My classroom, chalkboard and all.


My first trimester of school just finished, so I thought I'd share with you all how I did.

I definitely wouldn't be happy with these grades back home, but for here, for having nine classes in another language, in just the first three months, I'm pretty happy with how I did. I even failed a few, so I can cross that one off my bucket list.

The grading system here is 0 through 10, 10 being the best, and 5-10 are passing grades. But it's also different because here, for example, 7 and 8 are considered to be really good grades, because 9's and 10's a really hard to get. But in the States, a 7 would be a C, and an 8 a B, which more average than good.

I passed 6 classes, and failed 3, but I still have the chance to recuperate the failed classes with upcoming tests, or at the end of the year, so it's not set in stone quite yet.

So here are my trimester grades as they stand so far, best to worst (with a little comment):

1. English:   10 (no surprise there)
2. Physical Education:   9 (easy enough)
3. Technology:   9 (easy enough)
4. Economics:   8 (the grade I'm the most proud of)
5. Sciences of the Contemporary World:   5 (scraped by)
6. Spanish Language & Literature:   5 (thank you sympathetic teacher)
7. Mathematics:   4 (the teacher enjoys failing kids)
8. History of the Contemporary World:   4 (just barely, next trimester I'll get it)
9. Philosophy:   4 (what?! complete luck. didn't study once.)