Finally getting a chance to update on the wonderful time I had all last week! It was a nutso week... and here's why:
monday: When I was in ghana this summer I became friends with a guy named Johnathan who was working as a missionary there for about 8 months! He's been traveling all through europe on his trip back home and so I invited him to come hang out in Aix for a bit. Monday he arrived! That evening I immediately took him to the 24 hour cafe with some friends to experience the Nutella Crepes of course :)
tuesday: In between practicing organ, taking a test, and starting to prepare for the thanksgiving meal that I was hosting on thursday, I toured Johnathan around Aix a bit-- including a trip to Paul Cezanne's [painter] studio which I hadn't yet had the chance to see. It was a beautiful bright blue day as usual in Aix!
Yes- there is a giant carnival that has taken over Aix recently...
Antique/market shopping :P
Cezanne's Studio with my friends Elyse and Savannah:
wednesday: this was a big day- my dad was coming in to visit, I had to cook a quiche for thanksgiving feast, and was giving what I thought was going to be an organ concert that evening! Every one in the vanderbilt group + some of our french friends were coming to hear the concert.. and boy was it an adventure!
Preparing the quiche:
Here's how it went down: I arrived at the cathedral 15 min before the concert was to start and found the doors locked shut, some of my friends already waiting in front, and we could hear organ music being played already inside!! I thought- am I at the wrong cathedral? Did I misunderstand the time? Suddenly practically every one from the vandy group and a bunch of our french friends showed up and we were all soon circling the cathedral trying to find out what was going on- meanwhile, my friend from ghana is with us and trying to figure out what's going on when he doesn't speak any french.. and on top of everything, my dad is somewhere in route to the cathedral, and I'm trying to figure out how he's going to find us, how we're going to get in, every one was asking me, "dani what's going on? are you SURE its at 6;30?!" ... very stressful..
After calling my organ teacher and being surprised to hear her answer, we found our way into the cathedral... My dad miraculously arrived as we were walking in! I was so excited to see him, but it was a swirl of confusion and excitement. Upon walking into the cathedral we found no other audience members, all of the lights off in the church, and only 4 other organ students + teacher crowded around the organ... I soon realized that it wasn't really a concert, it was apparently something like a group lesson!... so I'm in dress pants, hair done up, etc.. and all of the other organ students are in jeans. The only audience members there were the 30 people that came with me... haha! When I got up to the organ loft my org. teacher just said in french, "oh! you brought every one!" haha! I just had to keep laughing. It was really fun to play my piece though and I think every one was really excited to hear the organ. I was so thankful to all of my friends and two of my professors who came!
Vandy group!
Me and my daddio! :D
Stopping for coffee and a chat after the concert:
Thursday: The day I had been planning for a very long time- thanksgiving feast! I was determined to have a completely hybrid french/american thanksgiving dinner with some of my dearest friends. Every one else in the Vanderbilt group had gone to Paris for the holiday, but I had to stay in Aix as I had another concert on friday. Dad, Johnathan and I had a picnic in a park and then headed back to start preparations for the meal. At 7:30 the food was ready, the table was beautifully set, and the guests were arriving. The guests were Dad and Johnathan of course there, my dear french friends Vincent, Luana, and Fanny, and the director of the conservatory and his wife. Dinner started with little appetizers like Tapenade (olives), then I had baked a quiche, dad brought tofurkey, we had salad and bread and cheese and baked apples for dessert [YUM!]. I also made a pretty little champagne/fruit drink for dessert. All in all, I was really proud of the evening and we had a great time. It was my first completely bilingual thanksgiving- some people only spoke french, some people only spoke english, and the rest of us just went back and forth. so much fun!
Dad- fixing the light before the feast begins. :D
Before the champagne toast, I wanted to carry on the tradition we always do at home and that is to go around the table and say what we're thankful for. I started off by saying how thankful I was to know every one there, to have had the experiences that I've had here in aix, to be with them safely during the holiday-- and by the end of it, tears were in my eyes. It really hit me then how special this place and these people are to me. It was such a wonderful memory to be there with them.
Friday: Early in the morning I awoke to quickly say goodbye to Johnathan- he had to leave at about 5 am! I watched him walk down the road in the cold early morning and hoped that he would have a safe trip home.
