Dear IFTR,
the end of May is nigh, and June awaits Cologne with carnival colours!
We are excited to meet all of you very soon. Beforehand you’ll receive a series of “newsletters” from us, preparing you for all sorts of obstacles you hopefully won’t have to face.
We’ll start today by handing you a Travel Kit, a summary of useful information regarding getting to the venue, the drinkability of our formidable tap water, recommendations for bars you’d like to have a drink in and more. Please remember: Regular Registration via Cambridge Core ends tomorrow, 31 May! You can, however, register onsite. But please note: payment will only be possible by EC/credit card - we cannot accept cash. Otherwise, however, Germany loves its cash payments. If you go to bars or similar places, it is always a good idea to have a few euros in cash with you.
Apropos sharing drinks and food:
let’s celebrate Carnival or Party time!
On June 12th we will celebrate IFTR, Cologne and life at Herbrand's (on Google maps), a famous beer garden and dance club in Cologne Ehrenfeld. Starting at 7.30 pm, we encourage you to dress up and wear some kind of carnival costume or accessories that symbolize carnival for you!
The ticket price for the party is 30 Euro, which includes a budget for drinks to the amount of 20 Euros as well as a great music set played by DJ Pelle. Snacks and barbecue will be available at one’s own cost. One more thing: Send us your absolute favorite song that always gets you dancing! That way, we will have an amazing mix of the best of the best IFTR dance songs ever. Submit your song here. The ticket sale will start soon – stay tuned. (Tanja Weber and Nora Probst)
Cologne Curiosity: Cologne & Campus with Children
We understand that a conference during Pentecost holiday week is a challenge for families. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer childcare during the conference, however, we warmly welcome children of all ages and there will be a lounge for parents with their children! If you are on campus with children, please show them how to find our information point in the lecture hall building. The colourful »contact bananas« in the middle of Albertus-Magnus-Platz may also be a good meeting point if you happen to lose sight of each other. Cologne is a very friendly city and many of the activities in our Travel Kit are great for children. You can also find lots of tips online, for example here. There are many beautiful places around the campus for children of all ages, and for their carers as well. We have compiled (and some of us tested over years) these here. The university campus is located directly on the »inner green belt« (Innerer Grüngürtel). This means that when you stand at the back of the main building, you are already on a large green lawn. People and animals (especially dogs) play here. If we are blessed with good weather, it is very enjoyable there! (Mathilde Frank)
Although a certain amount of wandering and wondering will remain inevitable, we hope to prepare you well enough to be able to enjoy the yet unknown adventure, at the same time not encounter grave difficulties – very much in contrast with this week’s Fool, which is presented by our wonderful student assistant Anastasia Pütz.
Fool of the Week: With lust for life, enjoying the sunshine, the Fool struts to his next adventure. Accompanied by his loyal friend, a dog, he seems to be without a care in the world. Being the first card of the wide-spread »Rider-Waite-Smith« Tarot deck, the fool reminds us to be brave and jump forward into the unknown. Be excited for the next challenge, but act with a bit of caution! While the Fool is too self-centred to notice that he’s about to fall off a cliff, the card acts as a warning not to be too naïve. When drawn in a Tarot spread, the Fool usually signals us to meet the world with a smile without forgetting to be aware of our surroundings. The »Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot«, published in 1909, is by far the most popular one, as many modern decks are still based on it. It was illustrated by occultist Pamela Colman Smith, who unlike the male colleague that instructed her, A. E. Waite, and the publisher William Rider & Son, is widely unrecognized for her work, which is why you will mostly find this deck as the »Rider-Waite Tarot«. (Anastasia Pütz)
Alaaf – meaning as much as au fou de partout, to fools everywhere, we greet you!
Anna-Lu Rausch
on behalf of the Cologne Team