Sprintime, and life is fabulous

After my super depressing post last time, here's an uplifting one for you:
0. Springtime in Paris! LOVELY! 'nuff said.
1. I went to a ball last Friday at the Opera Garnier.
2. I'm working as a tour guide in Paris this summer!

So let's start, shall we?

First of all, the work-- I interviewed today to work for Sandeman's New Europe Tours (those of you traveling around other European countries may have gone on one of their tours, pub crawls, or bike tours) in Paris, and I got the job! Well, first I have to go on one of their walking tours to make sure I enjoy it, but I'm sure I will. And MY MOM ARRIVES TOMORROW (!!!), so that'll be the pefect excuse to go on one of the tours. Someone else can do all the talking, and not me, for once :-P. I'm. SO. EXCITED! That means that this summer, I will be a) interning for a film production company b)working as a tour guide and c) teaching english, ALL IN PARIS! This is going to be the best summer ever!!!

Now, onto prettier things: the ball! (I'm trying to upload pics but this thing isn't working properly...)

On Friday, March 27^th, after months of anticipation, a large group of friends (both American and French) and I donned our fanciest attire and headed to the Opéra Garnier for the 118^th Bal de l’X. Yes, the Bal de l’X is an actual ball, and not, as a a friend described, “a moisturizer for men with no hair.” It is a beautiful, lavish event for the students of Ecole Polytechnique (known as X), the grandest of the grandes écoles, the Harvard of France, if you will. The entire event, open to students of any school, Polytechnique alumni, and members of various clubs (for example, the Wellesley Club of France), consists of a dinner, a ballet, and finally the ball itself. The whole package being above and beyond the average student’s budget, my friends and I choose to attend only the ball.

The rooms for dancing included of a jazz band room, a classical music room, and a ‘techno’ room. It was thrilling to get a chance to be inside the gorgeous Opéra Garnier, and admire its artistic and architectural works. However, it was equally as thrilling to experience a real ball—an event that sounds like a dream to most Americans, especially in this economic climate. However, in France, this ball is a well-known and completely normal event. Upon mentioning to any French person that I was going to the Bal de l’X, their reaction was one of excitement, for they knew what the event was and they knew it would be wonderful. Mentioning it to American friends, I would get a completely different response, one of surprise, shock, and envy—something along the lines of “wait, you’re going to a what?”

There were two traditional aspects of the ball in particular that fascinated me, being an American outsider to this practice. The first was the outfits worn by the current students of X. The female students wear long red and black gowns, and the males are dressed in fancy military-style uniforms and hats. Another tradition was the dancing of the quadrille by current X students. To me, the dance looked like a scene out of a movie adapted from a Jane Austen novel, especially accompanied by the costumes. My French friends assured me the quadrille was not something they normally learn or practice. When I asked them why, then, did these students perform this dance in these costumes, they responded with that oh-so-French shrug of the shoulders and a “behh… c’est la tradition.” Like cheese at the end of a meal, or kisses on the cheek, these highlights of the dance were simply another French tradition that I’ve been fortunate enough to learn about while abroad this year in Paris.