The second I got out of my test, Sean, Madyson and I went to the station and hopped on a train to Cologne to see one of our favorite bands, Hippo Campus. I saw them last fall as well, but the venue in Houston probably had about 15-20 times as many people at it, so we were able to be extremely close to the band without hardly any effort. It was a great night, and the opening act gave us all free vinyl singles after chatting with her.
Thursday, the next morning, I had to get up early in begin the madness that is Karneval. I met up with the rest of the AIB students, and with the costumes they gave us, we walked in the parade and got to throw Kamelle(candy) to the kids (and adults). They had traditional Karneval pastries for us, and I ate tons of them. It was fun but I was very dehydrated from the concert the night before so I couldn't enjoy it quite as much as I would have.
The next three days were definitely the best part of the week: a trip to Belgium. We took a bus there and back, and we took advantage of the time to get some of the large amount of homework we had done. Friday afternoon we arrived in Brussels and took the chance to explore the city a bit. The first thing I noticed about Belgium was how multicultural it is. The country has three national languages: French, Dutch, and German, but many also speak English and maybe even another language like Arabic or Turkish. We got to see the odd landmark that's Brussels' most famous: the Mannekin Pis. This small statue of a little boy peeing into a fountain is on shirts everywhere in Brussels, and there were always crowds of tourists around it. We went to a nice Belgian brasserie, where I got some Belgian beer and rabbit, which was a new and delicious experience for me. And of course I had to get a Belgian waffle as well, which I topped with strawberries and Nutella for extra sweetness.
The next day we hopped on a train to Bruges, which is sometimes described as the Venice of the North, but I think it's much better than Venice. For the first few hours that we were there, we wandered the beautiful streets and canals, relishing the peace and beauty of the place. After a light lunch at a cafe, we visited one of the most niche museums I've ever been to: one dedicated solely to pomme frites. We got to learn how they're made, and then at the end got some of our own, which were absolutely delicious. They really know how to get perfectly crisp fries in Belgium. After exploring the city some more and enjoying some subterranean poetry in ruins under a hotel, we headed back to Brussels.
The last day had the activity that spurred me to plan a trip to Belgium in the first place: a workshop on how to make Belgian chocolate. So the boys and I, along with some nice Parisian women, learned how to make chocolate like the professionals do. We got the chance to make two types of chocolates: pralines and mendiants. Pralines are comprised of a chocolate shell in a mold, with chocolate ganache poured in the middle. Mendiants are thin chocolates with nuts and dried fruit on top. They're both delicate, but delicious desserts. At the end we made by far the best hot chocolate I've ever tasted from the chocolate we had left. This workshop was definitely the highlight of my week. After, we explored Brussels a bit more, and then got on our bus back to Bonn.
But the weekend wasn't quite done, as the height of Karneval is the Monday before Ash Wednesday, called Rosenmontag. Again, I got up early, put on my costume, and made my way to Cologne on a train packed full of people in all sorts of costumes ready to have fun the German way. With a couple Kolsch bier, we staked out a spot along the parade route. While the Cologne parade is not as large as the one in Rio, more than a hundred thousand people participate in the parade, and a million people are along the route seeking out some of the generously-sized candy bars from one of the many elaborate floats. My new favorite type of candy are the Neopolitan wafer bars that are famous from Vienna, and were a super common treat in the parade. Between Belgium and Karneval, I now have way more candy than I know what to do with.
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