It's a fish! It's a squid! It's...a lazy-eyed octopus?

The city is abuzz with excitement. Friday is the kickoff of the Carnival of Nice, where people pay lots of money to sit in bleachers and watch a parade. My host family and our program director have both advised against buying a ticket. Instead they said “Go to McDonalds and watch for free out the 2^nd floor window.” Maybe I’ll do that. McDonalds here is pretty much exactly the same as at home, but more expensive, in a fancier building, and they serve beer and a few “gourmet” burgers.

Just in the couple of weeks I’ve been here I’ve seen a lot of preparations for Carnival. Every day the city is plastered with more and more advertisements and the squares are slowly being filled with bleachers. This makes it even tougher for pedestrians and drivers who are trying to navigate through the bleacher-filled public squares. Everywhere I look there are signs for Carnival featuring the mascot- a deranged looking cock-eyed octopus sporting a crown and holding a carnival mask in one of its (7?) tentacles.

Actually, maybe the mascot changes every year, like the Olympic mascots…I hope so. This one is freaky. Up until I google-image searched for it a few minutes ago, I was under the impression it was a goldfish...or a clown fish. I guess I hadn’t really given it more than a passing glance.

In any case, it's slightly unnerving. Ever since Saturday's bird bombing I'm trying to keep an eye on the sky as well as on the streets, and catching that mascot out of the corner of my eye always gives me the creeps.