May 22nd: Gala-vanting in Troyes

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So I'm trying to write this before it fades from my memory, but the days have been long and busy thus far so some details may end up being forgotten. As a quick overview, today (actually, yesterday, but shh) was a day that was more leisurely during the day, and much more happening in the evening. It started with some sporting events in the UTT gymnasium, and ended with an enormous party that dwarfs any at the University of Michigan.

It all began at 1pm (the afternoon) when I first awoke from my 13-hour slumber. For me, that is a feat I've accomplished only once before in my life. I usually can't even sleep past 8am. I guess that's what losing a day in airport madness will do to you. Anyways, I woke up and went out to eat with my roommate, David, as no one else was around. In case I haven't mentioned him previously, David is a 5th year Senior in Computer Science Engineering at U of M. He's a nice guy! Moving on, we walked about 10 minutes down the road to a kabab shop. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from it, but it was actually very good (and also a great deal). David ordered first, and while I was waiting in line the guy making the food looked at me and said "You, Kabab, too?" Being the socially awkward person I am, I naturally was at a loss in this unfamiliar situation, so I just shook my head and said yes. He then proceeded to ask a variety of questions, all of which I (and David) said yes to. When we got our food, we realized we had unknowingly agreed to a huge amount of fries with sides of ketchup and mayonnaise. We also paid upon receiving our food, which I guess is not correct here (you pay after eating). So, after this interesting cultural experience, we headed back to campus to try and play some basketball in the "International Sports Tournament."

When we got to the gym, it had been all set up for volleyball, which we were not interested in. We also couldn't have played if we wanted to because the teams were all national teams from various places. Turns out there was a German, French, and some other nationality team there. So, we played some ping pong to kill the time because basketball was supposed to start around 5pm. When we got bored, we went and played some volleyball of our own on an empty court, which was surprisingly fun. I happened to be on the winning team, although no one really cared about the score. After that, we watched a little of the volleyball going on, and man was it intense. These people seriously <3 volleyball, and for good reason. I think one of them was so big he probably eats babies for lunch and dinner. Not too shockingly, the team with the big guy one, defeating the German national team in what I've been told was an upset (it didn't look like it to me).

We got bored watching volleyball, so we went back to the dorms, showered, and three of us (Me, David, and another kid, Chris) went out to lunch with my roommate's friend from Leon, Pierre. Pierre grew up in Troyes and goes to school in Leon. I guess he came to Michigan for a year in 2005 and went to the same high school as David, so they were visiting while David was here. We drove into downtown and walked around a little bit. Although we didn't do anything (in fact, we walked in a circle and went straight back to the car), it was my first introduction to the city center. It exceeded my expectations by quite a bit. I was under the impression that this was an older, perhaps rundown even, city that was really tiny. In reality, it is gorgeous, with parts of it being older and other parts being more modern (more on this tomorrow). To eat before the Gala, we swang by McDonalds (very French, I know). Then we went back to the room to get ready.

I then proceeded to dress myself up in my brand-spanking-new suit (and I looked marvelous I might add). We all met out front, and took off for the "pre-game" (parents, skip ahead!) to the Gala. The pre-game was in the cafeteria circle on campus. We got there about 8:30pm and left around 10pm. Pretty much, it was all the French students getting wasted with any alcohol they could get their hands on. It was very amusing to observe, especially when students from our program decided they wanted to join in and started trying to speak with the French people and mooch alcohol from them. The students would often yell opposing cheers at each other, too. After watching these hooligans yell drunkenly at each other for an hour or so, it all began to get monotonous. So, a few of us took off to enter the Gala (we were fashionably late, of course).

