Germany: Fiona, 16

I am a teenage girl and I was born and raised in northern Germany.

Life over here is a bit different compared to other countries like UK or America.

School starts at 7.55am and usually ends at 1.15pm. We enter school at the age of six and after fourth grade in primary school we switch to secondary school where we get to choose which one of the three paths we want to attend.

First of all there's the secondary modern school from year 5 to 9, which is for the people that are quite lazy I guess.

Then there's secondary modern school from year 5 to 10 for people that actually care about their education and future.

Lastly there's the grammar school for the very smart pupils. Grammar schools are from year 5 to 12 which is the longest possible time you can actually attend a secondary school in Germany.

In contrast to some other countries we don't have to wear school uniforms, which is good since we get to decide what to wear every day. On the other hand it's also bad because students with less money can be bullied when they cannot afford stylish clothes.

I am from a small town in the north of the country and man is it boring. We don't have many things here that are great and interesting for teens. We do have got a cinema and a club but it's for people at the age of 18+, so that doesn't work for underaged people.

In our city there are many half-timbered houses and a castle, which makes the whole thing look very sweet. There is also a good number of shops, but they are mostly not international, just national and also shops that exist in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, which is very annoying to me. I always have to take a train to a much bigger city (which is about 30 minutes away from my hometown) when I want to shop at Primark, H&M etc.

Us teens have got a bit of our own slang going on and sometimes it doesn't make any sense at all, but to us it does. Many children who are my age smoke and do drugs which in my opinion is unnecessary and quite disgusting since they are generally surrounded by a cigarette fragrance cloud.

Fiona, 16yrs, a small town in northern Germany

#16yrsold #europe #sharedstory