Ok, folks. Time here is winding down. You never know when the last blog may suddenly appear. In fact, it may be here right now. So you better enjoy it until the very last drop.
Shrek
So I am showing my French Fries Shrek partly because I want them to relax and chill before the end of the year, but mostly because I want to relax and chill before the end of the year. In fact, I am in one of my classes right now while they are watching the movie, and I am creating a blog. Brilliant. Sooo worth the 9 euros.
Alix’s Indian Good-byeAlix decided that for her last night she wanted to go to the same Indian restaurant that we went to on my birthday, called Delhi Belhi.
I was all for it, always being up for some Indian food, and so we headed out with nothing but nostalgic stories and our appetites.
When we got there we decided to order a bottle of wine, which would prove to be a brilliant idea in time.
I got my same delicious spicy chicken thingamajig as I had for my birthday. It was realllly spicy, as promised. We also got some rice with fruit pieces in it…it was definitely interesting. By the time I was finished with my food I was already feeling quite good, and it was the first time I had ever seen Alix ‘feeling good’ if you know what I mean. If not, then frankly stated, feeling good = buzzed on the way to drunkenness. But we were so happy and giggly. We laughed our way through dessert because our dessert was very inappropriately named ‘barfi’. The people sitting next to us were also really funny, because they kept staring at us and making comments like ‘our food is so good, how is yours.’ Ok, not funny, just creepy.
As we were taking our red wine-filled lightheadedness out the door, the owner of the restaurant offered us two containers of the dip that they put on the table. He must have noticed our keenness for the dips, or just noticed that we were acting like we hadn’t eaten in months. Either way, it turned out that this company based in England bought his recipes for their dips, and he had butt loads of boxes of it, so he said he was giving it to his customers. I thought this was very kind, but once again, super funny….it struck me as even more funny when we got to Ma Nolan’s and I had to put my jars of Indian Dip on the bar to take out my money.
My Night Out With the French
There is this town not too far from Nice called Juan les Pins. Sapna had always told me it holds an awesome reputation as a place to go out at night, and so we decided we would go all the time when the warm weather came. In the end, we didn’t go all the time as we wanted to, but we did make it out there the Thursday before Sapna went home (which I still haven’t forgiven her for, by the way). Anyway, we went to this place which was interested because it is only open on Thursdays and it’s only open until 1 AM, instead of the usual 2. It has in indoor dancefloor, and an outside terrace area, and it was pretty cool all around.
Well at one point, we went outside for a little breather and this French guy, Tony, started talking to me. I think it was one of those deals again where his friend was talking to Sapna, so it is just convenient to talk to me. Which is neither here nor there. Anyway, we talked for awhile, and that was that…nothing to write home about (which is interesting, because I am seemingly doing just that).
This story takes a turn for the interesting the night before Alix left, though, because we went to Ma Nolan’s, and this guy comes up to us and offers us Champagne and asked us to join him and his friend at their table to talk for awhile. He tells me he knows me from somewhere, and I say the same of him, but we decided that we both go out enough in Nice that we probably exchanged words at one time or another. So we just talk about stuff, and then the topic of Juan les Pins comes up…et voilà! I realized that he was the guy I talked to at that bar. It was one of those ‘It’s a small world’ revelations. But he seemed to have a keen interest towards Alix, but she was leaving the next day, so in an effort to keep in touch with one of us, we exchanged information.
About a week later, he invited me to dinner with him and his friends, and I declined, but said I would join them for a glass of wine or something afterwards, to which he agreed. It took all of the strength I had to meet them and not stay in bed watching My So Called Life, but I did and it turned out to be a really good time, actually. We went to this swanky bar/club called Ôdace, where one of his friends had family working there. And there was this really nice chick from Paris who was intrigued by the fact that I didn’t smoke.
Anyway, we hit up the dance floor, and that’s where I learned two things.
1) Tony is a BAD dancer. I will try to describe his moves. Stand in one spot, but shake the hell out of your knees and thighs, and maybe ankles. Then point your fingers in different directions. And then, to mix things up, go up and down with the same moves, but be sure to not displace your feet. Congratulations! You are doing the Tony.
2) He and his friends thought my name was Dani. And I had/(and still) have no desire to correct this. I don’t know why, but I find it brilliantly amusing. Like I am the only appreciating my inside joke for one.
