[ANSWERED] German Abiball Questions

[nightrose83]

ANSWERED, thanks!Hi folks

Comments

[openidwouldwork]

Um, I'm from Hessen, but my Abi took place in '96, would that help? Yes, my parents did come, someone had to sit throught the boring speeches and sketches and stuff some of the teachers and students thought up, while anyone with sense went out into the Anteroom of the convention hall the event took place in to watch the evening's match of the European championship. Personally I refused to wear a skirt, so I went in nice, new, black jeans and one of my father's sport jackets. And there was no dancing involved... Realschule and Mittelschule have a Feier. And dear lord, no, no dances at school or anywhere else aside from dancing schools.

[lied_ohne_worte]

1. Yes - about the only student party where that is possible. At an "Abifete" (the student-organised parties that can take place several times during the last school years), parents would definitely not be welcome except for picking up underage/drunk children in the middle of the night.

2. I think that Abibälle did happen in the 70s, but I'm not sure if all schools everywhere did them.

3. It seems that some Hauptschulen (and presumably also Realschulen) around here have started doing them, but as far as I can tell, those are a rather recent addition, probably stemming from the desire to give students an added sense of accomplishment. We have finishing services for people from a local Hauptschule in our church, and at some point the girls started to appear in ballgowns or cocktail dresses, which is weird4. As the commenter over me said, dear lord, no. We had an Abiball, but it was the only formal event that took place in my 13 years of schooling. That whole "prom" thing we see in US movies is just completely weird to us, with teenage

[nightrose83]

Yes, that was the one I saw. It's also entirely possible to skip your prom here, as I did--it's expensive, aggravating, and there's the same problem with the 'haves' looking down their noses at the 'have-nots'. Prom dates are also treated like the end of the world, yes, mostly by the popular girls, and their squawking, to me (because I was bullied often by said people), grew very irritating to listen to as the time for the event got closer. Thank you for the rest.

[legoline]

The Abiball is the only formal prom we ever do at school. However, at my school we had parties all year round in the assemly hall, which were nice and had beer (and a minimum age for attendance to be allowed in) but since they were generally supervised by teachers, they didn't go too wild.

I'm also one of the people who simply skipped their Abiball, but my brother went and I tagged along, as well as my parents and my grandmother.

[sashatwen]

I had my Abitur in 97 and we had an Abiball that I only attended for half an hour before I got the hell out of there. :) It was really more of an Abifeier, now that I think about it, a regular student party that everyone was free to attend if they wanted

[nightrose83]

Ah right, I'd heard about the lack of school yearbook/class ring (which is also apparently a big thing a lot of people do here), but the newspaper would be taking its place.

[lied_ohne_worte]

True, the pranks are quite important. They may occasionally go over the top (like the school doors being locked in a way that is basically property damage and requires expensive repairs), leading to much annoyance and search for those responsible afterward - I think that happened a few years above us.

[gelbes_gilatier]

1. I read that parents may accompany students to the Abiball; is that true?

Far as I know, yes. My parents did for mine, as well as my two younger sisters and we did the same for their respective Abibälle. My youngest sister was also accompanied by her boyfriend who was from a different school, so that was usual as well. Hope that helped :)

[nightrose83]

Yes, thank you. :)