House Party -> Amsterdam -> Carnaval

It's Monday morning here in Utrecht, and this is my first opportunity since Friday afternoon to sit down and reflect on anything, let alone this past weekend. Friday night started off with Barry and I brewing up some chicken noodle stew, which we shared with a few of the Germans, who are always down for a hearty meal. As soon as dinner was finished, Barry, who had that day purchased an obnoxiously sized "goblet," insisted we head up to the party immediately. I reminded him it was only 8:00, but he wasn't phased, so I told him I'd be up in a few. The "American House Party" turned out to be a hit. We had about forty people in one of the 2nd floor flats, and it didn't take long for the beer pong table to catch on. Flip cup was immensely popular, especially with the Spaniards, but I would argue it led directly to the demise of at least a few guests, including Barry, who I found passed out on our floor, demanding water, a pillow, and the White Album. I enjoyed myself, drank my fair share of Hertog Jan, and called it around 3am.
The next morning was a little rough, but by around 2:00 we had gathered up the will to board the short train to Amsterdam. The aim was to get costumes for Carnaval, get a better orientation of the city, and maybe take in a museum. We found some good items at the Zipper, then headed to the Red Light District to have a look around. The Red Light District isn't exactly how you might imagine it, but it definitely takes some getting used to. There are some really cool flats, pubs, cafes, and boutiques mixed in with the sex shows, sex shops, and pretty much anything else sex related you can think of, and some things you'd probably rather not. All in all, it's a really cool area of the city, but in the evening it gets quite a bit seedier. We found a coffeeshop with ample seating and headed in. We took in a Champions League game, then headed back onto the street in search of some frites. Frites are fries, but better, as they are served with mayo and an additional sauce, my personal favorite being the peanut sauce. We spent about forty-five minutes looking for a very specific frites place that sports the Mannekin Pis statue from Brussels. It was worth the wait. The place also had soft serve ice cream, which some of you may know I've been craving for well over 5 months now. After the snack we found Amsterdam's Torture museum, which featured a medieval exhibit, and proved to be quite entertaining, but more than a little gruesome. We headed back to Utrecht at a decent hour, to catch some sleep before Carnaval.
Sunday morning started at the un-godly hour of 7am. A small crew of the Parnassos residents boarded the two hour train to Maastricht around 9, clothed in some decent costumes. Mine consisted of a plaid-ish skirt, a tuxedo t-shirt, and some over-sized sunglasses. Apparently one should look as ridiculous as possible at Carnaval. For those of you who aren't familiar with Carnaval, it's celebrated in many places across the world, most notably in Brazil, and is sometimes known as the "three days God turns his back on the world." From what I saw in Maastricht, the main reason he chooses to do so probably has something to do with how painful it is to look at some of these costumes. I saw people dressed up as everything from a toilet, to an Elvis jukebox, to an terrorist, with an M-16. I have noticed some things that you just can't do in the states, posing as a terrorist being one of them. Another amazing thing was that we could buy beer in a pub, then just walk out in the street with it, and leave the glass in another pub. No one seemed to care much about their glassware. It was like Halloween meets Mardi Gras. Really loud Dutch folk songs, random self-proclaimed percussionists keeping time on snare drums, and lots of cheap beer. It was a bit cold out, but the sun came out for a nice portion of the afternoon, and we saw much of the seemingly never ending parade and the inside of more than a few pubs. It would've been nice to stick around for a few days, but I need to go to class sometimes, so we took a late train back to Utrecht and I crashed early, exhausted from a great weekend, complete with some genuine Dutch cultural experience. I'm looking forward to relaxing for a few days, before heading to Amsterdam on Wednesday.