Trifecta

July 1 - Canada Day
July 4 - Independence Day
July 14 - le jour de la Bastille

That's a lotta national celebratin' for a 2 week span, n'est-ce pas?

I didn't do anything for Canada Day, more's the pity. I should have gone in search of maple candy, or poutine (be SURE to pronounce that correctly!!) Thinking about Canada Day makes me remember frantically trying to learn the Canadian national anthem at my undergraduate graduation. (Thankfully, they print it on the inside cover of the program for us non-Canucks!)

The national anthem was one of my two "we're not in Kansas anymore" moments my first week of college: they had a big assembly to welcome all the frosh, and it opened with the national anthem. I stood up expecting to hear the familiar...only to be greeted by something I had never heard before. Whoah. The other moment centers around the concept of "the nation's capital." I grew up in the DC-area, and I'm very used to thinking of it that way. It's drummed into us by radio and television programs, not to mention graduation speeches. That first week of school, I remember being drowsy, curled up in bed not ready to face the world, and listening to the school's official radio station.

"And in other football news, the Queen's Golden Gaels travel to the Nation's Capital..."

Hmm... I wondered what they were doing in DC.

"...to battle the Ottawa Gee-Gees."

Eyes popped open - wow, where DID that tornado drop me? (I, of course, also wondered "What the fuck's a Gee-Gee")

I was only in Canada once for the 4th of July (I threw a big party - I don't think any of my Canadian friends knew WHY I had it - sneaky, eh?) Mostly, I would miss the U.S. on Thanksgiving. Canadians have their Thanksgiving on the U.S's Columbus Day, so we didn't have the day off. I'd usually drag someone out for a piece of pecan pie as my little mini-celebration.

What will I do this year for Bastille Day? Mmmm....I'm thinking a really luscious glass of wine at my favorite wine bar.

............

Update:

I forgot to mention what I did for the 4th of July this year. This is my last Independence Day in DC for the foreseeable future, but I really, really didn't want to head down to the mall: the milling throngs of tourists, inebriated locals, and general swelter. Oddly, I really wanted to study. The feeling doesn't come over me often, so I wanted to take advantage of it. I spent all day studying for the Bar and being really productive. I study in Arlington, so come "show time", I just turned off the lights and watched the show from my office. The sound and light show without the stress.