More Karneval Adventures!

          Friday started off with a delicious brunch with my family and then Tessa and I went into town to go shopping. Our shopping trip was a successful one and to top off our success we got dessert at this yummy Italian restaurant! Later that night we agreed to go with our youngest host sister to a party with some of her friends, but we didn’t realize just how far the party was. In addition to the distance, there were so many people there that we couldn’t get in so we decided to go to Cologne instead. Immediately after walking out of the train station in Cologne, we saw a big crowd of people dancing around a drum line in front of the cathedral. It was a fun scene and definitely in the spirit of Karneval!     

            Saturday was a relatively calm day compared to the rest of Karneval weekend. Tessa, our host sister, host dad, and I went to Bonn in the afternoon to run a few errands and grab lunch. Afterwards, Tessa and I headed to Starbucks to work on some homework before heading back home for dinner. A group of us were thinking of going to a pirate themed Karneval party that night but the entrance fee was super expensive so we decided to stay in and watch Pirates of the Caribbean. Although it was a quiet night I really enjoyed just hanging out with friends and getting to relax a little bit.

            Tessa and I woke up early Sunday morning to go to a parade in our village with our host sister and her friend. The parade was smaller than the one we saw on Thursday but I enjoyed seeing more of our village! Plus it was a beautiful day outside, which Tessa and I took full advantage of after the parade by sitting outside and relaxing. Our host mom then convinced us to go to another parade in their village, which was similar to the one earlier that morning but with better candy so I was happy! My one complaint was that I got smacked in the head by a huge chocolate bar which I didn’t even get since I didn’t pick it up in time. However, the two parades were fun and very successful when it comes to getting lots of candy!

            Monday was the last big Karneval day so to celebrate my host family and I went to the big parade in Bonn. This parade was by far the best parade I went to that weekend! The parade was filled with creative-looking floats that threw tons of candy and blasted the popular Karneval songs. After the parade a group of the bioscience kids went around Bonn to soak in the last bit of Karneval before we had to get back to work on our Otto Bock project the following day. Overall Karneval was everything I expected and more and I was sad to see the weekend come to a close.