This was the week of my choir concerts at the Grand Théâtre. We had rehearsal on Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning though, which all lasted 3.5 hours. I can't imagine ever doing that in the States. It was so long and by the end of the week I was just glad to be done even though it was such a neat experience. I took my camera the first night because the Grand Théâtre is a French Opera house so I knew it was going to be gorgeous! The room we warmed up in was beautiful and when we walked onto the stage it was even better. There was a huge chandelier on the painted ceiling, 3 levels with gold balconies that wrapped around the room and a large black box stage. Beautiful. And singing Verdi's Requiem in there was really incredible. At the end of each concert the audience did this weird rhythmic clapping thing and they wouldn't stop, so each night we would have 4 or 5 curtain calls! I thought the first night was just a fluke but it happened every night. It must be a French thing. The only person I knew that came to my concert was Aaron, and that was because the girl he likes was going...but he said it was good which is a real compliment coming from Aaron, especially about an Opera.
(Le Grand Théâtre from outside)
(photo from the stage out towards the audience)On Saturday night after the concert I walked home where Alban and Romain came to pick up Mamie and I. About a month ago they invited us to their soccer "Ball" that the soccer committee was putting on to raise money, and because of my concert we would be late but they wanted us to come so they came to get us later. It was really fun. It reminded me a lot of a wedding rehearsal dinner. It was 80s themed so when we walked in we were greeted with lots of crazy wigs and shiny pants. We were served punch that was slightly too strong, then everyone sat down to dinner, but I think by the time we got there most everyone was wasted. People were standing on their chairs singing a classic French song at the top of their lungs and it just made my night. The open bottles of wine on every table might have been to blame for that. I took my camera and got some great shots of all my friends doing crazy things. Mamie and I were the only Americans, but I was surprised at how many people I knew there. Romain's parents were there and all his friends and their girlfriends so I knew about 10 people in all. We spent most of the night dancing together and singing classic American songs like Hotel California and YMCA as well as classic French songs that everyone knew, except Mamie and I of course. It was a really fun night and we didn't even leave to go home until 4:30 in the morning. The French are CRAZY :)
Sunday after the concert we had a fête (party). Like any cast party or choir party except there was enough champagne to serve all 4 choirs...twice. And lots of cookies and sweets partial to France. We didn't stay very long because we were all very tired but everyone was so excited and I talked to more people in my choir that night than I ever have before. And I took a lot of pictures with people too. They are all so sweet. But this choir is very very different from Concordia's choirs. At Concordia if you even scratch your nose, Gordon Moe will murder you, but during this concert I could hear people talking to each other, fixing their hair, touching their faces, turning around(!), and some many other crazy things. I swear they have an attention span of 4 year olds. But it was quite funny for me because it was so different from Concordia and I didn't care at all. It was actually a nice change of pace. And we got to used our music...which was also different for me. I really enjoyed this weekend but I'm still exhausted from it!
Tuesday was our last concert. It didn't go as smoothly as the others but it was still fun. The rest of the week was just classes and tests. However I did buy my ticket to Ireland in May! I never thought I would go there but I've always wanted to. It will be Valeria, Mamie, Aaron and moi! It should be fun! But that's still a long way away. I got some of my tests back already and I guess for the French grading system I'm not doing so bad...but I feel like I'm doing terrible. I finally finished the TV show How I Met Your Mother, and today I went out to meet my buddy Emeline and she gave me the 3rd book of the Twilight series in French so finally I can focus on working completely on my French. I'm going to try to stop speaking English as much as I can...but it's really hard when I live with 7 other Americans. Who thought of that idea....
It's my weekend now and I met with my buddy today. Normally we speak French but she's a English major so she wanted to try to speak English today. She's good at it. I hope I sound as good in French as she does in English. But I got so lucky with her! She won't let me pay for anything...so sweet. And she lets me borrow her things. And I swear she remembers everything I tell her. I think I'm the only one that still meets with my buddy, everyone else stopped as far as I know, so I feel really fortunate.
So that was my short version of the last two weeks. Sorry it's been so long and I'll try to keep up on it this week. I miss you all! Love from France~!
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