The annual Nobel week festivities have once again begun in Stockholm - and NFGL students have been thrilled for the opportunity to participate in Nobel dialogues and other events.
NFGL students are presented with a wide range of unique opportunities during their time in Sweden. This includes the chance to participate in the Nobel Night Cap, Nobel Minds, and the Nobel Week Dialogue, meeting laureates and discussing cutting-edge research and discoveries.
Pictures by NFGL students Iryna Mikhnovets and Diana Imamgaiazova. Have your own pictures from Nobel week? Send them in!
Dressing up, singing, and drinking: On Friday, countless Jecken (revelers) in Cologne will once again celebrate the start of the Carnival session.
Dubbed Germany’s “fifth season” by locals, the event starts every year on November 11th at 11:11 am, and typically stretches into February or March, when colourful parades spill into the streets.
Carnival stronghold Cologne in particular is preparing for the onslaught of tens of thousands of people who will flock to its Altstadt (old town), and especially to the student quarter, starting early Friday morning.
READ ALSO: 10 unmissable events in Germany this November
“Far too many people want to celebrate in far too small a space,” city director Andrea Blome told DPA. “We can’t stop anyone from coming to Cologne now.”
More security this year
In the popular Kwartier Latäng student quarter, there have been regular bouts of drinking by young partygoers in the past, who crowded into a confined space, leaving litter everywhere and publicly peeing on the corners of buildings.
Google Maps shows the location of the so-called Kwartier Latäng part of Cologne.
But with a new security plan, the city and police hope to keep the situation under control.
Several checkpoints and road closures have been set up to secure the safety of the revelers and relieve the burden on worried residents, according to Blome. Visitors will only be able to enter the closed-off area around Zülpicher Straße via a single access point.
On Friday, Cologne is also set to send a total of 150 employees from the Ordnungsamt (public order office) onto the streets, who will be supported by 520 private security guards.
A glass ban will again apply in the celebration zones, and several hundred toilets will be set up at the hotspots, “which nevertheless will probably not be used by all visitors,” Blome predicted.
READ ALSO: 10 words you need to know at Cologne’s Carnival
Up to 1,100 police officers are expected to be on duty on the day – about 200 fewer than last year, said head of operations Rüdiger Fink. But he expected to keep the situation “under control with a new security plan.”
What to expect
On Cologne’s Heumarkt, there will be a stage program all day with bands such as the Bläck Fööss, the Paveiern and Brings.
Google Maps shows Cologne’s Heumarkt along the Rhine River.
According to the Willi Ostermann Society, about 10,000 tickets were sold in advance for the event, which will be aired by German WDR for several hours.
Meanwhile, in Düsseldorf, the day will start at 11:11 a.m. with the “Hoppeditz Awakening” in front of City Hall.
According to a spokesman, the police will be adequately prepared for the start of the season, with a particular focus on the Altstadt, where there will certainly be celebrations.
“But 11.11. is a very different event here in Düsseldorf than in Cologne,” he said, referring to a more orderly start and fewer guests.
READ ALSO: What you need to know about celebrating Carnival in Germany
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