This week was one of the best weeks of my life. Ich liebe Karneval! It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and not only did I learn a lot about the culture during Karneval, but I also made some amazing friends and even got to celebrate my birthday during one of the biggest festivals of the year!
During the start of the week, we were given an introduction to Karneval, including practicing yelling for candy and singing songs from Karneval. I did not know a single word to the song, but as long as you learn the beat, you can manage to seem like you can sing along. I did not bring a costume because I did not know that we were expected to dress up, so instead, I was given face paint to look like I was a girl. It was a good day.
On Tuesday, we visited Bayer in Livercusen. It was pouring down rain, but I was excited to learn more about the company that developed Aspirin. I expected to be shown their labs and perhaps see a bit of the process behind how they make their products, but instead, we were taken through a gallery and told that we were all going to starve in the future. Dr Wasser did not go to the tour because he said he had "seen it enough", and I now see why he decided to not go. The best part was watching Ryan try to destroy some wheat weaviles on a game.
On Wednesday, we were taken to the Mayor's house and formally welcomed to Bonn. It was nice to see him welcome us into such a wonderful city, and I was thankful for the opportunity to experience such a kind gesture in such a lovely city. I am beginning to suspect that currywurst is slowly becoming one of my favorite foods as well. The stuff is crazy good.
On Thursday, we met at the AIB dressed up in our costumes and went and saw our first parade. We were told that men wore ties and girls cut off during the parade as a representation of female power, but when we arrived to the parade, we were the only ones that were wearing ties, which was a little awkward. It poured down rain the entire time during the parade, and so we quickly left and went bar hopping instead. The bars were all quite packed, but it was fun to try to get a group into the bar and dance to Karneval music. We took it easy for the rest of the day.
On Friday, we went to a house party with Andre's friends and then went to Chico's dj party in Stadtalle. The place was insanely packed, and we would not have gotten in if it weren't for Chico. The party had numerous different rooms playing all different kinds of music, and our group had fun singing along to the songs we knew, climbing the support beams for the lights, and dancing to the Karneval music.
On Saturday, Gunnar and I went to Cologne for Karneval. It was not as packed as I thought it would be, but we waited in line for an hour and a half to get into a bar that ended up closing before we could get in. On Sunday, we volunteered to take people in wheelchairs through the parade, and it was awesome to be a part of the parade, although we were hopelessly lost when we were done. Later, we went to a house party and met up with some more German friends.
Monday was Reagan and my birthday. We met up, had lunch, went to a parade and were invited to a random person's house party. We also witnessed a huge fight and watched as at least 30 cops came out of no where to break up the fight. We ended Karneval by going out with our host family, Kyle, Shelby, Reagan, and Elaine. This week was absolutely amazing, and I am extremely blessed to have spent my birthday with Karneval and great friends.
Until next time, I wish the best!
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