CHAPTER VI

Most of the time, I don’t mind the public transportation, but it can be unpredictable at times which is frustrating. On Tuesday, our bus made it most of the way back to Heidebergen, and then just broke down. The driver got out to try the electrical breaker, and the lights went completely dark. Not my favorite. Lois and I just walked the mile or so the rest of the way home. It ended up being fun since it was snowing outside (but I prefer the reliable transportation)!

Karneval was this weekend and we had school off from Thursday to Monday. So how I would describe Karneval to my American friends would be a combination of Halloween and Mardi Gras. Basically, it’s a reason to celebrate during the sometimes cold and dreary Winter! There are many parades to bring the villages together and people are in costume celebrating the rest of the day. It’s so festive. I really enjoyed it all!

One unique thing the AIB organized for us was to participate in a Karneval parade. It was in one of the Bonn villages. We helped out with a Therapy Center’s parade entry. My job was to guard the front wheel from any small children while simultaneously throwing candy, quite the multitasking! It was cool to see everyone’s costume and spirit during the hour or so parade. Part of Karneval is for the audience to yell “Kamelle” (which translates to candy, and also sounds almost identical to my name). The biggest parade was in Cologne on Rosenmontag (Rose Monday), and some friends and I went to witness the festivities.

I’ve been looking forward to visiting Jess since I arrived here in Germany. We became friends my junior year of high school when she was an exchange student. I’ve been able to keep up with her and see her once these past two years. Over the extra-long weekend, I visited and stayed at her apartment in Saarbrucken, which takes about three hours to get to from Bonn. It was so fun to catch up, see her apartment, and wander around the city. It was a nice, relaxing trip! Saarbrucken is smaller than Bonn, but very walkable. It had similar street food, delicious Doner and crepes and also Rigatoni. We spent most of one day at an old steel factory plant, Volklinger Hutte. That was fun because of all the different stairways and places amongst the old machinery that were open to exploring.

I’d say it was a successful weekend overall!

Random Takeaways

While throwing candy in a parade (to excited, hopeful children), make sure to avoid tossing it into the drains.

Karneval is a strange, but fun holiday.

Layers are very important to warmth.

Be early just in case their are bus delays!

There are so many delicious sweet spreads in Europe like this one: