbourg, France. The only things I knew about Strasbourg before going were that 1) it's the seat of the European Parliament 2) it's the capital of the region formerly known as Alsace, which France and Germany traded back and forth several times in the 19th and 20th centuries. At the Alsatian Museum, which was founded in 1902 to fight Germanisation, I discovered way more about the region's distinct and rich culture through the museum's plentiful artifacts and room reconstructions. Strasbourg Museum o...

I have worked at a school for about four months, which means I've learned a thing or two about the German school system (or at least the Berlin school system). Inside the classroom, it does not seem so different from what I experienced as a student. Children all around the world are the same. But as an English teaching assistant, I am observing plenty of differences from the U.S. in how the school year and day are organized. The School Day The school that I work at has block scheduling, meaning students have specific classes 1-3 times a week for either 1 hour and 20 minutes or 40 minutes. There is also block scheduling in the U.S., but it's not as common as in Germany. Like most high schools in the U.S., students travel around to different classrooms and different teachers.  With block scheduling, most teachers are only teaching a few classes a day in 1-2 subjects, and many teachers even have a weekly day off. In the U.S., in my high school the vast majority of teachers, especi...