It was the week of Karneval and I had no idea we were supposed to get prepared for it back in November. I went and bought the cheapest, yet interesting costume that I could think of. It was a red and white jumpsuit/swim suit thing from the 20's with an umbrella hat. I decided to match with Blake and Rahil because nothing makes a trio a trio without matching for holidays that are dedicated to getting all your sins out before Easter.
At the Carnival Warm up on Monday, I couldn't believe that they had to talk us through everything that was supposed to happen on Karneval. Men wear ties and get there dignity cut off by women and yell Camelle for all the candy you could ever want. The music they played was so catchy that I had to go and download it to Spotify before the big weekend happened.
On Tuesday, we visited Bayer in Leverkusen. It wasn't exactly what I expected it to be to be completely honest. I figured they were going to show us the drug processing and creations and tell us all about that. Instead, they discussed that the world was over populated and there needs to be biological engineering to create more food and land for the people that will over crowd the World. I kept thinking of Samuel L Jackson's character in the movie Kingsman the whole time.
On Wednesday, we went to City Hall to meet with the Mayor for a welcome reception. He welcomed us and gave us juice and we got a chance to ask questions to him about Bonn, himself, and the refugee situation. It was interesting to see how political most of his answers were when it came to everything. I guess that's why he's the Mayor and I'm not.
Then the Big Weekend started. We got all dressed up in our red and white jumpsuits and met at the AIB to go to the first parade of Karneval. Not only did we not bring enough warm clothes, but the constant rain (which was kept off my head because of the umbrella but not my clothes) added to the complete uncomfortableness of the situation. They also chucked whole candy bars at us. Not the little fun size ones that America supplies. No. The big actual candy bars that could give children concussions. It was insane but awesome because now I don't think I'm going to have to buy chocolate for the rest of the time I'm here. I've never seen everyone in a city get in costume and celebrate something together like that. It was a very unique and eye opening experience.
That night, 13 of us got on a train and headed to Munich for the weekend. The night train was incredibly uncomfortable because the thermostat varied at least 30 degrees while we were on it. I was cold , sweating, then cold again. AND there was some guy behind us snoring the entire time. So I think I got maybe 30 minutes of sleep the entire time.
Munich was a lot of fun though. We got a city tour, ate at world famous breweries, learned about Hitler and WWII's affects on the city, saw a castle, went nature exploring, saw a concentration camp, and almost got kicked off a train.
The amount of sausages, candy, pasta, sausages, liquids, and sausages again that I've consumed is starting to become noticeable. It's a good thing were going to Austria soon because they only serve healthy strudel, sausages, candy, and baked goods so no worries here.
Overall, it was a great week. I can't wait to see what else lies ahead. This week should be pretty chill though because I really need to start saving money.
Until next week.
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