To be honest, it is very difficult to say exactly what exchange was like. People ask “What was it like?” or “How was it?” and expect a short sentence summing it all up. Thinking of this sentence is possibly one of the most difficult things a person will ever have to do. Some words that I have said many times when people have asked me are ‘amazing’, ‘fantastic’, ‘incredible’ etc… but I noticed soon after those that I needed to change my tack a bit. It is easy to say these things, but I have now discovered a word that will cover much more. Exchange was an anomaly – very different to anything I was imagining and certainly different to what I had before.

The trip there was quite eventful; I flew to Cape Town on the night of the 9th of January, very relaxed. I think the fact that I only flew to Germany the next morning made things seem more distant. I landed in Frankfurt Airport about 20 hours later, and instantly realized how different life was going to be. Frankfurt Airport was the biggest place that I have ever seen! Suddenly everything hit me in a new sense, especially the fact that everything was in German, with smaller English translations. I could speak German already, luckily, but with infrequent use it became rather primitive. I ventured through the airport and found my way with my broken German. My nerves began to fray when I had walked through my third security checkpoint and had my third body search, all because of small plates of metal inside my shoes! I rushed to my gate, terrified of being late (I thought I had 10 minutes before take-off). I arrived and because no-one was about I began to decide how I would get there now that I missed it. But time-zones take time to work into your brain system, and I was an hour early. So… now I had a spare hour, what was I going to do? I walked through the airport, looking at all the expensive “goodies” while telling myself how expensive this was going to be. The flight over to Zurich and the drive to the school were a bit of a blur, because I was consuming anything and everything about the area around me. Massive forests and empty stretching roads that wound through them. Lake Constance shining in the moonlight, and best of all, Johannesburg traffic was on a break here. My arrival was sneaky; no one was awake by the time I got there, except my roommates who were waiting up for me. A big Austrian and a tall Iranian promptly swooped upon me with questions about me and hints about survival at school, only a few of which I took in because of how late it was. That’s how my great adventure began.

The actual place that we stayed in was a bit more like a giant manor than a castle. It had a great and long history, as shown by the huge 2x4 meter paintings lining just about all the halls. Salem was built around 900 years ago, and belonged to the von Baden family who still own it today. The school was founded by Prince Max von Baden and Hurt Hahn in 1920, so Hilton College has a longer school history than Salem does. One of the most interesting things for me was how the boarders were integrated into all parts of the castle. You could be sleeping in a place and look up at an intricately carved ceiling that is hundreds of years old; we walked along the same corridors next to the massive paintings, the same as servants and princes did so long ago. Three people, each with their own bunk, locker, and work desk, shared the rooms in which we stayed. Unlike some of the more strict rules here, boys and girls are allowed to visit each other at almost any time. The school is split into wings rather than houses and there were often competitions between them. The competitions were great fun – pillow fighting and table tennis were some.

It was possible for a student to play as many sports as they were able to fit in their schedule if they wished (and there were many) but most were more for fun than actual competition, although some like Hockey and Swimming were taken quite seriously when it came to playing other schools. I took part in the rugby and soccer activities, and even competed in a regional championship in swimming. Afternoons could be spent working, playing sport and of course attending your community service. Every student had to be in one and these included the Fire Department, Civil Service, Social Services and Charity.
Freedom was a big part of Salem, and I learnt this from early on. Students were allowed to go anywhere within 2km of the school without special permission. Most of the work given consisted of projects that need a bit of extra time to finish up. But they were handled with plenty of time left to do an array of fun things with friends. Meeting up at mealtimes was a great pastime of these very social students. Tables would be crowded with people all listening to a major scandal or sharing jokes, tricks and funny stories amongst themselves. Food was quite international and there was a wide variety, but some meals were definitely more in demand than others were. Things like German schnitzel, Italian Pasta and the occasional Steak, which was unfortunately nothing like the South African version!

The system of independence in which the school allows the students a lot of freedom also applies to the rules. There are rules in place but they are on a much more “Lets hear what he has to say first” sort of basis. Even one or two mentors made a sport out of trying to catch students doing anything dodgy.
Being in class there was a completely new world for me. There are two different systems offered at Salem. Abitur was the German system that about 90% of the students attended, and the English Pre-IB, which mainly international students attended. Having girls in class definitely has its advantages! It made the lesson much more fun and added to this was a more relaxed teaching style that gave us a fair amount of freedom. But work catches up to you, so if you spoke too much in class, you would have to catch up later. Each lesson was around 90 minutes and there was generally only one lesson of each subject a week.

At the time I went to Salem, it was mid-summer in South Africa. At Salem, it was the total opposite, and was very cold to say the least. The time I spent there was one of the colder winters that they had. There was very little snow (it snowed twice while I was there) but there was a lot of rain. However, I must admit I had one of my more fun experiences while playing rugby in the snow! Cold, but really worth it until your fingers and toes freeze off. This once again confirmed what I thought about Germany from my other two skiing trips overseas, that it was permanently cold. This stereotype was changed when all my friends told me how much of a cheery place Salem was in the summer, much like my beloved homeland South Africa, which I in turn had to defend against some of their naivety.

Normally when one enters a foreign country with a very different language to one's own, there is what is known as a ‘language barrier’. I was fortunate enough to have grown up speaking mainly German until primary school, but mine was still rusty. The language I had lost over the years had somehow stored itself into a bank, which I reopened during my time there. After two months of being around mainly German people, my own suddenly sprang back to life. The German population is also a very happy one and can think of many reasons to have a jol. The main one while I was there was called Karneval, a celebration to be remembered! It goes on for months, and has many floats going through the main streets of cities, throwing loads of sweets and flowers to all the bystanders. What escaped me was why they actually held such a long festival and what it was all for?

Certainly the best to have around in my time there were the awesome friends. There was a short holiday in which some friends and I went to Bonn, home of the famous Haribo sweets, and Beethoven’s birthplace. The massive cathedral at Cologne and the ski-hall at Bottrop. One of the best things about first world countries is their public transport system. I could practically go anywhere without a hassle, which I made as much use of a possible to travel across the Lake every now and then to see the other cities. I would definitely go back for all my friends that I made! The majority were obviously German, but the School’s reputation for being international definitely stands. There was an Iranian, Koreans and Chinese, Americans, some British and many in-betweens. Another South African from Stanford College also and I became good friends and I am glad we met. They were the best bunch to be with in the time I was there. Thanks guys, you really made it all worth it!