Studying Abroad in the Netherlands: Feestbeest

On Sunday, almost a week ago, my friends and I went to Maastricht in the southern part of the Netherlands. We went for the day to enjoy Carnival, which is celebrated in various parts of northern Europe. The festivities last anywhere from three days to a week, depending on the region of Europe. Many people have work off and schools close too - my university closed for Monday and Tuesday. There were Carnival celebrations in Nijmegen, but the parties and festivities are “better” towards Germany – so naturally, that’s the direction we headed.

Hundreds of years ago, Catholics from Italy began organizing a huge festival to celebrate the beginning of Lent. They called it Carnevale, the translation of which means “to put away the meat.” Eventually the massive party spread to France, Spain and other European countries. The purpose of Carnival has moved away from its religious background and now the festival celebrates life (and in my opinion, alcohol) in multiple European countries. All the information above I found on various Internet websites – no guarantee this information is correct.

On the day of the celebration I woke up and ate a massive breakfast to avoid being hungry and paying for food in Maastricht (which didn’t work as well as I hoped) and in true Smith fashion, I also packed a sandwich. One of the stores in the City Center has a deal for train tickets so for 14 euros you can buy a ticket to take you on as many trains as you want for an entire day. This is perfect for day trips because more often than not, a one-way ticket to where you want to go is more than 14 euros. To get to Maastricht, the tickets are 17 euros one way. So the 14-euro tickets saved us quite a bunch of money – you can do the math.

The trains were packed with people in all sorts of costumes! We were already dressed up and joined the pack like true Europeans. On the way there an elderly couple taught me my favorite Dutch word thus far: feestbeest (pronounced FAY-st-BAY-st). It means “party animal.”

There are laws in most of Europe which prohibit open containers and drinking in public. However, during Carnival all those rules evaporate and alcohol runs like water. Some bars have specials and some jack up the prices, but no matter what, all the bars are packed. I would attribute this mostly to the -10 weather (due to the combination of temperature and wind chill), but nonetheless – the pubs and bars were all at capacity Sunday in Maastricht.

Interestingly, the city had public urinals for the festival. I mean literally public. The urinals looked like giant plastic bins with indents in four sides so four people could pee at the same time. Naturally, the boys we were with found this extremely amusing and couldn't wait to pee (with no legal consequences) in the middle of the party. Way too many times that day I accidentally locked eyes with men while they were urinating. There was also no soap or any sort of hand cleaner. Needless to say, I made the boys I knew (and some that I didn't) use an excessive amount of my hand sanitizer before walking away. It was also really amusing when someone in a dramatic costume used the urinals... like the guy below. This poor drunk devil struggled for about ten minutes before maneuvering into a position where he could actually pee into the drain.