This is what one of our French friends from the engineering school told us one night when we were late. Then we taught him what that means, so he laughed and uses it even more.
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Saturday morning was beautiful, making Chuck really want to go back to Mt St-Victoire. It was our last day and I really wanted to take him to Nice on this beautiful day, but I also wanted to give him the opportunity to climb to the very top peak of Mt St-Victoire. Finally we decided on spending the day at the mountain instead of the coast, as it would save us hours spent in the bus that we could be spending outside. But before we left, we looked for some costumes we could wear that night to the Arts and Metiers ball--the engineering school had been planning a huge costume party for that night and there had been posters for it all over town. We found a dress and some jewelry to make me into a very 60s go-go girl, and we found a gold track jacket and gold sunglasses to make him look like anything but Chuck...maybe an R&B artist?
We spent the day on the mountain. We arrived at the other side of the mountain, the side I've never seen. There is a huge beautiful aqua-blue lake there created by a dam. We hiked along the lake and followed the trail up to the top. It was freezing cold when we got there, and the wind was so strong, but we reached the top of Mt. St-Victoire! Now when I look at the mountain from far away, I can't believe that we climbed that high and actually reached that cross (which from down below only looks like a black dot atop the mountain peak).
We spent the whole day at the mountain, and then we came home to prepare for the ball...
The whole courtyard of the school was filled with people--about 3000 they told us. We went into their huge theatre/lecture hall for dancing and I was struck by something I'd never seen at a school dance before: strippers. I suppose at an engineering school made of mostly men, strippers might be included in the soiree budget. They danced on stage to the music while all the rest of us danced with each other everywhere else. We danced to anything they played, and we didn't get home until 5 am. My favorite song of all was the one towards the end I'd never heard before, and all the French swung their arms around each others' shoulders making a circle. They sung along and moved in and out of the circle and started jumping too. I loved how everyone got really into their costumes. There were great costumes everywhere, and even the girls dressed up as real things and not just a tiny little outfit with a prop or hat to indicate exactly what she is supposed to be (like in America).
