Mercredi, 10 Octobre 2012: Adventures and Pavillon Noir

I only have one class on Wednesdays and it begins at 15h00. I woke up at 11h00 and had plenty of time to relax before class. Every day I walk to school, I take a new route. I've been lost a few times but always end up by something I recognize so I can re-route. I left an hour early today because I wanted to take a totally new road that seemed like it would be a more direct route to school. Ugh...I was so wrong!!! For someone that is really good with navigating, I really put myself to shame. I ended up on the northernmost end of town by the outskirts...Aix is a small place but it's not that small if you're walking and get lost. I immediately called Danielle to let my professor know I was lost again.

Everyone was in a car on this side of town so there was no one I could stop for directions. I eventually got to one construction worker and asked him where I could find Cours Gambetta. First, he tells me that I speak to fast then when I take the time to sound out each syllable, he tells me he's never heard of the street and he's lived in Aix all his life.

Frustrated, I get out my phone and turn on the GPS because it's getting close to class time. The GPS says that I am 3 miles walking distance from school so I take off running. I approach this cemetery that looks like it could be a short cut. I walk in and am immediately freaked out by all of the pictures of the dead on the graves. Nothing scares me but I just had this really eerie feeling being surrounded by a mass of dead people with the wind whistling like voices. It reminded me of a scene from Return to Night of the Living Dead 2. I was expecting for the stones to move and zombies to crawl out.

I start speed-walking around the cemetery--looking for a way out and I see no exit. I go to one of the walls to see if I can just jump over the barrier and the drop is just too far so I climb back down and walk further in. I eventually find an exit on the other side and make my way out. Walking through the cemetery saved me about 10 minutes of walking so it was a good idea, no matter how creepy it was. 

I eventually make it to school a whole 20 minutes late. I did one language exercise with everyone before we had to leave for a mini-field trip. Exhausted from my little adventure, I didn't really want to leave but you can't ever say no to an excursion--especially in France. The entire class walked to my side of town to visit Pavillon Noir--a center for dance here in Aix. The building is so named because the architect decided to go with a monochromatic theme. It's absolutely beautiful!!! 

We are taken around the building by this handsome STRAIGHT french dancer who explained what happened on each floor of the building. We even got to see some dancers work for a little bit before we got kicked out.

The tour ended after about 2 hours and we all parted ways. I was planning on staying in that evening but somehow the girls talked me into coming out. I got ready and went to the Augustins apartment to meet with them. We left after a bit and headed towards Rue de la Verrerie (a.k.a. Bar Street). Kari, Julie, and Molly had to be home at 24h00 (midnight) so we had to find a place to settle quick--it was already 23h00. We walked by The Kerry which had some obnoxious DJ talking on a mic. Deciding to skip on our usual bar, we walked into another with intentions of dancing. As soon as we walk in, the hostess tells us that we can't go into the main room and instead directs us to a table that she's putting together for the 8 of us. We didn't go there to sit so we immediately left. We ended up at Pub O'Shannon where Kari and Lydia get some brews. The rest of us were in the mood to dance though so Maggie, Kami, Molly, and I head toward Wahoo. We end up getting lost and walking in circles. The second time we passed Yann's house I decided my feet had had enough of the heels so I crossed the street to go home. The rest of the girls had the same idea and went in the other direction, saying our goodbyes for the night.