Differences between German and Italian students by Koit

I have participated in two student exchanges. On 4^th till 10^th April 2014 we had a student exchange with Evangelisches Gymnasium from Werther, Germany. 

The second exchange was with Italians. They came here on the 26^th of March 2015 and stayed for 5 days.  They were from the school Liceo G. B. Bodoni di Saluzzo.

There are three aspects from which you can see the differences between Italians and Germans.

Firstly, Italians were very happy and enthusiastic all the time. When they were together then they sang and talked a lot. It seemed like they did not care or notice what was going on around them. They were very open and wanted to communicate. With Germans all this was different. They were quieter and not so open. For some Germans it took a little time to warm up and when they felt comfortable they started to be more sociable. 

Secondly, there was a noticeable difference in how good were their English speaking skills. Germans had a much better level of English. They had good grammar and spoke fluently. Only on rare occasions they didn’t remember some words that they wanted to say but then they just explained differently. Italians had a bit lower level in English but what they lack in grammar or vocabulary, they made up with a desire to communicate.

Finally, Italians were not as tall as the Germans. This was most visible if you compare the heights of boys. German boys were all taller or at least around the same height as most Estonian boys. Italians, on the other hand, were shorter and older looking than Estonians with few exceptions. 

To sum up, Italians were more open and friendlier when compared to Germans. In comparison, Germans spoke better English. Despite the differences I had fun hosting all of them and really enjoyed both exchanges.