Tipperary student experiences life in Germany after achieving incredible exam results

A Clonmel High School student who received the best result in the country in his German Junior Certificate exam won a two week scholarship to Germany.

Peter Carroll wrote the following account about his experiences in Germany:
I recently got an amazing opportunity to travel to Germany on a scholarship for two weeks as a result of getting the best German Junior Cert in the country. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget and will cherish for the rest of my life.
When I started in the High School I didn't know a word of German but from day one I loved the language. After three years it was an amazing opportunity to see first hand the culture and everyday life of a different country that we had only learnt from a textbook and being able to communicate with the natives made me feel good. I stayed with a kind, welcoming host family.

I was located in a small town called Bad Iburg which is located in Lower Saxony in West Germany and lived the life of a German teenager for two weeks. I went to school as if I was a German and had the opportunity to learn subjects such as Maths, History, Geography and Biology all through German. School began at half seven every morning which was definitely a huge culture shock. However it ended at half one every day which frees up so much time in the afternoon and was arguably a better system than we have here.

At the beginning of my stay it was difficult to understand the Germans as they spoke so quickly, but over time it became second nature and did wonders for my spoken German.

I tried lots of German food during my stay in Germany such as Aufschnitt , Rotkokl, Döners and Spaghetti Eis from the world renowned German Eisdiele. However my favourite had to be Schnitzel - German pork coated in breadcrumbs.
I went on two city trips, one to Osnabrück and one to Hamburg and also visited the Externstein with the school. All of these trips were incredible experiences packed with interesting sightseeing and culture.

During the two weeks I made great friends with some of the natives. I had great fun with my exchange partner and his friends and made some unforgettable memories and experiences. I now feel very confident facing the Leaving Cert German Exam next year but this trip went beyond studying a language for an exam. It made me realise that the most important thing is to have confidence speaking a foreign language and how good it feels to communicate in a second language. Germany is a beautiful country with a beautiful language and I know that this trip was just the beginning of many more to come.