Karneval

This past weekend was Karneval, a huge six day long festival/party in Cologne. It’s kinda like Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras, but spread out from the Thursday before (where the women cut off the ties of all the men) to Ash Wednesday with Rose Monday being the biggest day.

It was great to be back in the city of Cologne, where I had spent my first two months in Germany. I stayed with my host mom and got to catch up with her, speaking only German of course, as well as meat with other participants in my program, speaking mostly English. Everyone is dressed up in costumes the entire time. If you don’t wear a costume, you definitely fell out of place. I’d bought some clown pants and a large 80s vest covered in stars beforehand to be ready to rock. Some of the costumes were quite impressive.


Monday was Rose Monday with a huge parade, going on for 6.5 kilometers, 6 hours long and giving out 1.5 tons of candy. It’s kinda like Halloween as everyone is dressed up and you get lots of candy. But rather than going to every neighbors house, you just have to stand close to the parade and shout out Camele! The word that they use for candy during Karneval. And the cheer that everyone says in Alaaf! Lots of traditions throughout the weekend.


I had a great time, but as like most people, I didn’t get much sleep the entire time I was there. Just keeping part of the city’s history. And I got to watch the Super Bowl with a group of friends at an American sports bar. Disappointed at the outcome, but still fun to watch, until 4am. Had some British commentators and no good commercials sadly.