Before we came to Paderborn we interviewed people with different backgrounds about their experiences with the immigration and integration in Denmark. We also asked them about their attitude towards immigrants in general. Furthermore we had researched how our community handles integration and asked the head master of a primary school which has a large amount of students with another ethnic background than Danish about his work. When we arrived at Friedrich-von-Spee Gesamtschule we watched the interviews from Northern Ireland, France and Germany. Afterwards we discussed the similarities and the differences in the interviews. On Tuesday we visited the deputy mayor who told us about Paderborn in general and showed us some statistics about integration. Wednesday an expert came to the school and informed us about her work with helping young people to become integrated in the German society. The final product was three banners which each symbolized identity, integration and the things which keep the two concepts apart.

Through living with German families during our stay, we gained a new understanding of the German way of living.

We noticed and found it quite strange that the pupils address their teacher and pupils as Mr. and Mrs. whereas in Denmark the pupils and teachers address each other by the first name. When talking with the German pupils about living expenses, they were very surprised to learn that in general the Danish pupils pay for their own mobile-phone usage, clothes and additional spending.

When discussing the educational system in Germany it was revealed, you have to pay to attend university or other further educational facilities, while in Denmark you only pay for your own reading material. While you attend any other education than primary school and are 18 years or more, the government gives you financial support, called SU.

On Tuesday all the pupils gathered in the school kitchen and formed small groups, which each had the responsibility of preparing a dish for the common supper in the cafeteria, the MENSA.

Through having to constantly speak and hear foreign languages our language and listening skills have improved vastly.

On Wednesday the teachers had arranged for the pupils to go bowling in a shopping mall, which was really great because it was a different way of spending time with all the nationalities outside of school and focused work! This was caused by having to stand up and therefore mingle in different way, than when you sit still at a café and simply talk.