When we got there, the line was pretty lengthy. We waited for maybe 30 or 45 minutes, and finally got in. The security guy doing the stamping (usually on hands) would not let me get it anywhere else but my face, so that was interesting. Then, a few people bought some tokens to use for drinks, and we went around exploring. The building we were in is an oval, about 3 stories high. The entire school had been decorated to host this huge party, so there were colored lights and strobe lights and drink stands everywhere. There wasn't anything on the first floor, so we moved on up to the second. Here, every classroom (yes, the ones we'll be studying in) had been converted into a dance floor and something else, for example a DDR room. They each also had a counter for drinks. After visiting a few of these rooms, 5 of us moved outside to the outdoor dance floor. We danced for a bit, but to loosen up (hey, we're in Europe) me and my new friend Luis decided to split a bottle of champagne. After acquiring this from one of the rooms, we moved back outside to the dance floor and enjoyed our champagne and dancing. We probably danced out there, in a circular group of 5 people, from around 10:30p-12a. We also saw a guy climb the metal set up, and then jump off. I think he was okay, but I can't say for sure. At midnight, the fireworks came on. This was a very nice display that lasted about 15 minutes. At 1a, we moved over to the "rave", essentially just a big dance floor in a huge tent. We (the same 5 of us, for pretty much the whole night) got there in the first wave, so we were wayyy up front. When it started to fill in, we were getting pushed around and whatnot, so we moved back. Again, we danced for probably another hour. At some point in all this, an obviously inebriated French girl cut through my group of dancing pals, put her arms around my neck, looked at me, threw one hand up and screamed (so I screamed back, naturally), and then walked away. That was really weird, but it only got weirder as the night was coming to a close.

Next: the undisputed champion of strange events over the course of the night. Luis and I now needed to go to the bathroom, so off we went. We were behind something like 6 people, and the line behind us was growing rapidly. Clearly, the alcohol was running right through these crazy Frenchmen. This was only made more clear when a pair of them went into the same stall and used the same toilet. Then again, when another two did the same. Apparently, the French are very open, especially when drunk. I finally got into a stall, alone (I never thought I'd have to specify that), and when I came back out, I was looking very much forward to washing my hands. Unfortunately, there was another French dude taking a pee in the sink. Seriously, SERIOUSLY. The sink?! So I walked away from that one. Needless to say, nothing in this night could compete with this trip to the bathroom on a scale from 1 to WEIRD.

Finally, we were getting ready to call it quits for the night. The 5 of us were sitting by the door, resting our feet. Luis went to go get a kabab, and this student walks up and begins staring at the two girls in our groups. He stared for a while, so I was like, okay... you're creepy. Then he looked at me, and instantly he recognized me, yelling "PATRICK HOOPER!" I, too, then recognized him as the student assigned to me for questions and help here. His name is Yasir (spelling's probably wrong), and he likes to tell people this with a salute. Get it? Yes, sir? He gets quite a chuckle from introducing himself this way. Anywho, he's a big boy from Morocco, as I came to find out. He speaks four languages: Arabic, French, English, and Spanish. He kept trying to get me to be his wingman in recruiting French girls (or maybe it was the other way around, I'm not sure), but I was not interested. So, he then started an small debate with us about what the second-most spoken language in the world was. He thought French, we said Spanish. To settle this, we naturally turned to Google (it's big everywhere). On a side note, he did this on his iPhone, which apparently are big here, too. Turns out, the top 3 were (can you guess?): 1.) Mandarin Chinese 2.) SPANISH 3.) Hindu. Who would've thought? I think English was 4, but you can double-check on Wikipedia. Wikipedia is what he used, and he made a point to emphasize that Wikipedia was an international thing, and holds all the answers. Anyways, after this was settled, he tried to get us to drink a bottle of champagne with him, but we were interested in leaving. Not to mention, as he had told us before, he had already had half of a 1/5 of whiskey and 3 bottles of champagne, by himself! So, he walked us back to the entrance and told us he would be in town on Thursday if we wanted to hang out. He was really, really nice (and crazy), as he made a point to tell me many times that if I needed anything, call him or email him. We have a picture with me, him, Luis, and Steve (another kid in the program), so he can be seen at some point.

The walk back was about 10-15 minutes, and when I got back I got ready for bed and passed out. It was about 3am when I returned. All-in-all, there was a lot of dancing and a very, very fun time was had by all. I still doubt it will change my view on parties in general, especially since this one was so much better than the lame frat parties back home, but it was a really good experience. As for tomorrow, the day will be spent in the heart of Troyes.

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