Well it's time for an update... I figured it's the weekend, and before I disembark on my first trip of this break, might be best to settle things up! School this week was the usual bit, a bit odd because it was the last week before exams and everyone is giving projects and talking about tests - not what I like to hear! haha! Anyways, I found out the beginning of the week that I had a DS that I had no idea about - of course I heard this from Charlie and it wasn't even enough information so I had to go and ask about it. So this fun DS was for Travail du Spectateur which meets on Fridays... however the DS was on Thursday, so I ended up having to miss my morning class on Thursday. I was told that it is just going to be a scene analysis: analyzing the characters, direction, sets, etc. I assumed we would be given the text of the script, maybe watch a film of it - I had no idea what the play was going to be either. Boy, was that a wrong assumption!

Apparently we also had an essay paper due the Friday before doing the same analysis on Moliere's play, Tartuffe. Naturally, I was informed of this the night before it was due - some friend! So I get in to the DS, and what is the play on? Tartuffe! Do we get the script to help analyze it? NOPE! So there I was having to analyze a play that I have never read, never studied, didn't know a single character's name let alone what they were talking about. Naturally it was in French so I had a tough time trying to even comprehend what was going on. So during the three hour exam, I wrote a little over two pages using vague analysis such as calling the characters by the color of the costumes they wore. The way the grades here in France work, there are at least two grades which are averaged for the final - the DS (midterms basically) and the final exam. Well, in order for the class to transfer back to Clarion I need to get at least an 8 out of 20. If I don't get at least an 8 on this DS then chances are it's best for me to just drop it, and I noted that in the essay too so I'll just have to see what happens.

The French grading system is odd... a 20/20 is perfect and never going to be attained. A 19/20 is mainly for the professor, so the highest grade you can assume to get is a 18/20. So it all transfers back as a 14-16/20 is an American A and it goes down from there till an 8/20 is a C-.

Then, later on Thursday I had another final test for my French class, which really wasn't that hard. If anything I thought it was rather easy, except the essay part was difficult because we had to create a story that included the given line either at the beginning or the end - and it wasn't the happiest line. It basically translated as "He finally decided to rip up the letter, and then threw it into the river." So, I finally figured out how to work it into a short story that I liked. Then, I came back to my room and crashed because the day wore me out!

So Friday came along, and since I didn't have class because of the DS the day before... I slept in! Till late afternoon! haha! When I finally got up, I just tried to figure out what I was going to do. I had seen the week before that there was going to be a concert of Mozart's Requim, the Neukomm version. So I made sure there were still tickets, and then left my room about 10 after 7 pm for the 8 pm showtime. It was in a theater/contemporary art space called Le Fresnoy - which was in between Roubaix and Tourcoing - so I took the metro all the way out there. Well, it was pushing it close... the metro took longer than I expected as I hadn't taken it out all the way that far before - and in the middle of the trip they stopped the metro for 5 minutes for some reason. So I got there, and then I ended up running to the the Fresnoy to make it on time! Though i got my ticket, and went inside and still ended up waiting a good 5 min or so before it started! It was really a wide open indoors space and the orchestra and choir spot was set up at the one end. It was really good, though it was interesting to hear it all being sung in Latin, while the translation in the pamphlet was in French! But it was still good to see and listen too and they even did an encore of the last part because the audience wouldn't stop applauding!

Afterwards, then I just hopped on the metro back since it was a good half hour back to the city. Well, it was only about 10 pm or so and since it was early, it was a Friday night, and I was dressed up nice - I figured I'd head to a bar or something. So I got off at the Rihour metro stop and walked around the Grand Place before heading into Vieux Lille which is a quaint old part of the city with little tiny cobblestone streets and little bars and pubs. I ended up going into one bar I've walked past a few times called Vice Versa - it was definitely interesting! The people in there were friendly and the one guy who had started talking to me was so drunk he insisted talking in his very poor English, even though I would respond and remind him that he could try to say it in French! Well, as I was sitting by the window, I had just happened to glance up and thought I saw a few of the people I met at the CouchSurfing Quiz night the week before. Since they walked by, I didn't think anythign of it, till they came back and actually came inside! It ended up being them and since I was alone, and they invited me to join them - so I did. So after grabbing my coat and stuff, we left the bar and headed out to find an ATM as they needed to get some money out.

It was then, that I realized I couldn't find my digital camera. I knew I had it before I went into the bar because I had taken a picture of the street it was on because it was one of those quaint busy streets with a bustling night life. I had hung my coat on the bar stool in the bar and as I was sitting up against the wall, I didnt' think anything of it at the time. But after checking all of my pockets and anyplace I could've thought it could be - I came to the conclusion that I didn't have it. So as I was only a few meters from the bar, I headed back inside to see if it had fallen out of my pocket and was on the floor or something. Though it was no where to be found, and they people there in that area who had been there when I was hadn't seen it. The bartender hadn't heard or seen anything either, but I left my number with them just in case. Though, I think that someone had taken it out of my coat pocket... though there really wasn't anyone who I had noticed close enough to do it - but it's the only logical conclusion.

At the very least, it was the digital camera I had bought while in Dublin because I had forgotten my main one. So since I doubt there's any chance that I will get it back, I realized that I only had a few pictures on it - mainly from the ones I took that day. So I lost the pictures of Le Fresnoy and the concert but its' a typical concert setup and I can always go back and take exterior pics of the place again. I also lost some night pictures I took of the Grand Place which are also ones I can get again. Unfortunately I was getting rather fond of that camera, to the point I was liking it a little bit more than my normal camera - and it had my 2 GB memory card in it. So I'm going to have to film my movie with just my one camera and only my 1 GB memory card. But another good thing is I won't have to claim duties on it when I fly back. Thankfully it was something that was not too expensive and everything else - and that I didn't lose something else.

But anyways, after that, all of us headed to another small bar on one of the side alleyways called Le Kremlin which was a Russian bar - so there was red everywhere and the words were in Russina. I had a shot which was really good! It was basically a cream made of Vodka, Vanilla flavoring, and egg yolk and it was served in two little chocolate cups. It was very strong! But good! :-) Anyways, after a while, we all ended up leaving and since it was getting late we split our separate ways.

Today, I slept in again! One aspect I love about being on break! But I just had a relaxing day today, getting packed and did some research about things in London. I catch the 8h35 am train from Lille so it's going to be a long day and short night. But I'll keep things up to date with my trip. I'll come back on Wednesday afternoon. This time I already made sure my camera is packed in my bag! Anyways, I'm off to bed to get some sleep. Next time, we come to you live from London!

Laterz!

friday.... slept in... mozart... vice versa .... meet CS's ... camera stolen... couldn't find it.... Kremlin... shot... came back... slept...