A week of culture and sadness. Sunday I went to my first ever opera, Le Nozze di Figaro, and we finally got to see the inside of the renovated Opéra here. As we'd bought tickets from CROUS for 5 euros we were given the 'worst' seats right at the top, but actually they weren't too bad. Apart from the fact that it was in Italian, so I understood about 5 minutes from the first 45 minute act. It was only when I changed position in my seat that I realised the bar across the front of our seats (to stop people plunging to their death) was covering a digital board above the stage where French subtitles were being shown. The rest of the 3h35 (who knew they were so long?!) opera I enjoyed and understood much more. The only other bad thing was that it was 35C outside and there was no aircon in the theatre, so everyone was literally sweltering the whole time.

Tuesday was GL's dance show in town, so LA and I went along to support her. After a bit of a rush through a less than salubrious area we made it to the theatre with 2 minutes to spare. Yes there was a man musing on the philosophy of dance between each of the acts, but apart from that it was really enjoyable; especially two male professional dancers for the finale.

Wednesday, on the advice of GL, we went to Corum to see 'Yes we can't", a 'contemporary ballet' by an apparently famous choreographer. I can safely say it was the worst thing I've ever seen. From the continuous wailing to the half time 'appology' in English for the standard of dance in English it was a disaster. People were even leaving before the end and during the applause, which shows how bad it was. Never Again.

Friday was a sad day all round, as GL and IP, our final two erasmus friends left. As it customary with Italians and GL (sorry GL, but it's true), it was a bit of a nightmare. LA and I split up to help each of them, with me taking GL. With a 16h25 train to catch, at 15h30 GL was still packing and I'd been sent running to the post office to stamp various papers. Meanwhile across town, LA was being sent to buy another suitcase as IP had too much stuff. Luckily GL made her train and we both took IP to get the bus with her 3 giant suitcases at 22h, which obviously arrived 30 minutes late.

And then it was two. The cat and the fox. Mother and daughter. Or as we're thinking of it: those two characters from Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Obviously I'm Scarlett Johansson.