The best Carnival? In Maastricht!

Carnival - special event when people dress up into funny and colourful costumes, drink and have fun. Exactly this happens in Maastricht every year and as I am here, I could not miss it. I experienced something incredibly cool and atmosphere in the whole city was just fabulous.

Carnival in Maastricht, source: my picture

I was never a big fan of Carnival as I never had a reason to be. Maastricht is famous for holding up to the tradition so the only thing you can do to avoid Carnival is to get out of the city. Not my case. I was curious what it's gonna be. As I reported in November in article The beginning of the Carneval season, the Carnival in Maastricht changes the city. Really. And it was just a small introduction in November compared to current event. Preparations took several days – shops with big show windows put wooden boards for protection, different stuff coloured green-yellow-red decorated in the whole city. But what you could not see were the preparations made by the people – they created costumes, masks and carnival vehicles. I invited a friend who is now for exchange in Brussels to see it and she came with 5 other friends which was awesome. Happiness is real when shared So let's have fun!

Salsa dancing lessons on Tuesdays

I got a link from a friend offering free salsa introduction lesson. I decided to check that out as dancing lessons would be nice to attend. After the first lecture I can say that from now on, my Tuesday night is the salsa night.

Salsa Brisa logo, Source: www.salsabrisa.com

Let's dance Salsa! I never danced salsa before but why not give a try? Niki posted link on her profile and I checked the website of www.salsabrisa.com. They have also an English version which is pleasant. Not that I have any problem with understanding basic written Dutch but still, I appreciate that. The website stated that the first "Open lesson" started at 8 p.m. I was not sure what I should expect, but they wrote that no partner is needed. I hoped there would be more girls than during my last dancing course of Zouk, but later about that. The location of the lessons is near the Hoge Brug on the left side of the river in club D'n Hiemel, which is about 10minutes biking from my place. I also found another Salsa lessons in Maastricht, but the place was a bit far away, so I wished that I would be satisfied with this one.

Opening Magic Maastricht with show

Winter time is already here and Vrijthof in Maastricht changed according to that - it provides Christmas market, ice rink and a big wheel. There is also an ice show accompanying the grand opening, let's take a look.

Christmas market in Maasticht, source: my picture

I opened my university e-mail and I found a like to events in December. I saw there, that on Friday, December 2nd, there was a festive opening by mayor Hoes of the wintry event Magic Maastricht. The opening is a spectacular show with fairy-like, gigantic stilt-walkers and an acrobatic ice show. It took place on Vrijthof. Hm, Ah.. that was it, I was wondering what was going on, when I went to the . Sounded nice, so just after I finished my last dinner in second period of the eating experiment, I went home to leave my school stuff there, take my camera and to ride to the city centre, so I could be there at 17:30 when the opening should have started. The Vrijthof square was transformed into a large wintry landscape complete with an ice rink, a Christmas market, a big wheel and a grand merry-go-round, amongst other things.

Open Day at Bonnefanten museum

Museum in Maastricht opened its door for free today. I wasn't there before so why not use this initiative from the City of Maastricht and have a look what this place has to offer. I also met there some friends from the Art faculty - what a nice afternoon!

Malte is drawing, source: my picture

The Bonnefanten museum is located at the riverside near Kennedy bridge. I met there with Zuzka at 3 p.m. I took my backpack for camera with me, but I was forced to put that in the security locker. Next time, I will take only small bag only for a camera. I took the programme brochure and realized, that there are also workshops and performances. We missed one just only because they started earlier! Never ever happened to me, that something starts sooner than scheduled. We weren't allowed in, so we decided to walk around and see what is in the museum. My overall impression of this place is that this place definitely not fit into my definition of a what a museum should be as such, meaning collection of historical artefacts. This is obviously an art gallery or I got something wrong.

The beginning of the Carneval season

Today is Friday the eleventh of November and it means, that this year's Carneval season is about to start. Netherlands is quite popular with that, so let's have a look what the fuss is all about. Isn't it all just about opportunity to get drunk?

Carneval, source: my picture

Today is for some people special, because someone could think, that today's date is magical. Well, It looks nice I must admit that. But I am now in Maastricht and for people in the Netherlands is today also the beginning of the Carneval season. The official start was announced to be at 11:11 on 11. 11. 2011. Here in Maastricht is the central place Vrijthof, so this is also the place which was prepared for this event. How prepared? There is a big stage, kioks with beer, toilets and also fence all around.

I was not sure, what I should expect and I also didn't want to be there alone, so I met there my Czech speaking friends and we went to the Carneval together. I didn't have any costume, shame on me, but I was just curious. My housemate warned me, that I didn't want to be there, because everybody is drunk there. Well, I am in Maastricht and Limburg people are crazy about carnevals, so I definitely have to see this. When I rode my bike to the city centre, I saw a lot of people heading from the Central train station to the city centre and everybody had a costume. I parked my bike at the library and walked to our meeting point.

Cantus and the final party – last day of INKOM

Friday was last day of INKOM, therefore a bit restful - the target was to relax a bit and strengthen social contacts. And what it Cantus? It is party, a lot of bier, songs and a lot of fun!

Cantus, source: my picture

The last day of INKOM started later than the others – we met at 12 at Stay Okay Hostel, where we got a sandwich and could enjoy some of it's facilities. Well, too much people and too little facilities (two pool tables?). So we talked and went to watch some movie. Then we moved to the MECC for Cantus. It's a Dutch tradition, people drink beer and sing songs. It's kind of a party, but you have to be prepared, than when you leave, you will be wet and stinky from beer as people also throw cups with it to the crowd. It was fun, as most of the songs were in Dutch MECC is really huge place, I cannot estimate how many people can fit in there, but definitely everybody from the INKOM. That's the reason why also the final party was there.

INKOM 2011 – Week of fun begins

There is special week for incoming student for the whole Maastrichtu University. Four days to get to know Maastricht a bit more, get some friends before the school starts and also get some information about the university. That's what INKOM is about.

INKOM 2011, Source: www.inkom.nl

Before we get the the programme of today – I should mention, what the INKOM is about. It's organized with support of the Maastricht University and it's orientation week for all incoming students and freshmen to the University. It starts at the Faculty of Medicine, Health, and Life Sciences, which is on the other side of the city that School of Business and Economics. The reason is clear – here is much more space for everything including loud music. The target is to present the university, student associations, student life, city of Maastricht and getting to know some people before the school starts. It's good, because most of them are also lonely here. You can register and pay before, it's cheaper

The registration for the INKOM started at 10 a.m., so I wanted to arrive there for about this time. My brother our our friend drove me there and I was astonished by the building and all the people. Wow. There were so many people waiting in a queue, obviously everybody wanted to be there on time. I had to wait for about an hour in a line, so I had time to observe people around me. A lot of German speaking people – I didn't know before, that there are so many of them, but it's understandable, as Maastricht is close to Germany. Then you can clearly distinguish people from any student association, as they wear colourful costumes or are just united by some kind of uniform.