From a village of less than a hundred, to one of 500, then back to my birthplace of 2000, going to Saint-Etienne (approx. 200,000) was a big jump! Believe it or not, my most fascinating early experience of the big city was going to the mall. Time and again, returning to the mall was a special, exciting experience for me. I was pretty much mesmerized by everything I saw--the crowd, the stores, particularly a music store that became a hangout of mine during the school year, and where I got my education of what was the hip music of the 80s ("New Wave)", and the 70s.