It’s a crazy time of year here in Germany: the time of Fasching. Fasching is known by other names such as Fastnacht and Karneval. A name that we would understand it as is Mardi Gras. On Sunday I had the opportunity to go to the town square and watch the parade. I would like to say that the parade was advertised to begin at the odd time of 1:01 in order to keep with the whole craziness of Fasching. There were soooo many people there. Vendors were also there trying to sell food to those that were standing out in the cold. I would have to say that this was the best parade I have ever been to in my life. Normally, a person in a parade walks by you, throws out some candy, and waves. At a Fasching parade, the people in the parade were walking through the crowds and scaring people from behind. They would come up and draw on people’s faces with washable face paint. I myself got my face marked on as well. The characters would even play with your hair and mess it up. I even saw some people being picked up and thrown over a character’s shoulder and taken away. There was one girl that had a fishnet thrown over her and they took her away. There were so many people in the parade that really went all out for it. There were people in witch costumes and some dressed up as wolves. There were many bands that played a variety of music, all with their own group colors that were painted on their faces. This parade was also enjoyable in the fact that each group had their own chant. Sometimes the chants were just random noises that you would yell back at the group. The chants were written on the cards that were given to us when we got to the town center. Not only was this parade very interactive, the thing lasted almost three hours!!! It was well worth it, though. The parade was a nice getaway from the dorms, even for a couple hours.