A few hours later I awoke and started the day! Dad and I spent a lot of time at the cathedral where I had my organ concert, video taping and recording me playing the piece again so he can make a really nice edited version of the performance. He does too much for me, I swear.
We then had some snacks/cafe with the woman I have dinner with each night. Though she speaks french fluently and is married to a french man, she's from spain and of course still speaks spanish fluently. It was cool for dad I think because they were able to communicate in spanish, and then she'd turn to me and speak in french.
Dad was also nice enough to snap some shots of us just around the city- photos I've been wanting to take for a while:
in front of the cathedral outside my apt.-- fresh baguettes!
Dad, drinking out of the natural fountain- all of the tourists do it, so we had to! :D
here I am in the room where we have all of our classes with vandy-
In front of the Conservatoire Darius Milhaud!
At l'Hotel de Ville
Friday night was the big concert I've been waiting for- my first orchestra concert that I conducted. At 6:30pm dad, loaded up with all of his cameras, Vincent (who was sweet enough to come to the concert!), and I all loaded up in M. Camatte's car and headed to the venue in Marseille. When we arrived dad got all of his camera stuff set up and ready for the concert which I thought was starting at 7:30. But, in true french fashion- it wasn't what I expected. Even though audience members were starting to fill up the hall, M. Camatte got up on the podium and said, 'ok we're going to run through these parts now.'-- I turned to my friend/fellow flute player and said, "we're rehearsing?!" and she informed me that we had a rehearsal an hour before the concert started... which was apparently at 8:30pm. (!!) ah. so poor dad had to run around switching off the cameras that he had started and Vincent had to wait patiently for another hour.
The concert started with New World Symphony. I was playing flute for the first two pieces and conducting the finale- Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. I wasn't nervous- not even when I got to the podium. Moments before, I was back stage with M. Camatte, who was clearly extremely excited for me. Right before I walked out he said, "here we go!" and with the same look of pride as I've seen in my grandfather's or dad's eyes, he grabbed me and gave me a big hug, then sent me off. No nerves, I was just excited- it was going to be fun. The opening clarinet lick began and we were off-- it was a whirlwind of sound, excitement, and fun. I can't tell you how free I felt being up there. I forgot about the audience completely and felt myself at last let go while I was conducting-- I'm often so self conscious of looking too dramatic, but there were moments where I just didn't care- I had to do what I felt the music needed. Every one loved the piece- the pianist was great- it was fabulous. We got like 7 'curtain calls'- I wasn't sure if they were applauding me or the pianist really, but it was an honor to get to be in front of the orchestra. I was just so unbelievably thankful to have had that experience.
after the concert photos:
M. Camatte, vincent, me-- who knows what we're talking bout here:
Celebrating a great concert:
Talking with some orchestra musicians afterwards:
My best orchestra gal friends: Manu (flute) and Helen (bassoon)
vincent et moi:
piano soloist et moi!
Saturday: well, after a whirlwind of an amazing week, saturday really was awful. Dad and I were going to Paris to meet up with the other Vandy students and for him to fly home the next day. For a number of reasons not worth mentioning, dad and I missed our train to Paris that morning. After I shed some tears of frustration, we coughed up the money to get the next train tickets. eeh. expensive. It was grey and rainy and cold when we arrived in paris. I thought our hostel was close to the train station and I'm used to walking everywhere, so I just headed off toward the hostel. Soon, however, one of the wheels on dad's very heavy bag broke, dad and I got into an argument, the rain picked up... you can see how pleasant this 30 minute walk was.
We finally got the hostel, however, and that evening had a great time with my friends seeing a Radio France concert and having a delicious meal.
I also toured Champs-Elysées with friends that night. Beautiful lights!
Notre Dame by night- blue christmas tree in front :)
Sunday: dad and I had a relaxing time in a cafe before he headed off to the airport. I was so thankful that he had been able to make the trip and see Aix- something that has really become a part of me. Having sunday to myself, my friends and I went to mass at Notre Dame (great organ!) and then I finally got to tour the paris Opera, Palais Garnier. I've been wanting to tour it for a long time and at last got the chance.
I was, as usual, very happy to return to Aix with the vandy group that evening.
Life here has been wonderful lately. I"m very busy with work and with wanting to as much spend time with friends and with aix as I can, but still taking a moment to breathe.
I'm coming home in 9 days... hard to believe it.
-dani
