We had spent an entire year preparing intensively for the Cambridge exam and finally the time had come. With huge lunches in our backpacks, we met at the Hauptbahnhof at 6am and the 4 of us set off for Stuttgart. Arriving in Stuttgart, we quickly found the university and nervously entered the building. Serious men in suits showed us the way. Once we were there, everything happened very quickly. We had to hand in all our electronic devices and the exam started. During the short breaks we ate and talked to the other students about the tasks and complained about how difficult it was.
After 5 hours it was finally lunch time, but there was only little time until the oral exam. We inhaled a Yufka and off we went to the next exam. Jone and I were well prepared to take the exam together, but suddenly only Jone was allowed into the room while I had to wait. We were assigned different partners! Confused, we had the examiners take pictures of us and took the exams separately. Later, Luca and Henry would meet the same fate. In the exam, we all looked at the examiner perplexed, because she was the spitting image of Mrs. Bender, who had prepared us so intensively for the exams. Sporty and with a blond pixie cut, the examiner sat opposite us and we felt like we were back at the Fichte Gymnasium.
Finally finished, Jone and I made our way to the Stuttgart train station. On the way we treated ourselves to a completely overpriced ice cream. When we arrived at the station we were totally exhausted. We waited for the train but it never came. We were about to have our first experience with the notorious late arrivals of the Deutsche Bahn. We waited and waited. An elderly lady asked us for advice, but we didn't know what was going on either. Finally, the answer came through an announcement: "Attention, there is a technical problem and all trains cannot run". Confused and annoyed Jone and I went to the information desk where we were told that we should take the tram back to Karlsruhe. Well, complaining doesn't help! So off we go on the tram. The following journey was marked by numerous changes, long walks and overcrowded platforms, but finally the last change was made and we took the direct route to Karlsruhe. In the meantime, Luca and Henry had also finished their exams and we were worried about Henry, who would have to make this difficult journey alone, because Luca was visiting a friend in Stuttgart. But we needn't have worried about Henry, because he had managed to get on exactly the same train as us, even though we had a considerable head start. While we had rushed through the stations on our way, Henry had made the acquaintance of several professors and met a couple who had given him a lift in their car. But we were just happy to have found each other again.
And so we drove back into Karlsruhe main station together. The fact that we can now laugh about this adventure is probably mainly due to the fact that we all fortunately passed the Cambridge exam. So in the end it was all worth it!