Toutes Directions

While I'm slightly wigging out about my test tomorrow morning (we don't know which of three subjects will be given, so we have to study all three) I think I'll be okay since I decided at the last minute not to go to a birthday party so I could study.

Last night I took a break from studying and went to a play, Venise sous la Neige. It was a funny comedy performed by an amateur troupe in this tiny theater (50 seats max) and I had a nice time. I'd never really been in the neighborhood of Toulouse where the theater was, so it was neat to discover something new.

I believe last night was the first play that I've ever been to in France (not counting the plays performed by kids in the Theater Festival I volunteered for last year). When I was a student in Montpellier I took advantage of the Pass Culture and got 5€ tickets to orchestra performances, dance concerts, the opera, and the movie theater, but never theater. Back then I was still really learning French and I figured I wouldn't understand a play, so I never went. I was intimated, or worried about not getting my money's worth if I didn't understand anything (although now that I look back 5€ isn't much...), and just stayed away.

And even though my French has improved a lot since then, fear of the theater has stayed with me. When I went to London two years ago I made a big effort to go to a play since I "couldn't" in France. Here in Toulouse I've had my jobless/under-employed status as an excuse, but it's really not an excuse since most theaters offer student discounts so the ticket is the same or cheaper than a movie.

Maybe I've turned over a new leaf. I'll be interning at a theater in just a few weeks in any case, so it seems like theater will be entering my life in a new way.

Back to stressing about my exams...