9 Days

Down to the single digits. Wow, I cannot believe it. Anyway, to quick catch you up on what's been going on so far this month: Thursday after I left off, I went into town with a bunch of the girls from my class at school. We walked around, talked, had ice cream, and then went to a café. That evening, I went on a bike ride with Pierre, Antoine, and Pierre-Antoine. I really did not want to go after my last experience with a 'nice, easy trip,' but Pierre got mad when I wasn't going to do it and so I wound up biking again. This time wasn't as bad, though. We went just outside of town onto the *paved* route through the fields. Most of this was either downhill or flat, and Pierre-Antoine adjusted my gears for me ahead of time, so I didn't have them screwed up. After that, we all hung out in the big yard next to the military cemetary in town. That was when it hit me how soon I was leaving, and that came as kind of a shock. After talking for a while, we went down the street to Pierre-Antoine's house and helped him trim back the bushes into rectangles. :D! Then Pierre and I came home for supper and I was going to get back on to finish my blog afterwards, but the Internet wouldn't connect for me.

Yesterday was really busy. I got up and got ready for the day, and then went to a park with Antoine, Pierre-Antoine, and Simon and we took some senior pictures for me. That was really fun, and we got off task a ton, so really, I don't have that many actual pictures I could use- losts of them are ones where I'm talking or laughing or someone is creepin' in the background or making a face or something like that. haha :D! We had a good time with that. We went into Arras afterwards and found places we could hang up ads and leave fliers for the Aérodrome Festival in Roclincourt this weekend. Around 1, we went to a kabab place near the train station for lunch. A kabab is a sandwich with a bunch of different kinds of meat chopped up inside and a sauce of choice. That sounds kind of strange, but it was pretty good! That was served with fries and a pop or water. We then stopped by the radio station that Pierre-Antoine works at and talked to some guy. I got back home just before 3, and was supposed to meet Maxime and François in town at 3:30, so I had to hurry and get my stuff together for the night. My host mom and Pierre were in Lens (another town a little ways away), so Antoine offered to give me a ride back into town. I got to the Beffroi (the meeting place) a little after 3:20, and then got a message from Maxime saying they'd be late. I hung out inside and cooled off (since it was burnin' up outside yesterday). Then when everyone got there, we went got our 4-Day pass wristbands and went through the waiting line & security just as the first band started playing. Concerts here are thankfully not quite as squishy as ones in Fargo. For the first group, people could sit down and some people even had big blankets spread out comfortably. We were a little to the left side of the middle and not too far back (considering how many people there were), so it wasn't too bad. I just hate being short, because there are always a million tall people in front of me and I have to find little gaps between necks so I can see the stage. François put me on his shoulders for a while during Amy Macdonald, but people behind me got really upset, so I got down. It was nice being able to see for a while, though! And later on during the Ting Tings, tonsss of people were up on shoulders, and even more during Coldplay, so I dunno why I had to get down! The four bands that played last night were M.Ward (from Oregon), Amy Macdonald (Scottland), The Ting Tings and then Coldplay. It was kind of fun, because all the people tried to speak a little French. The first two introduced themselves in French, but then said everything else in English, so I got to be the translator for the people around me. Then the Ting Tings had a sheet of paper to read for a fun introduction and Coldplay actually knew enough French to speak throughout the performance in a mixture of French and English. It was insanely hot out, and after running out of water, I went to go get some between The Ting Tings and Coldplay. People had been getting more squished together with every band, but it was still possible to move around, so I figured it would be ok. WRONG! I got out fine, found out the concession stand was all out of every kind of drink except beer, and then, disappointed, I started my way back in until I couldn't move any further. I ended up next to some English speakers, so we talked for a while, and then Coldplay came onnnn :D! From the spot I was in, I could see almost nothing at all. I even had a hard time seeing the big screen for a while because of all the tall people. Two guys in front of me were really nice, though, and during Viva La Vida, they each took one of my feet and lifted me way up into the air and I took a video and it was greattt :D! That was probably the hilight of my night. Then, during the last song (before the encore), a bunch of confetti butterflies were shot out and they caught some for me. After the concert, was over, I met back up with François and Maxime and they took me home.

Today is day two of the concerts, and the line-up is Sébatstien Tellier, Phoenix, Lily Allen, Kanye West, and Birdy Nam Nam. Then afterwards is another set of concerts called 'Behind the Square.' I dunno if our wristbands get us into that or not, but if so, the artists playing are Late of the Pier, Yuksek, Busy P, Sebatian, and Boys Noize. If we get to stay for that, I probably won't get home until around 6AM. Then I'll have to get up around 8:30/9:00 for the Aérodrome Festival tomorrow. Then another round of concerts. That'll be busy. haha. That said, I don't know if I'll get on tomorrow, but I'll try and squeeze in time somewhere.

à bientôt!
<3Miranda

Word of the Day: Un écran = a screen