Day 11

Today we had the cultural pre-port for Germany. Germany is a very interesting place, many of the worlds great scientists came from there as well as the printing press. Their education is highly valued, when graduating from college they have the equivalent of our masters degree. Most teachers have the equivalent of our PhD. Their primary school is like ours except they generally only go to school in the mornings and don't have a lunch. After primary school they take an exam and can go on to multiple different secondary schools. 

Hauptschule are the least academic, similar to our high schools. 

Realschule are for vocational training 

Gymnasium (Not the same is where you run around and take PE) are for college prep. 

There are also many other specialty schools. 

Just two years ago did they switch over to voluntary military service. 

The English language came from German 

I'm excited for Germany, it should be interesting. I'm finding that visiting these countries is basically a crash course on them, but so far I am enjoying learning in this way. 

Classes are interesting, although not that exciting. The fact that we don't have them very frequently is strange. The class that I had today I hadn't had since last Wednesday and won't have again until Monday. It makes it feel very scattered and hard to connect. The good news is that our professors give a lot of things to think about and look for in the ports, so at least classes don't completely slip from my mind. 

Running on a treadmill on a rocking ship is still a learning experience. 

I am planning something really cool to do in Belgium, which comes up right after Germany. So far I am going on the Paris overnight but a girl in my Travel Writing class has an idea to make it even better. I hope we can pull it off. 

NOON BRIDGE REPORT

Miles Made Good Since St Petersburg

448 nautical miles

Nearest land 21 nautical miles to Hoburg City, Gotland, Sweden

Average speed of ship 11.6 knots

Sea Depth 50 Meters

Air Temperature 16°C or 61°F

Water Temperature 17°C or 63°F

Sunset: 19:35      Sunrise: 05:54