And that was that. I think I may head to Juan again with him on Thursday so I could show Angelique what it’s like, but we will see… (Addendum: that was a big no on the Juan thing)
The Russian/American Invasion
One day last week, I headed out with Elena (the ex-roommate of Sapna), and her best friend who just came to town from Russia. We started going to our usual Wayne’s, but like usual on a Thursday night, it was insanely packed with people, and people that were insanely drunk. So we tried the place next door, called Master Home. It was actually one of the first places I ever went out to with Sapna and Angelique, and I remember distinctly thinking it was so European because we were rocking out on the tables to It’s Raining Men. Since then, I think I went back once, and it was ok, but nothing special.
This time, however, was so much fun. As many of you know, I am a lover of all music that can be constituted as oldies…80’s, 70’s, 60’s, 50’s…LOVE IT. And this bar played so many random oldies. When I got there they were playing Toto. How many bars can you go to and dance to Toto?? Later on the DJ was mixing some George Michaels with some Prince…loved it. Then a little later there was some Gladys Knight mixed with Aretha Franklin, followed by I Will Survive. Such good stuff. And we were the only ones dancing for a good portion of the night, making it all the more enjoyable, because somehow I have come to greatly appreciate the condescending looks of the people here who are too ‘cool’ to dance. So that was that. A good Thursday night with a couple of Russians. Gotta love it.
La Fête de la Musique
Apparently, each year in all of France, on June 21st, there exists a Music Festival. Basically all over Nice there were a bunch of performances/concerts/DJ’s set up and all the places were free to go to and the shows were all free to watch. A really great concept. It was a really good time, as well, but the crowds on the streets grew to be a little unbearable, but also fun at the same time, because as we were walking down the Promenade des Anglais, people were just moving slowly but rocking to the beat. So it was like a walking dancing fest.
Someone that I was with, however, got a little too drunky drunk, and so that cut the festivities short, but I still made my way back to Ma Nolan’s where I chilled whilst watching the musical stylings of Merla, who I am going to sooo miss. Speaking of which, on my birthday, Sapna and I went to Ma Nolan’s as well (which you may recall from my amazing blog), and some film students were shooting a music video for Merla, and my crazy tipsy (that’s me doing the opposite of exaggerating for a change) dancing self can be seen for like a second in the video. I am a superstar.
So that was basically the music festival…music, wine, food, good times.
La Fête du Château
So this is absolutely the month of festivals. And this Sunday, we entered the festival zone of the Castle that overlooks the downtown Nice area. I had only been there once, I think my second day, so I got to see it, and I also go to see it in all of its festival glory. This festival was more about the food and the merchandise, but there were also some bands playing, and when it got dark there were even some fireworks…which I absolutely love. It was a chill day at the Festival, just walking around and checking out the scene, and afterwards we closed the night with another stint at Ma Nolan’s. Problem though. The following equation holds true…Dehydrated Dina + Good Amount of Kir = BADNESS. Thus, the evening and the following day did not prove to be as chill and groovy as the former one.
La Fête du Cinéma
I didn’t really partake to heavily in this festival, but I think it is a really cool concept so I am going to share it with you now. In France they have a movie festival for a couple days, and the deal is you go to one movie at regular price, but then you receive this ‘passport’ which you can use in any theater and see all the movies you want for only 2 euros a film. A pretty sweet deal. That is when you don’t have to work and miss your opportunities to see films the next day. But Angelique and I went to see Ocean’s 13, and it’s always fun to go to the movies in France for me, for some reason. I think it’s because here the activity is still somewhat novel versus in the United States where I go much more often. And the movie was good, and I got some more Angelique time in (who is leaving in the morning), so it was just all around goodness (except for the residual side effects of the night before Kirfest, midmovie.)
Getting My Stuff Packed
So, I am getting ready to leave. A little stressful with the packing and the cleaning and the formalities, but I think it’s going ok. I am going to go out with Angelique for a little goodbye dinner which I am calling both of ours, spending as much time as possible with my favorite people, and then hopefully going out at least one more time before I head back to the dirty Jerz. I can’t wait to see you Jersey peeps. And I can’t wait for take-out Chinese from the place ‘round the corner. And the bagels. And sushi. And now I am sad to learn what a fatty I am. Can’t wait to see you, though.
And here I will close by saying that I am pretty sure this is actually my last Nice blog. I can’t believe the time is already here to return home. I feel like I just wrote my first blog like a month ago. I appreciate all of you who read my blogs, and I really really appreciate all the kind words some of you have expressed about my writings.
I will be seeing most of you soon, anyway, so it’s not like the blog will be lost…it will just take on the form of my verbal ramblings. And you will love it. Yes, you will….and you never know, I may even surprise you with one more…
Thank you again,
XOXO
Dina
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