Thursday, November 20, 2008

Nightclub Experience

Last week Thursday, I went to a French nightclub for the first time. My university (well the IMUS - Institut de Management de l'Université de Savoie) had a Soirée Kitch - Tous à pois at Opéra Discothèque, a club here in Chambéry. Basically, it was supposed to be a kinda 80s party and guests were supposed to wear polka dots (à pois) if they wanted a free cocktail! Well it was only 5€ (instead of 10) for tickets bought in advance, and I was curious... so I went (of course, with two English assistants!). Since I only have polka dot pyjama pants lol, I decided to pass on the polka dots.

We arrived at the club a little after 11. First, we had to pay 2€ each to leave our coats. Ok...ready to actually get inside the club... the lady at the coat place, said we had to leave our bags too! I mean, seriously now, my handbag?? With my passport, etc? Sigh! So I had to decide on the spot what I wanted to carry inside... reassured by my friends that my stuff/passport would be safe, I chose to hold my purse, camera and cell phone. All this time, the worker was being a real garce telling another worker "Oh, pourquoi c'est toujours moi?" (Why is it always me?) ... clearly I just ignored her...

Finally, we got to walk around inside the club. After 11pm ... the place was pretty empty - like 30 people if so many lol - and about 80% of the early-birds were guys. The dj was cranking up the techno music! After sitting around for a while, seeing more people come in bit by bit, I finally heard the best song for the night (in my opinion) - Sean Paul's Temperature!!! Yay!!!! Music that would actually be played in a typical trini club!!! lol. The only similar song I heard was Kat De Luna and Elephant Man - Whine up ... that's it!!! The next best song I heard was Discobitch - C'est beau la bougeoisie ... notice something? Veryyy different from Sean Paul, etc... it was pretty much techno whole night!!! and some 70/80s stuff (e.g. We will rock you).

More "culture shock"... There was a glass booth so people could smoke in the club without really smoking in the club (if that makes sense). Drinks were ridiculously expensive ... e.g. 6€ for a glass of Malibu and pine (a TT$15 drink for $TT60!!!). It's not worth it!! Oh and if our French translations were right, it seemed as though people can purchase expensive bottles of alcohol (e.g. 350€ a bottle), and leave it with the club for when next they go back to Opéra. Also, a few times I wondered to myself "why are people dancing so far apart?". Lol, don't lemme start with the dancing! Well to be honest, you can't really look to "wine down the place" haha to techno! It was fun though, just different! And of course, I joined in!! (Hope no Caribbean people saw me embarrassing/enjoying myself, just kidding!). And I didn't come across any sick men either... this is odd... girls just dancing by themselves in peace lol and guys just dancing by themselves... *confused*

Apparently the closest club where they play Caribbean music, etc. is in Grenoble, which is an hour away by train. After that night at Opéra, I was really tired the next day... not so much when I was teaching because the students have so much energy, but during uni... yea, I felt a lil nod coming on after lunch! Overall it was a fun night out, but I don't think I'll be going back in a hurry lol

1 comment:

Unknown said...

It would have been comical if you wore your polka dot pajama pants, Alicia. Haha :P Good thing you didn't wear it! A French club is one of the most ideal places to practice French - actually it's how I became fluent in French. I'm glad to know that the club has a glass booth for smoking that keeps the non-smokers comfortable.

Ella Fleming