So viel hast in dieser letzte Woche passiert! Wir hatten unsere erste Karnevalszeit dieser letzte Woche und haben viel Süßigkeiten bekommen. Also, mit einem “Helau” aus Münster, ich würde gerne über unsere Zeit beim Karneval schreiben!

So much has happened in the last week! We had our first “Carnival season” last week, and have received a lot of candy. So, with a “Helau” from Münster, I’d like to write about our Carnival experience!

On Friday, Soren, Jane, and I went to Cologne. There, we visited the famous “Kölner Dom” and were able to climb all the 500 winding steps to the top of one of the church spires. At first it seemed like an endless, spiraling, upward journey, and it was difficult to comprehend how high we were until we reached the point that the stairs were no longer inside walls but instead positioned so that we were climbing stairs exposed to the elements, but soon we reached the top and were able to look out over the entire city. We could see the Rhine River, the Old Town, and several other churches in the distance. Construction of the cathedral began in 1248 in order to house the reliquary of the Three Kings, but was left unfinished until it was completed in 1880. The most spectacular component of the church, in my opinion, was that it was not destroyed in the Second World War. If you look up “Cologne Cathedral World War Two bombings” plenty of photos will show the devastation surrounding the cathedral. And yet, the Cologne Cathedral remains one of the largest churches in the world, and is considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Afterwards, we were able to explore the city and visit the Old Town, and we found a nice place to eat for lunch in the area. We crossed the bridge and went to the top of a building on the other side of the Rhine, where we could see the Cathedral from afar. It was much easier to take an elevator instead of the stairs!

This Monday was “Rosenmontag,” which is the date that Karneval/Fasching is celebrated in Germany. In essence, it’s a period of silliness and craziness before the reflective and solemn season of Lent in the church calendar, which began today, on Ash Wednesday (Aschermittwoch in German). There was a rather large parade in Münster (not as big as the Cologne parade, and not as political, but still very fun), where candy was thrown into the crowd if we greeted them with the typical Karneval greeting “Helau!” and gave them a sweeping wave. Often, handfuls of candy would be thrown at a time, and if spectators weren’t paying attention, they would get hit by the candy. My host brother certainly appreciated it when candy bounced off of me and in his direction, however.

Thousands of people of all ages were lined along the street, dressed in an abundance of ridiculous costumes, and there were small stands selling french fries (pommes) and hot dogs were on the sides of the streets. My host siblings were dressed up in tuxedos and sunglasses as spies, and my host parents both wore pink wigs. Meanwhile, my host brother provided me with his Obi-Wan Kenobi costume, which I unfortunately do not have any pictures of.

Some of the floats were elaborate and featured spinning characters or objects, while some were buses that would sway and bounce madly depending on how the people inside moved. It was rainy that day, so there was a smaller crowd than usual, and even though I didn’t fight to the front line for candy, I came away from the parade with a considerable collection of sweets (it was absolutely nothing in comparison to how much my host sister or my host brother got, however).

Tomorrow we head off on our first group excursion to Hamburg!