Same here. We could choose french, or if we did not bother to choose ended up in english...
So I reckon either it changed in the early-mid 2000s or it is "Ländersache" and some have a choice option, others don't.
I'm not sure about the first and second "s"es, but the third is an "ß" (es and zet) that is still used for a sharp s sound following a long vowel... it's still in use, for example in "Straße" (street). The second "t" is a "tz" which is also atill in use in words like Katze (cat).
Dr. Roy Casagranda gives amazing lectures on history in general, especially political history and the history of the middle east.