Yes, it’s that time. Ever since Valentine’s Day, our school has been on vacation. I don’t go back to school until my Dutch class next Monday. This week is an official holiday week for Carnival.
It’s simply hard to explain unless you come here yourself, then I could show you. Easily put, most of the towns in the south of the Netherlands (which is where I am) party hard during these days before Ash Wednesday (Lent). My family is Catholic, so I am very familiar with these traditions, but I never thought that it would be celebrated like this here. The streets are packed with people in costumes singing and dancing and ‘embracing life.’ Everyone is happy and jolly and it all goes on til the break of dawn (I’ve not been a witness to how long it really lasts, but I am just guessing it would stop at sunrise...?). The parade was today through the streets of Breda, and tomorrow night is the finale where it should be the biggest party of Carnival. New Orleans has nothing on Breda!!
I have a paper to write that is due on the 27th, so I must get back to that. On Wednesday, a group of us are going to Brussels to spend the night before our plane leaves early Thursday morning for Faro, Portugal. We are going to be spending a nice break down on the beaches of the southern-most point of Portugal. I can’t wait to tell you all about it!
