Karneval is the original Mardi-gras party, and Germany takes it very seriously. The Karneval Capital of the World (oft disputed) is Cologne, where I initially lived. My old roommate, an established and renown wissenschafts writer, invited me to come experience carnival in Cologne as part of a piece he would write for the Unispiegel, a magazine for student-life here in Germany.
The second I got of the train in Cologne, carnival began. Manuel met me at the train station, already dressed as a Bavarian, and informed me that we would be going directly on with the nights planned activities. I stuffed my things in a locker and we hurried off to meet the photographer.
Manuel and the photographer had the whole night planned and I gladly followed around. The premise of the article (monthly feature) was more or less "nightlife for a student in _______." We first went to a costume store, where I was shopped for an outfit under the watchful eye of the camera (luckily Manuel also brought me a back-up pirate costume). From there we ate and then went to the Sitzung:
Karneval is thrown by various clubs within Cologne. The clubs each throw four Sitzungs: Ladies Night, Black Tie Night, Costume Night, and Men's night. A Sitzung is a beautiful example of Germany's "Organized Fun." Everyone shows up with the same goals (laughs, booze, friends) and does their best to meet them in excess. Our particular Sitzung had 2 or 3 Stand-up comedians, 2-3 local Karnival bands, and a few traditional performances. These videos kind of give you an idea:The band that came (one of most popular songs from earlier):
Call and Response = Instant Carnival Classic
The above version was at 1% energy; we saw them at 100%
And then the normal randomness:
It was a really fun night and I think I will go back for more Carnival fun next week. Here is the article: http://magazin.spiegel.de/EpubDelivery/spiegel/pdf/131521028
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