{"id":2958,"date":"2011-11-28T15:51:40","date_gmt":"2011-11-28T15:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=2958"},"modified":"2017-11-14T14:13:21","modified_gmt":"2017-11-14T14:13:21","slug":"german-tradition-the-abitur-%e2%80%93-more-than-just-taking-annoying-examinations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/german-tradition-the-abitur-%e2%80%93-more-than-just-taking-annoying-examinations\/","title":{"rendered":"German tradition: The Abitur \u2013 More than just taking annoying examinations (pt. 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m quite sure that you cover the topic \u201cGerman school system\u201d at an early stage when you learn German as a foreign language in school. Thus, you may already know that the Abitur<\/em> is the secondary school leaving examination in Germany, which allows you to apply for university. But I\u2019m not sure if any of your textbooks discuss what German students do apart from learning and preparing for the upcoming tests. Thus, I\u2019d like to give you an insight into what was, is, and will always be the most fun thing for German students to take the Abitur<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Students usually don\u2019t like to sit tests, and German students traditionally do partially wreak revenge for that on their teachers when they take the Abitur<\/em>, of which the short form is Abi<\/em>. The German Abitur<\/em> contains several traditional customs like: Abifez<\/em><\/strong> (= a festival procession), Abistreich<\/em><\/strong> (lit. Abi-prank), Abizeitung<\/em><\/strong> (lit. Abi-paper), Abi T-shirts, Abiball<\/em><\/strong> (prom night), and Abifahrt<\/em><\/strong> (final trip).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Abifez<\/em> and Abistreich<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Abifez<\/em> is a during-the-schoolday-party and also contains the so-called Abistreich<\/em> (Abi-prank). It usually takes place after the last day of examination. And it is nothing else than simply going wild. Our Abifez<\/em> was May 16th<\/sup>. Traditionally, students form a motorcade on that day and go hooking at walking pace through the city, stopping at other schools, entering them and making a lot of noise with rattles and whistles. To come rushing into school buildings is, of course, not legal but most teachers and principals keep cool. My schoolfellows and I, for example, were requested to leave one of the buildings we had entered and we had been threatened that they would had called the police if we hadn\u2019t obeyed.<\/p>\n

Additionally, students usually stick a particular creative and funny saying or motto on the back window of their cars, e.g. \u201cABIgasmus \u2013 13 Jahre bis zum H\u00f6hepunkt\u201d (ABIgasm \u2013 13 years to the climax) \u2013 allusion to sex, orgasm, and the long time of going to school for thirteen years; ABIsutra \u2013 Jetzt geht\u2019s auf Stellungssuche (ABIsutra \u2013 Now we are looking for positions) \u2013 allusion to sex positions, Kama Sutra, and vacant position on the job market; ABIlieve I can fly; ABIlity for life, etc.<\/p>\n

The Abifez<\/em> also contains a particular program that is performed in the assembly hall of the school. We, for example, established some fun categories for awarding teachers and \u2018forced\u2019 them to take part in games in which they had to improvise and showcase their knowledge.<\/p>\n

The Abistreich<\/em> is a part of the Abifez<\/em>. What exactly students do depends on their creativeness. My schoolfellows and I papered the whole smoker teachers\u2019 lounge with cigarette packets and filled the non-smoker teachers\u2019 lounge with 3000 balloons. This took, of course, a lot of time, therefore, we camped in the schoolyard and prepared everything during the night before the actual Abifez<\/em>. But we also did some nice thing. For example, we prepared a breakfast bazaar where teachers and other students could buy sandwiches, coffee, and juice. And we additionally, set up some bounce houses in the sports hall.<\/p>\n

To be continued…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Vocabulary:<\/em><\/p>\n

das Abitur = German school leaving examination<\/em><\/p>\n

der Abifez = festival procession<\/em><\/p>\n

der Abi-Streich \u2013 Abi prank<\/em><\/p>\n

die Abi-Zeitung \u2013 Abi (news)paper (comparable to a year book)<\/em><\/p>\n

der Abiball \u2013 prom night<\/em><\/p>\n

die Abi-Fahrt \u2013 the final trip that graduates take together<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

I\u2019m quite sure that you cover the topic \u201cGerman school system\u201d at an early stage when you learn German as a foreign language in school. Thus, you may already know that the Abitur is the secondary school leaving examination in Germany, which allows you to apply for university. But I\u2019m not sure if any of…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":2962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,913],"tags":[95172,95173],"class_list":["post-2958","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-traditions","tag-abitur","tag-school-leaving-examination"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2958"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8937,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2958\/revisions\/8937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}