Day Zero - Tuesday

MORNING:

The morning started far too early. Breakfast and check-in (so they know you're alive) were by 8:30am. At least I've gotten over my jet lag, so besides a general lack of sleep, I did pretty well for all of yesterday.

The morning was full of activity. It was overcast and drizzling, so my friend and I went in search of a store to purchase an umbrella. It was a fruitless quest. The thing about France is that every store is highly specialized. You have to go to one store for your bread, one store for your meat cuts, and another for your fruits and veggies. Umbrellas aren't sold with the stationary, and hairbrushes isn't sold with the shoes.

But the search was fun, and I bought a bus pass along the way. I was really proud of myself actually. I purchased my bus pass while speaking entirely in French, and didn't use English once when asking the women in the trinket store where to find an umbrella. Of course, the woman spoke so quickly that I understood almost nothing of what she said, except that there were two places to find an umbrella-- one to the left and one to the right, on a street (un rue). Needless to say, I didn't end up finding an umbrella.

Cannes La Bocca - the city where I am staying.

The sign on the light post (with the 63) is for the Cannes

Film Festival.

Their quaint police station!

MID-DAY:

After the umbrella hunt, a giant group of us took the bus down to Cannes. My observations about the city (both Cannes and Cannes La Bocca) consist mostly of "AH! How cute!" and "This is fantastic!" As you can see, I am very articulate with my admiration.

The cars here are all tiny and look a lot like Smart Cars. Most of them are also really nice (Audis and BMWs everywhere). And everyone lives in apartments. I haven't seen many houses here at all, but the apartments almost always have quaint balconies with wrought-iron railings and window plants.

Once in Cannes, the entire afternoon was a lot of hurry-up-and-wait. We hung out outside the front of the Pallais, where the festival is being held, until it was time to take a giant group picture.

Our picture was taken on those giant steps in front. The huge

poster above the steps has the names of the big directors who have

films in the festival (including Woody Allen and Xavier Dolan).

Then, after taking pictures, we waited for our official badges (to be guarded with our lives). After that, we dispersed into our job groups so that we could all get a little job training in before lunch.

My job is going to be waitressing, and as the American Pavilion overlooks the ocean and waitressing is the best job here as far as networking goes, I'm pretty happy. Other jobs given to interns included event photographers, tech support, and sign in/greeting people. None of us got placed with production companies and such, which is pretty much what I expected, but if I come back as an alumni in the future, I can get placed with one. So that's a thought...

For lunch we got to go wherever and eat wherever, and we explored a little of Cannes. We ended up eating delicious (cheap) sandwiches on baguettes (mine was mozzarella, basil, and prosciutto).

AFTERNOON:

We came back from lunch to do more waiting. Then we got a brief walking tour of the area of Cannes right around the festival. It was really just walking-- no official explanations involved.

Pictures of Cannes:

Le Monoprix is like our Target apparently.

All those things I need, in one place. Excellent.

Then we took a tour of the Pallais, where most of the festival is being held.

That's Pip, one of our mentors. He's actually American, but you can't tell by looking at him. I personally think he invented his persona to fit his name. If I had a name like Pip, I would too.

EVENING:

After all the official events for the day, we headed out on our own. A group of us had dinner at an open air cafe, where I ordered all my food in French and I didn't even have to point at the menu. And then later, when we wanted to look at a wine menu, I asked for that too in French, and she understood me. I feel so accomplished.

Dinner was followed by dessert at this adorable little 50s diner. It was totally an American-looking establishment, but my dessert, a meringue (an almost chalky-- but in a good way-- hardened chocolate meringue), was very French.

Then we walked back to the hotel. It was a solid forty-five minute walk, and I probably wont walk it again. But I figured that I should at least walk it once to see what its like.

The marina is full of yachts-- huge ones and smaller ones like the one

shown here. Someday, I would love to come to Cannes and stay on a yacht.

I don't really need to have one myself, but I'd love to stay on one.

A cool castle on the hill on the way out of Cannes.

I really want to explore this before I leave!

The beach was beautiful... a perfect spot for a romantic picnic.

And I definitely plan on crashing a yacht party while I'm here.

Preferably on one like that giant one in the distance.