Frechen / Köln, Germany

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Hi everyone!  Well I just got back from Germany and since I don’t know whether or not I have classes or not this afternoon I can’t really go to school, so let’s talk about Germany instead.

While I was waiting for the plane last Tuesday I met a girl from Holland and another one from Germany, the one from Holland knew everyone I did here but for some reason we had never run into each other before, and the girl from Germany was visiting a friend in León.  On the plane I made the German girl tell all about Carnaval in Köln since she lives there, which was nice because I found out some things about it that no one had told me before.  So the plane ride was nice, and for a total of €7 for the round-trip I won’t complain about the seats or anything.

I got into Düsseldorf, or the fairest outskirts of it (part of the reason the flights are so cheap are because they drop you off in the middle of nowhere) where Jasmin and her parents came to pick me up.  First of all, her family is suuuuuuper sweet and nice, which I guess doesn’t surprise me after having lived a year with Jasmin, but the whole stay there they made me feel like I was part of the family, and even said that a few times.  I speak no German but Jasmin’s parents definitely were making efforts to have conversations with me, and they both surprisingly speak very well.  In the car ride back it was nice to catch up with Jasmin since she’s one of the hard ones to keep up with through email.  But she’s doing great and still loves to laugh.

We hung out at her house that evening until we went to go get one of her older sisters, Joyce, from the train station.  She just got back a bit ago from studying in Barcelona so we had a lot to talk about concerning Spain, plus we did some talking in Spanish.  I told her at one point that her and Jasmin seem like twins and they replied to me that if Caroline, their oldest sister, had come back home for Carnaval I would tell them they look like triplets.

I guess to keep this kind of short, the next day I went into Köln with Jasmin and we walked around to see some things, the main attraction is the cathedral which is honestly the most gothic architecture I think has ever been built.  We went up to the very top of it and the city was covered in this cool misty cloud, so you couldn’t see very far but it was still a really nice view.  By the way the climb is 509 steps high so I thought I was going to die when I got to the top.  Jasmin hadn’t been up there for a while either so I’m glad we did that.  I told her when I go back this summer we will have to climb it on a clear day.

After the cathedral we walked across the Rhine river on a bridge where couples put locks on the railing and throw the key in the water.  I can’t tell you how many there were but you can at least see part of the railing.

The next day we went over to some of Jasmin’s friends house and got started with the party around 4.  One thing I loved about Carnaval was that everybodyyyy gets dressed up and goes out, despite the freezing winter that has been going on there.  It was snowing most of the days and there were plenty of girls wearing dresses or skirts for their costumes.

The clubs are great, especially the ones that play the classic German Carnaval music.

Here’s one of the best songs:

And since everyone speaks English (not just English, but the most fluent English ever), it was really easy to just run around the clubs and meet people, which is sort of how all the nights went.  Just standing in line you meet a bunch of people, they bump into you or something then say “excuse me” in German, you reply with “I have no idea what you just said” and then you have made a new friend.  This is why I am sticking with the statement that Germans and Brazilians are the generally the most fun and happy people in the world.

Anyways, being there was sort of like a 5 day party marathon.  Then at home it would be a relaxing break until we went back out.  Jasmin’s family cooked a lot of great food from India and I learned how to eat with my hands, which was hard at first but I learned after a while… sort of, at least I didn’t give up on it!

Towards the end of the trip Jasmin and I went to the huge parade in Köln which I think is called the Rosenmontag Parade.  We got there late and ended up leaving early, not because it wasn’t fun but because it lasts like 5 hours or something.  The parade makes fun of lots of political leaders and pretty much everything else in the news, a lot of which Jasmin had to explain to me since it had to do with Europe within the last year (such as refs betting on soccer teams they are reffing for).

They throw tons of candy, too, and I mean like tooooooooons of candy, you get smacked in the face with it all the time.  I ate more candy in one day than I have the whole time I’ve been here in Spain.  And it’s not just during Carnaval, they eat amazing chocolate all the time!

Now I’m back in León and struggling to figure out when and where I have school, if I even have it at all.  But I guess I’ll get that all figured out tomorrow.  And some Japanese girl will be coming to stay here for a month starting on Saturday if they gave my host mom the right date and time (which she didn’t have for me).

It was super awesome to see Jasmin again and I really hope that I can go back out to see her again this summer, or that she can come visit me sometime while I’m out here.  The last day I was there we took her to college, so now she is going to be living in Hannover and going to school there part-time.  It was sad because she is the last girl to move out of the house, her sister Joyce will go back to school, and her oldest sister is already moved away, plus her dad just left on a 5 week business trip, so her mom is going to be home alone but I think Jasmin will go back to see her as much as possible.

But I had a great time in Germany.  I’m definitely glad we got all these exchange students during my life!

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~ by x3xleggedxninja on February 18, 2010.