Spring Term 2008 in Yorkshire/England

I had never thought of going abroad and leaving my family and friends behind. But when my cousin told me about her stay in the USA, I decided to go to England for three  months. Today I can say, that this was the best decision I have ever made (I wish I would have stayed longer than three months) because I got so many new impressions and made very good friends.

„Sutton in Craven“ in Yorkshire/England
I was staying with a very nice host family in a normal English house in Sutton in Craven, which is between Leeds and Manchester. Sutton is a small village with its own comprehensive school („South Craven School“).
One of the positive sides of England is that every village has very good public transport connections, so I could almost go wherever I wanted to (Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool...). The region around Manchester (including Sutton in Craven) has a very high percentage of Asians, so I could also get to know a very different culture.
Unfortunately it was raining almost every single day in this spring (in my case, I didn't have a single day without rain). Yorkshire people also have a very strange accent and it took me quite a long time to understand it properly. Altogether Yorkshire has a beautiful countryside.

School
I was in upper 6th form, which is similar to our „Kollegstufe“, so I could choose my favourite subjects. I took information technology (counts double) and physics (normally you choose about 3-5 subjects). If you don't do too many subjects, you have a lot of free time and can sit in the 6th form lounge („Kollegstufen-Zimmer“) and talk to your friends. I have to admit that I didn't do much for school. But I had a lot of fun with my friends all day long, which is more important in my opinion, because then you really learn to speak English and get to know new people.
School started at about 9:00h in the morning and finished at about 3:00h in the afternoon. I only had to walk about 200m to school, so I could get up quite late. For lunch everybody in 6th form went to the „co-op“ (a supermarket), to a fish&chip shop or somewhere else „up town“.
English teachers in general are much nicer and friendlier than their counterparts in Germany, but you also don't learn that much.

Free Time
In England you can do quite a lot in your free time, because – as mentioned above - the bus and train connections are very good. At the weekend I normally went to parties, gigs (music concerts) or pubs. I could also do a lot of sports in school, e.g. rugby, football, tennis etc.

Family
My host family was comparatively old – my host mother was 75 and my host father 68. They had a German shepherd dog  and my host father still worked as a security guard. I had a very good relationship with them, especially with my host mother.

Problems
In general I didn't have any problems, apart from the Yorkshire accent and the rain. Everything was perfect.

Conclusion
Altogether I must say that it was a great time and I would recommend everyone to go to England for an exchange. Besides this exchange had a great impact on my plans for the future and my attitude towards life.

Johannes Schönberger