Sunday night: rocking out in the most hip district of Paris to a crazy emo band.
Monday night: dressed to the nines and chilling in a BOX SEAT at the Paris Opera Garnier for a Mozart opera.

Oh, life. The Emory program paid for opera tickets for us to the Opera Garnier, which is the place where the Phantom of the Opera is set, and where he is still said to live in the river/sewer (I don't know which it is) that flows under the building. So the whole time I was hoping that the lights would cut out and the chandelier would fall, or a dead body would come swinging down from behind the truss at the top of the stage... but no dice. In retrospect, that was probably good, since the chandelier in there has to weigh 4 tons... But the opera was still amazing. My seat was amazing...

Sidenote: That is what I love about this country. The most famous thing living in US sewers is the Ninja Turtles... here they have a man in a tux and a mask who wreaks havoc on the lives of would-be young opera stars.

The opera was one of Mozart's comedies-- Cosi Fan Tutte, which loosely translated from Italian means "Really ridiculous story that slightly relates to the story of Blair's life." The opera was in Italian, but apparently at the Opera they always project the French (or whatever) language version onto the back wall of the stage. I kind of feel like this is cheating, since for hundreds of years they were watched without knowing what they meant, but it was good because it meant I had to practice my rapid-fire comprehension of the French language. Anyway, the show was awesome, and it was so fun being dressed up and at the Opera... I felt like a real person instead of a college student, and I kind of think that when I get too old to go to concerts anymore I am going to start attending the Opera instead. Or the ballet, that would work too...

Speaking of being dressed up, the main lesson from the Opera last night is this: girls who are 5'9" tall do not need to wear 3.5" heels to an opera that they have to walk to. Really these kinds of girls have no business OWNING 3.5" heels. Seriously. I happened to see my reflection in the door of the Metro car on the way to the opera-- the car was packed, and I stood not just head, but HEAD AND SHOULDERS above the whole rest of the car. To be fair, most of the people in my area were either older or women and so had no business being over 6' tall, but still. The shoes are amazing, and I CAN walk in them, they looked great, but I could barely walk the last few steps into my apartment. BECAUSE MY ANKLE WAS ALREADY BENT SO MUCH THAT I WAS COMPLETELY ON TIPTOE THE WHOLE TIME, like it wouldn't bend anymore. I bought the shoes over the summer, and I think at the time I thought that I had just temporarily forgotten how to walk in heels, an occupational hazard to spending all your time in hiking boots. But the point is, the night was amazing, and I realized I am a total nerd because I was as excited about seeing the building as the opera... amazing though.Tonight is Halloween... but no candy at the grocery store; no kids at the door, and it is weird to me that no one here cares. I don't think I ever really cared that much until there are no pumpkins, no ghosts, nothing. ((Except for before the concert on Sunday there was a guy dressed as a skeleton handing out stickers for the new My Chemical Romance album... but I just thought that was because he was emo.))

Quote of the week:
"To be a lady, it is necessary that one learns how to lie without blushing."
~Mozart, Cosi Fan Tutte.

Soprano love,
Blair