There were about 25 students still here in Salem during the Easter holidays. So daily life in Salem was calmer. Since we were so few, we could do much more. Breakfast was available from 9 a.m. until 10 a.m., so we could get more sleep. For me, it was good because we didn’t have to wake up as early as on a regular school day. After breakfast we had a “study period” for one-and-a-half hours to do the work that our teachers sent us. Each student received a lot of work, so it was good to have  designated times to do work. We had an early lunch at 12 o’clock and then another study period. In the afternoon we had activities. Every day there were new activities and each student still at Salem had to choose one. Some of these activities included ball sports, poker/board games, and archery, to name a few. People could choose to do some more activities at 4:30p.m. and at 7:30p.m.. But if not, the rest of the day was free. I liked that we needed to choose an activity because it kept us active and that we got enough free time, just as if we were at home. Of course, it felt strange at times but besides that, everything else was quite nice here.

Adrian Evers, 8E1

“Fit for fun“ with Mr. Carroll on Mondays was definitely on my weekly list, although it was not truly fun at all. The intensity and duration were very reasonable, the workouts were flexible so everyone could find their place. It was hard work for me and anyone else. We worked through strength, flexibility and endurance in the training sessions during Easter holidays. Although we were always exhausted afterwards, Mr. Carroll’s inspiring words “Keep working“, “Get a few more in“ or “Good effort“ could always dispel the thought of giving up. This was really helpful to maintain a healthy body during our two-week break. Karaoke with Mrs. Höhn took place on Fridays in the Schrote. It was the best way to release stress. Even though it is quite embarrassing to sing in front of people, once you get used to it, you love the stage so much. There might be occasional out-of-band accidents, but nobody cared at all. And then there was “Civilization VI“: I guess it’s hard to believe that the name of a video game would appear in the holiday activities of Salem. However, it is true and the activity with Mr. Dann was actually interesting. It is a civilization simulation game that allows multiple people to connect online. Players need to build cities from the prehistoric period forward, to develop  their territory and to defend their city or attack another and then rebuild culture. Learning about history and geography in this way during the holidays was amazing.

Yongchun Yu, 8E2

In April the majority of students left campus for the Easter holidays. However, some of us had to stay on due to our inability to return home. To keep us entertained and mentally fit, Mr. Merlin came up with the brilliant idea of Quiz Night, and he was supported excellently in this endeavour by Ms Leakey and Dr Mathieson. 50 questions were split into eight categories: geography, entertainment, history, art & literature, science and nature, sport, the odd-one-out, and food and drink. Due to the number of different spheres, people decided to split into teams with their friends. In the beginning, people hardly could score more than 20 points. However, as more quiz sessions took place, the average score improved to around 30. The Quiz Night was held in the Gruft at Spetzgart and that turned out to be the perfect location. We hope to hold the event again during the normal epoch with a larger number of participants.

Ekaterina Kirina, IB1