Week #26 and #27 in Germany

The past few weeks have been quite exciting and eventful. I had 10 days of vacation for the "Fastnachtsferien" and since it was the same time as my brother's Spring Break, he was able to come visit. We spent 10 days in 7 different cities. It was intense but so much fun. He flew into Frankfurt, then we went to Duesseldorf for the "Rosenmontag" parade. After that we went to Cologne to celebrate "Karneval". Then we came to Offenburg so he could see where I've been living. We spent a day in Strasbourg and the next day we moved on to Freiburg. Finally, Dwayne had to fly out of Stuttgart, so that was our final destination. It was great to travel around Germany, since I haven't really had the chance to do so since I got here.

The most exciting part for me was witnessing Karneval. Everyone in costumes, singing and dancing in the streets, drinking publicly...it was almost a cultural overload. Back home we usually just dress up for Halloween. Even then, it's not really something in which everyone participates. As for singing and dancing in the street, I've only seen it among individuals or small groups, and it's usually induced by alcohol. When that's the case, people can get arrested for public intoxication. And drinking in the streets is definitely unheard of back home. Not only are there the previously mentioned public intoxication laws, there are also open container laws and public indecency laws (regarding public urination, which seems to occur often at events like Karneval).


Overall, it was really great to have my brother here. It's nice to see a little piece of home after being away for so long. And even though I felt a little bit of homesickness after I dropped him off at the airport, I also felt a kind of motivation. Only three and a half months left in Germany, and my how the time will fly by.