Karneval weekend is a time of celebration and excitement for most of Nordrhine-Westfalen, but for me it was just a really ideal time to catch up on sleep. I still had an enjoyable weekend though and Thursday morning was a great intro to the festivities with the Women's day parade through Beuel. After a short two hours of sleep the night before, I suited up in my caterpillar costume (left behind by a former host kid) and headed to AIB. After having some free Berliners, we all walked across the bridge to watch the parade already in progress. I loved the whole experience, even if it meant getting pegged in the head a couple times by various candies/popcorn/painful objects. I ended up near a group of sweet old ladies who were well prepared for the professional sport of parade spectating--they had everything! Extra bags for candy gathering, rad dance moves, and a seemingly endless supply of shots and mini bottles of champagne?? Allaf! The Karneval spirit was completely contagious, so after the parade we followed the crowd to Rathaus and had fun dancing in the streets to all the Karneval top hits--da simmer dabei, dat is Prima, Viva Colonia! The fun was a little dulled when we still had to go to class that night (unfortunately it wasn't a holiday back in Texas), but nevertheless it was a great start to the week.
I spent most of my Friday trying to figure out what was going on with my laptop (which I still haven't fixed), watching the Olympics, doing my laundry, and listening to the Wombat's new album on repeat. (If you haven't already, GO LISTEN. Although the Glitterbug album is better in my opinion, so if you've never heard their music maybe go listen to that instead.) It was a really great and much needed day of rest, followed by a beautiful 12 hours of actual rest. Saturday was pretty similar, with a bit of homework sprinkled in and a night spent at N8.
On Sunday, I headed to Nicky's house to watch the parade in Rammersdorf. Once I was set up with some pink hair tips, round two of getting pelted with candy began.
Here are some fun facts about German parades:
- drinking at the parade is acceptable
- drinking while IN the parade is also acceptable
- they do NOT scrimp on the candy (at the end they literally threw it out by the bucket)
- they also give out my personal favorite, paprika chips, and other items: popcorn, granola bars, cookies, flowers, tissues, shots (yes, shots), cups of wine, and in one case an entire bottle of champagne
After the parade I headed home to finish up my math homework, and then back out for a small celebration for Mitchell's birthday. All in all that was probably my favorite day of the weekend. In retrospect it wasn't all that eventful, but it made me realize how genuinely grateful I am for all of the friends I've made on this trip, regardless of whether I actually saw them that day or not.
Even though I'd agreed to join some of the others in Köln for Rosenmontag, I completely overslept and missed meeting them at the train station. Honestly, the sleep was worth it. I also decided not to go to the parade in Bonn and just spent the day trying to make travel plans and doing homework. Maybe not the most fun way to spend the day, but it needed to be done. Ibk and I decided to go for a walk along the Rhine at sunset so we didn't spend our entire day inside bumming around. It was absolutely beautiful and so worth the cold! I honestly can't believe I've gone this long without walking the Rhine, but don't worry I will definitely be returning as many times as possible before I leave Bonn.
Classes started back up on Tuesday with an Enmodes meeting and I actually feel like my group is making good progress. Also good news, I figured out how to keep myself awake during lectures! It involves constantly eating--sometimes a banana, usually gummies. Maybe not so good for my health (it's reached a semi addictive level) but definitely good for my focus.
Wednesday morning taught me that I wasn't quite the master of the bus system as I thought I was. Ibk and I were headed to the meet up point by Hofgarten a little later than we had planned, so when we saw a bus start to pull up to our stop just before we got there, we ran after it and hopped on. Usually this would be completely inconsequential, but since it was about 7:45 am it turns out we accidentally boarded a bus headed to a nearby school! Unfortunately, said school was in the opposite direction of where we needed to be. When all of the other kids got off except for us, the bus driver turned around, asked us where we were going, and then told us something that I assume roughly translates to: You're going the wrong way, you need to get off of the bus and get on a different route. But of course we didn't understand him, we just hopped off in a growing state of confusion. It took us a little bit to grasp what was going on but eventually we figured it out and found a correct bus stop nearby. We made it to the meeting point a little under 30 minutes late. Oops!
Following the bus fiasco, we had a class excursion to visit Bayer in Leverkusen. I wasn't expecting much going in, so I was pleasantly surprised with how interactive and fun the tour ended up being. They had a ton of interesting technology that taught you about what the company does, stands for, and hopes to achieve in the future. I think I was a bit more interested in the technology itself than the messages it was conveying, but nevertheless it was a worthwhile visit. After that, the school week wasn't too notable save a major change in my spring break plans and the welcome return of my abandoned purse.
On Friday we finally got our student visas to remain in Germany, and after classes we had a little Galentine's gift exchange. Izzie and I went for a walk by the Rhine at sunset and ended up wandering through Bonn a bit as well before returning to my house, having dinner, and doing a lot of random things before we finally went to sleep. This morning we went hiking up to the peak of Ölberg (the tallest of the seven hills) and then down along some of the other trails in the area. The paths were very icy so it ended up being harder than I'd originally thought, but I'm happy to report that neither of us fell (although there were more than a few close calls), the trails were absolutely beautiful, and we both had a really great time.
Photo Dump:
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