Despite having studied German for eight years having lived in Germany for the last three years, I find myself this morning outside the main lecture theatre in Marburg waiting for die deutsche Sprachprüfung für Hochschulzugang, the German language exam for university access. It is merely a formality, say those in the admin office. My degree here is in French and Italian, but if I don’t sit and pass this exam, I can’t complete the course. So here I am, somewhat excited for my first exam in three years.

Originally scheduled to be in March, the exam was indefinitely postponed in light of the current pandemic. Last week we received an email with the date and the three things we mustn’t forget: a mask, a German dictionary and our passports. I arrive ten minutes early and a crowd of roughly a hundred people stand outside, a tenth of whom forget to…