Before coming to Europe, I had no idea what Carnaval was, and I was extremely surprised that it was so common all over Europe. The first time I heard of it was my first weekend traveling in Europe, when I went to Dublin and met people from Holland saying how excited they were for it – they would celebrate it in Amsterdam.

My Spanish instructor described it like America’s 4th of July in terms of the celebration, but after experiencing Carnaval for myself, I felt that although there were some similarities, it was an overall very different experience.

In the week of Carnaval, you could feel the city’s excitement. The market closed to my house, Mercat de La Concepcio, there was a Carnaval decoration contest! Market goers could vote on which stand they thought was decorated the best, and the one with the most votes won a prize. Some of the workers…