Day 30

IT IS KARNEVAL SEASON!!!! Our teachers tried best to prepare us for this weekend, but no words could truly get us ready for what was to come. It's so strange seeing everybody casually walking around in full costume like it's just another day. During the parade on Thursday in Beuel we got pelted with everything from candy, mustard, entire cookies, and hand sanitizer. I've heard Viva Colonia at every bar we've been to and met some new friends. Finding costumes for the weekend was very easy since my host family has two giants boxes of costumes from past years. So far, I've been a wizard and a hippie. I definitely never thought I would willingly go outside when it's twenty degrees out, but it's Karneval and everybody suffers together. Tomorrow we are participating in the LiKüRa-Karneval-Parade and helping with the patients of the Therapy Center Beuel. On Monday we will go to Cologne for Rosenmontag and watch the big parade with two million other people. This week we had our first exam and it wasn't fun. At all. It was a packed week since we got Friday off, but with the exception of the exam, everything else was low-stress. My team and I are making progress on our project (it's a secret) with enmodes, which is super interesting and complicated. I also learned why Germans don't wear their college logo/colors/literally anything, which is a question I've had since we landed. We celebrated one month of being here (yay!) and time has flown by. We only have three months left, which feels like nothing. Homesickness hasn't kicked in yet, and hopefully it never will. My parents finally decided when they'll be coming to visit, so I get to look forward to seeing them sooner than I thought.