So, I'm back to "regular" life in Cannes. It's been a strange couple of weeks not traveling, so I feel as though I don't have much to write about, but I guess we've had some excitement here and there. As many of you know, I didn't make it to London last weekend because I was sick; I think it was a good decision because Katie told me it was very cold up there. Plus, I was able to go to Thanksgiving dinner here at the Collège; it was actually very good! Because there are so many Americans here, I sometimes forget that things are different in Europe and they don't have holidays like Thanksgiving. But the culinary staff put forward a great effort to make us feel at home for the holiday. They had a grand display in la salle à manger (the dining room), compete with a tepee and Playmobile pilgrims. We got to explain to our German, British, and Australian friends the purpose and story of Thanksgiving. ("Why do you celebrate all the Indians you killed?" questioned one of our friends from England. Fair enough.) The Nice Matin (the newspaper of Nice) even showed up to take pictures for a small article about Americans celebrating Thanksgiving in France.
Anyway, the food was fabulous. It far exceeded our expectations (which were low to begin with, let's be honest), except for the pumpkin pie. Apparently, year after year, they cannot seem to grasp the concept of the consistency of pumpkin pie filling. For them, all pies are like les tartes aux pommes (apple pie), where there are chunks of the fruit or vegetable in the pie.
They also put up red, white, and blue table decorations, so it was a kind of bizarre mix between Thanksgiving and the 4th of July. Still, though, everyone dressed up and we all took pictures (in front of the tepee, bien sûr). Afterwards, everyone moved into the café for a karaoke night! It turned out to be a lot of fun; I was going to skip out and go to bed, but I decided to go listen and ended up dancing until it ended at around one in the morning.
Then came maybe the most bizarre part of all of this: Waking up and going to class on Friday morning after Thanksgiving. Luckily, we could introduce our professor, Sylvie, to the effects of tryptophane.
On Friday night, I went with Mickey, Regina, and Andrew to the Sushi Shop one last time. It was only the four of us and Evans who were sticking around Cannes for the weekend. Saturday, it poured. I took Mickey and our friend Lauren to the American diner, which was all decked out for Christmas! They were also playing "A Muppet Christmas Carol" and we enjoyed watching that while dismembering a gingerbread man. It's still rather funny to see Christmas decorations here in the south of France with the beach only a block away and palm trees everywhere. It's also funny that all of the Cannes natives think it's freezing cold here, and while it's true that it's a colder year than usual for them, I would say it's decent St. John's football weather.
This week was rather busy. I had my Monday and Tuesday nights at the Conservatoire, which is getting hectic because of our fast-approaching concerts next week! Next Tuesday, the kids are going to sing the 12 Days of Christmas (except, since the words are difficult, they're getting the first four days of Christmas). They're doing so well! I'm not going to be directing it, though, because I'm going to be singing the verses into a microphone and they'll repeat after me. Régine and I modified the song so it works. Then, the middle-schoolers have written an accompaniment on their instruments and they'll finish the song. There's another French song they learned that I might be directing (at least, I've been directing it for the past week in class, so you never know what they're going to throw at you for the concert). I am definitely going to miss my students (especially les gamins - the little ones!) when I leave. It brightened my day on Tuesday when I walked into Régine's class and they all yelled "LEAH!!!!", and one girl gave me a little coupon she clipped out of a magazine with the name "Léa" on it. They are just too cute.
I also finally had another flute lesson with Caroline, and we decided that I will be playing in the recital on Wednesday. I threw together my piece with an accompanist in ten minutes and we are good to go...as long as both my accompanist and I practice a ton this weekend.
I had two final exams this week, in Cinéma and Histoire d'Art. They both went well. Now, all that's left are two papers and one final. Our grammar class has actually been very fun lately. Sylvie is an excellent teacher. We've been looking at French music videos/artists, some conventional grammar, and French texting abbreviations (like LOL - which they use here - and biz - bisous - kisses). There is also a type of language called "Verlan", which is kind of like gangster-speak; a lot of rap artists and people in big cities use it. Verlan is kind of abstract, but it is created by taking a word and switching the syllables; for example, they would say Céfran (say-frahn) instead of français (frahn-says).
Hmmm. Well, it feels kind of crazy that there are only eight more days here in France! On one hand, Christmas sounds lovely and it will be nice to be home; on the other hand, there is no snow here in the south of France. And there are Christmas markets everywhere in Europe! I went to the one in Paris a couple weeks ago, and the ones in Cannes and Nice opened today. I walked through the Cannes market earlier this afternoon; it is so funny. There are tons of tents set up along the harbor; people are walking around with long coats, furs, gloves, and earmuffs; right next to them is the ocean and a port full of yachts.
I plan on going back tonight with Regina and Andrew, and tomorrow, Mickey and I are going to Nice to see their big market! It should be a fun way to spend our last weekend. That art history paper will write itself...at some point.
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