“Profitez bien” is probably one of the most frequently used well wishes in France.
Essentially, it is a sort of all encompassing “enjoy”. Enjoy an event, enjoy yourself, have fun, make the most of it, ‘profitez-bien’. One way I have been trying to profit from my time here has been to sign up for the cultural experiences offered to us through the IES program by our coordinators. This past week, I was able to attend a classical music concert for Nantes’ “Folle Journée”, a festival comprised of a series of classical music concerts, as well as a production of Molière´s “Le Malade Imaginaire”.
Orchestras have long been one of my favorite performances to attend. I find it beautiful to watch the instruments and musicians moving in unison, and in this case to watch the singer express her songs. Since she sang in German, it was a relief not to be the only person in the room who didn’t fully understand the words. Music truly is a universal language.
The Molière production was held in Nantes’ Théâtre-Graslin Opera house. The building was intricate and old on the interior and exterior, with painted ceilings and stone cherubs along the walls. My favorite part was the costumes of the first act, which was set at a carnival. Every character had the mask of a different animal, and each actor or actress personalized their dancing and performance to incorporate the qualities of said animal.
This said, I highly recommend taking advantage of the cultural experiences that your program may offer. While I do enjoy exploring things on my own at times, it is always helpful to have someone there who knows the city better than we do and can find events like this that I might not have discovered by myself. And, since the budget for all of the cultural events is already included in the program, all we had to do was show up and “profitez bien”.