“We feel good at home,” laughs Arthur, slapped by the cold gusts of Storm Nelson as he leaves the Caen student carnival on March 28. The annual event of Caen student life, considered the largest student carnival in Europe, suffered what the local weather does best: a mixture of gray, rain and sunny spells with the added bonus this year of a storm and gusts approaching 100 km/h.
So the 31,000 participants adapted to “this Norman weather to which we are accustomed”, as Solenne, Zoé and Nicolas describe it. “We put on an extra layer, the K-ways are in the bags. But we're waiting for the carnival so much that we're always excited! “, they proclaim. So much so that a student dressed as Obelix even finds herself “too hot” when the sun finally sneaks in to shine the colors of the procession.
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“We drink water to cool the engine,” add the cheerful fellows of the small group. A little further away, another Norman symbol: a cow, also disturbed by the vagaries of the sky. Under the black and white inflatable canvas, Yvan is suffocating: “I’m sweating.” A swig of milk (actually vodka hidden in a pack of milk) and the young man is quickly overtaken by gusts. “There are times when I walk faster,” he laughs, guided by the wind.
Nelson makes life difficult for the bulkiest suits. A lesser evil while the authorities showed some concern. This makes for some funny scenes. Also disguised as a cow, Apolline suddenly disappears in her outfit: “The cow's head falls on my head! ". Chloé, her friend disguised as an alien, confides “having to hold on to the ground as soon as we are no longer in the crowd”. “We let ourselves run depending on the wind. When he rushes into the small streets, we hold on tight to our disguises. We get the boxes in our faces,” says a small Pac-Man troop.
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After more than two hours crossing the city center in a dancing and feverish atmosphere, the more than 30,000 revelers discovered exteriors of the exhibition center with a false western feel: gusts of dust swept the place. The eyes sting. In the center, the roof of the stage where the DJs perform has been lowered as much as possible to limit wind exposure. Only the huge speakers give a little relief to the installation. Not enough to alter the enormous life-size party, even if fewer students than usual go up to dance at altitude on the shoulders of their comrades.
The carnival wave is stronger than the storm, despite Nelson's efforts to put a spoke in the wheels of Milla, Anouk and Arthur: “We were supposed to leave by train but because of Nelson, they were all canceled. The storm had ruined our hopes but we found a carpool. It's disconcerting but the atmosphere doesn't change, no matter the weather. » A Smurfette confides that “the return is complicated. It’s very cold once you leave the crowd.” The Normandy of March cannot be repeated. Neither does the Caen student carnival, capable of bringing a colorful festive atmosphere throughout the city.