Abitur time

I learned something new this week, thanks to now living in the city. At the end of Gymnasium (gr. 5-12), the students write their exams to receive their Abitur. This is the piece of paper that will allow them to go on to university. So I guess they are a big deal, especially because there are actually three types of high school (Gymnasium, Realschule and Hauptschule), and the other two do not give the Abitur. They must be about to write the exams, because the two local Gymnasiums near me now have all these good luck banners attached to all possible places, fences and poles out front. I first saw people putting them up before softball on Wednesday, and there were still people busy on my way home at 10 pm. Some seem to be put up by friends, others by parents. I even saw one that had a photo that looked to be a photo of the student on her first day of school, age 6.