And the Curtain Falls.

Well the play is finished. We worked round the clock for seven days memorizing, and tuesday it all paid off. We knew all our lines, I pronunciation was almost perfect and we were funny as hell. I have a recording of the play which I'm going to try to post. I'm in the second scene. I'm also posting it on Facebook so those off you who know me on Facebook can watch. Of your not a Facebook friend but want to see it leave a comment and I'll email it to you.

Well I really should tell you about what's been going on lately, and since I have at least another five hours to kill on my flight back to New York I will make it detailed. I got back to Paris last Monday and spent the day feeling blue a d resting up in the hotel. I burst into tears on the train platform when I was saying goodbye to Valentine and cried for most of the three hour train journey.

The next day my group and I headed to our first theatre class with our director, Jean Paul. We spent the morning warming up and in the afternoon did a table read of some of the plays we were considering, mostly by Feydeau. The next day we were handed our parts and told to start memorizing. For the rest of the week we were either pacing the garden in the back of the building learning lines or meeting with Jean Paul to block our scenes. By the time Friday arrived we were all tired and stressed from the hard work of the week; memorizing in French is no easy task.

On Saturday I woke up in a foul mood and I'm afraid I was a bit rude to some of my group members. I just wanted to go home and didn't feel like going to see the wall of love. I did go to see the wall of love which is a wall of blue tile with the word love written on it in almost every language. I cheered up a bit when we visited Sacré Cœur, a beautiful church that overlooks most of Paris, and sat on the hill side memorizing lines. But the best part of the day was yet to come. When we returned to the hotel our group leader Sarah said tonight we would go clubbing. All of the girls, Camila, Willow, Lea, Sadie, Amy and I hurried excitedly back to our rooms to change and do our makeup. I wore a silver sequin dress I bought ages ago but never had occasion to wear, and Willow( who is a genius when it comes to fashion and makeup) gave me daring smoky eyeshadow. We all looked amazing but our confidence was a little shaken when the first club we tried to go to wouldn't let us in. Fortunately the next club kept us waiting for only five minutes before they ushered our whole group inside and downstairs to a dance floor. The building was very old and the underground floor we were on was definitely over a hundred years old with low arched plaster ceilings, stone walls, and wooden beams. But with the music blaring and a strobe light flashing it was still a dance floor. We all put down our bags and joined the fun. Camilla who is Cuban had some salsa going on at one point, Sadie had us doing The Cool dance(her own invention) and Lea was doing some amazingly wacky moves. We all had fun dancing until two in the morning when we headed back to the hotel and collapsed into bed.

Sunday was a slightly lower key day. We all went to Luxembourg park and worked on our lines then set off for the Eiffel tower. The Eiffel tower was spectacular and awesome in the true sense of the word, but very crowded. When we got there the line for the elevator was at least a three hour wait. So up the stairs we marched, all 700 of them. By the time we reached the second floor we were all out of breath and our calves were cramping, thought the view was worth it. I took dozens of pictures and the same terms apply as for the video, if you want a slideshow leave a comment and I'll email it to you. Once we'd descended the tower we got back on the metro and headed to the restaurant, Dans la Noir, which has you eat in total darkness in order to heighten your sense of taste. The waters and waitresses are blind and we all had to hold on to each other as they lead us to our seats. The food was amazing but a little scary because I had no idea what I was eating. The darkness also made us a bit emotional and we were all talking about how much we loved each other by the end of the meal. Once we'd adjusted to daylight again we decided to walk back to the hotel. We passed by Notre Dame where a street performer was doing some beautiful dancing with fire. All in all it was a good day.

Monday we got up bright and early and went to the theatre. It wasn't a large theatre but it was a real one, and we're all happy to have the use of it for our show. Jean Paul handed out our costumes and I was a little startled when I was given a squin tube top, sequin skirt and leopard print leggings. We rehearsed the day away and that night Willow did a test run of my makeup and put my hair in several braids so it would look ridiculose for my character the next day.

Finally the performance had arrived. We all ate breakfast, rode the metro, and ran lines in a state of nervous anticipation. I finally got to rehearse my play, and all my group members watched. They were blown away by my transformation. Now usually I don't like to sing my own praises but these were their words. They'd never seen me onstage and were amazed at what a good actress I was. One of my group members even said he'd try to get me a part in a student film he was doing. Anyway, the day flew by and before we knew it the audience was filing in and the lights were dimming. We were amazing. The first scene, where two women talk about the crimes of one of the women's dead husband, was hilarious. My scene came next and throwing aside any thought of humility I was fantastic. The final scene, where a player chases a woman to her house only to discover her husband is his friend and have his wife arrive, was amazing. Unfortunately the audience was made up of the other experiment groups, and most of the French dialogue went over their heads. All my group members and I were laughing our heads off back stage, but the audience wasn't. in the end it didn't matter, we'd done a wonderful job and we were proud.

That evening after all the makeup had been washed off we went to a french supermarket then had a picnic by the Seine. We ate, laughed, and reminisced about the best parts of the trip. We became very emotional towards the end as we talked a out how much we would miss everyone and what we would always remember. Finally, after midnight, we packed up our picnic blankets and headed back to the hotel.

The next morning was not a fun one. Everyone was rushing around trying to pack there bags and find lost items. The group had decided we wanted to get Sarah a gift, so Willow and I had to find an excuse to run over to a nearby jewelry store to pick out some earings. The bus was late and the day was hot. We sat on the sidewalk sweltering for half an hour before it turned up, then spent an extra hour in traffic meaning we were very late to the airport. Amazingly it didn't matter. We got through customs and security in under twenty minutes and plane wasn't delayed at all. Secretly I think we all wanted the plane to be late, we didn't want to say goodbye. The terrible thing about the experiment is that you spend a month of you life with this group of people discovering a new world together, having an adventure, and when it's all over, you might never see them again. All of us come from different states and although we can call each other, it will never be the same. It makes the end of the trip more painful. The plane ride passed uneventfully, except I received three very nice letters from my group members say how much they were going to miss me and what a wonderful person I was. I didn't feel that wonderful at the time but I appreciated the letters. The plane landed, we got off, collected our luggage, and went to meet our family members. Most of my group members ran into the arms of their parents, I felt a little sad seeing them hug each other and cry, I wished my parents were there too. Then it was time to say goodbye to each other. We didn't want to, and we all hugged each other more than four times each. We'd spent a month together that none of us would ever forget. We cried, promised to call each other, and went our separate ways.

I'll never forget this summer, and I know that the friends I made I will know for the rest of my life. I still don't know how to react to all this. I'm glad I went, and I miss Paris and my friends. But at the same time, I'm ready to have an adventure here. That's what this trip made me realize, adventures aren't just your summer vacations, the adventure is the rest of your life, and I'm ready to begin mine. Sincerely, Drama Queen

 

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