Tuesday, Jun. 22, 2004

fete de musique

rachel -- i hope you have a wonderful time in puerto rico! well i know you will! learn spanish and enjoy the sunshine!

there is a holiday in france, celebrated every year on the summer solstice, known as the fête de musique. yes, that is right. an official national holiday dedicated simply to music. this means that last night, thousands of people crowded the streets of Aix (and every other city and village in france) to get drunk and listen to watch musicians who were performing on pretty much every corner and public area. some were pretty good, others were just mediocre bands who only did covers of american songs. it was a lot of fun. but not as fun as it could have been if i were with more interesting people. i like the other students here, but i don't think i'm forging any lasting relationships with them. there isn't really anyone like me and i pretty much feel like i'm friends with people solely out of convenience. i miss having people who i can relate to completely. and people who i could go out with on a night like last night and have just an amazing time, without even drinking at all!

so, yeah . . . my time with these people is winding down now, and although i can't say i'll miss them terribly, it is kind of sad. i will miss the beautiful weather here and the sea and the mountains and the city and the food and the wine and the speaking french with my host mom and the frenchness of france. i will not miss the lack of air conditioning or bathrooms or dogshit on the ground or showers that, regardless of what temperature you set them to just change on and off between scalding hot and freezing cold, and the lack of deoderant-wearing people and the fact that everything here is so fucking expensive. among other things.

well. i have definitely learned a lot here. i hope someday you all can experience something like this too!

see you all soon!!!!!!!!!!!