"We Don't Care It's Your Birthday, It's Carnival."

I am still lagging from the three days of Carnival. It is a non-stop party all over town and everyone gets really into it. My favorite part was seeing all of the outrageous costumes and celebrating my birthday, obviously.

Carnival really helped me understand the Dutch culture a bit better. I would walk into the bars and the children would be standing in the window while their parents were at the bar getting drunk. This was confusing for me. In America, I'm pretty sure that would constitute as neglect/child endangerment. Am I right? Needless to say, after a few beers I was loving the fact that there were kids to hang out with everywhere... After the parents' few beers, I'm sure they were loving the fact that their kids had someone to entertain them.

The first day was a lot of fun. There was a huge parade that we even managed to stumble into. We were trying to cross the street and before we knew it we were marching with the floats. When we tried to get out of the parade the police yelled at us. Apparently we looked like we belonged. We all went back around dinner time for a nap and all conveniently woke up at the same time... which was lucky considering we never set alarms.

The second day we got off to a later start since the night before ended around 6 am. We went to a house party near the main square which was a nice change of scenery. We always seem to hang out with the group here so the party gave me a chance to meet some new exchange students and even some of the Dutch people that are leading the Exchange Student program. I met two guys who said they traveled across the United States last year and got stuck in some really, and I quote, "shit" town in Ohio. I asked them which one and they responded, Toledo. Well, in my opinion, I like Toledo and I'm pretty sure it classifies as a city, not a town. All I responded with was, "Well, you should have gone to the zoo."

The  third day, more importantly my birthday, couldn't have gone any better. I woke up to a pounding sound, which at first I thought was my head. Turned out, Morgan woke up at 8:30 to get champagne, orange juice, and a birthday cake. I hope I can be as productive on her birthday. Nick, the Australian across the hall made the most delicious crepes. They were so good I ate them plain. It was good I had a group of friends willing to celebrate my birthday because the Dutch people could not have cared less... and they told me that when they saw my birthday shirt.

Since my wonderful package didn't come,  I had been in the same costume the last two days which was beyond rank. I think if I held a match close to it, it would burst into flames. My friend, Annabel, lent me her clown/scarecrow costume for the day so I wouldn't be forced to smell myself all day.

 The day was full of games and meeting very interesting people, one of which I think I'm forced to tell you about. There was a guy who built his own DJ booth out of cardboard. He had speakers attached so basically he was spinning cardboard circles around all day, boring if you ask me. My friends thought it would be funny if they spun around the booth, since it was on wheels. The guys said they could spin him, just not too fast because it would mess up his line of cocaine. He started dipping his fingers into this powdery white stuff and rubbing it all around in his mouth. This was about too much for me. All of these old people started doing the same thing. Finally I thought, if this was really cocaine, I don't think this guy would be so gracious as to let half the Vritjof have some of his stash. We then realized, we had been punked. I found a bag of powdered donuts on the side of the booth.

That night, as I was taking a break from dancing and sitting on the speakers I noticed a very young-looking boy dressed as a farm animal. I went ahead and asked how old he was. This is how our conversation went:

Me: "Um, how old are you?"

Dutch Cow: "Fourteen, but my fake I.D. says I'm sixteen."

Me: "Oh, you should really meet my brother."

Yes, I realize this conversation was wrong on so many different levels. I didn't realize just how wrong until I walked away... feeling a little uncomfortable partying with someone my brother's age. The more I look at this picture the more I see similar facial features so I did a side-by-side comparison. Grant, do you have a brother?

My friend Annabel during the closing events of Carnival.