A New Timetable

I now have a new schedule. The first one was just temporary until all the students and teachers were arranged. This will be my schedule from now on. I am told that it will be switched around in a few months.

Monday: English~Biology~Physics~German~ Croatian~Croatian
Tuesday: Philosophy~History~Politics~Ethics~History~Gym~Croatian
Wednesday: Art~Math~Chemistry~Chemistry~Physics~Biology
Thursday: Music~Geography~English~Math~Math~Class Meeting~Gym
Friday: English~Croatian~French~French~German~History
Saturday: Philosophy~Philosophy~Geography~Geography

What do I do in my classes?...

At the moment I don't do a whole lot for I don't have a good enough grasp on the language to understand what is going on. Here is a short summary of each class I take.

English: The class is devoted to grammar and sentence structure. The teacher asks me a lot of questions about explaining words and such. It is sometimes hard to define a word in a way that makes sense. It is easy so far and is a great revision for me.

Biology: The notes are in Croatian but on a slide show so I write them down. (even if I don't know what it says) Most of the technical terms are similar to English so I understand for the most part.

Physics: The notes are given verbally and in Croatian so I don't have a clue. Sometimes the teacher gets me to read a question in Croatian but other then that I just sit there.

German: German is taught in Croatian and I just sit and listen.

Croatian: I just sit and listen and be bored.

Philosophy: It's in Croatian but the teacher occasionally explains what hes talking about or asks me a question in English.

History: In English! We get English handouts and all the questions are in English. The teacher does do some explaining in Croatian if the students don't understand in English.

Politics: In Croatian so I do nothing.

Ethics: The class is in English and we mostly just discuss ethical things or learn the basis for Ethics. We haven't done any work yet.

Gym: For gym you have to wear specific clothes, girls black or red bottoms and a white shirt, and boys have to wear blue shorts and a white shirt. There are two classes in the Gym at one time and we are divided into girls from one class, boys from both classes and girls from the other class. Our class just started Gym as we didn't have a teacher until this week.

Art: I thought we did art but we learn about it instead. I don't understand because it is in Croatian but I look at all the pictures and diagrams.

Math: The teacher does a bit in English but does all further explaining in Croatian so I basically copy off the board then try and figure out how to do it from that. Math being a week point in English is definitely challenging in Croatian. Only partially understand.

Chemistry: Slide show notes are in English but all further explaining is in Croatian. I was given a CD with the slide shows on it so I re watch them at home to better understand. The teacher is going to try and find me a text book that is in English.

Music: The teacher teaches in Croatian and the notes are verbal so I just sit. You learn about music styles and such and occasionally listen to a short segment of a song.

Geography: The notes are on a slide show but are in Croatian. I write them down just for something to do.

Class Meeting: Most of the time we don't even have it but when we do they (the class and teacher) talk about school related tasks and such in Croatian.

French: The teacher speaks Croatian and French. She is "crazy" in the words of my classmates. She didn't understand (even though my classmates told her in Croatian) that just because I am from Canada doesn't mean i am fluent in French. My Youth Exchange Officer advised i just don't go to that class because the teacher isn't cooperative. I will try going again.

I just started Croatian Language classes with one of my Professors and Kevin, the other exchange student. I will have them Monday mornings during school. Tuesday afternoons during school and Saturday during school. I will miss a few classes (the ones in Croatian) but learning the language is more beneficial. We work out of a book and will hopefully be able to carry out a decent conversation and understand what is going on soon.