Official Poster for the Cannes Film Festival

Day Three - Friday

MORNING EXPLORATIONS

My hotel in the morning. I'm on the top floor,

middle balcony (with the cement, not iron, railings).

After blogging, I headed down to Cannes with a couple of hours to spare before work and no real agenda. I got to explore the older side of Cannes, where the streets are cobblestone and very narrow. Getting hungry, I explored my food options and finally decided on a little hole-in-the-wall place that had one table and relatively cheap gourmet food. I ordered my food in French, though the owner spoke English, and he helped me learn a few new important words relating to food and money, etc.

After buying the most delicious lasagna rolls in the world, I walked around in search of a park or cute nook to eat my lunch. I finally found the perfect spot, on a stone staircase overlooking a small street that leads directly down to the Palais.

I sat on the side of the staircase, just a few feet

from the older lady sitting there in this picture.

The view from my lunch perch... That little blue square

at the end of the street is the giant poster above

the grand staircase up to the Palais.

WORK

As I haven't waiting tables and only running food (for the last three days--soon to change), my contact with people outside of fellow waitstaff is often limited. But I did have a couple gentleman approach me as I was attempting the classic stand-around-and-try-not-to-look-bored, holding out their laptop and asking if there was someone around who could help them fix their computer.

"Of course!" I said. "We have tech students in the other room who can help you. Let me find you one."

I took their laptop and went in search of a techy. None to be found. So I asked them what the problem was. They said that they were trying to upload a video to YouTube, but it was taking five hours and kept shorting out. Aha! *mental light bulb illuminates*

"Well, I might be able to help you out," I offered.

So we took the laptop to a nearby table and I explained to them that their video was probably in the wrong codec (compression code) for the internet. I felt very proud of myself, as I've never been the person known as tech-savvy. Ever. And here I was, explaining to them all this stuff like I was a pro. All I can do is thank the gods that I took a film editing class last semester... if for nothing else than that specific conversation today.

Also, it is absolutely freezing here at Cannes. It probably would be warm and sunny, if it weren't for the blasted wind. It's cold and sweeps across the ocean, blowing lettuce leaves off the plates as I try to carry them to customers. I'm pretty sure that those poor paying people are only getting three fourths of their greens because of the weather.

Someone the other day explained to me that the cooler weather is because of the volcano in Iceland. Apparently, all of Europe is seven or eight degrees cooler than normal for this time of year because of the cloud of ash blocking the sun's rays. While I can't verify the accuracy of that statement, it sounds plausible to me.

MY SOLO EVENING

I had considered going to see another film in the evening, but there really weren't any that I wanted to see, and I was pretty tired. Three nights in a row of only three hours of sleep starts to wear on you after a while.

Instead, I decided to enjoy my solitude and went to a small café for a cup of tea before heading back to the hotel. After ordering (more French!), I sat in this adorable little nook by the window, writing a couple postcards and people-watching.

While there, a young family of a mom, dad, and twelve-year-old boy (and another young couple) came and sat at tables right on the other side of the window. It was a little awkward at first, seeing as they were literally right in front of me, but I was writing and preoccupied, so it wasn't a big deal. The 12-year-old boy sat at the chair closest to the glass door, and some time after they'd ordered their food, he started peaking at me through the gap between the window and door.

Once he said something to me that sounded like hello, but I didn't pay much mind. Then he said something else through the space in the glass, but I didn't understand so didn't acknowledge. By this time the parents and friends saw what he was up to, but just kinda laughed at it.

There was a longer pause, and then the boy says, very clearly and as suggestively as possible for a prepubescent little kid, "Vous êtes célibataire?!" ("Are you single?!") I couldn't help it. I laughed out loud. His parents did too, while the boy grinned, obviously very proud of himself. It was a great moment-- understanding a joke in another language. I was also rather proud of myself.

Star Sighting - Day Three

Michelle Yeoh, from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Star Sighting - Day Two

We saw Selma Hayek at the Majestic, the nice hotel where most of the stars stay. She's quite a bit shorter than I'd thought (about 5'5" perhaps). But she's just as beautiful in person... and surprisingly endearing. She didn't put on airs or anything like that.

Day Two - Thursday

Thursday was a good day. My morning was pretty simple. In fact, it’s turning into a routine. I go down to breakfast by 8:30am, blog until about 9:30am, and then head down to the festival. On Thursday morning, I went into the area of town behind the festival to ask someone at the phone store why I couldn’t send or receive text messages. Turns out that there is a funky area code when calling/sending texts to the United States (or a US phone being used in France). After the phone store, I bought an adorable pair of shorts to wear to work that day at a little French boutique. I also window-shopped for a bit, soaking up the atmosphere on those beautiful streets.

Then I headed to the Pavilion, where I wrote post cards until I started work.

WORK

Work was pretty good. The six hours start to get pretty long, but there is always a lot of Pavilion staff hanging around (including far too many of us on shift), so we have plenty of people to talk to.

It was nice that it was so slow too, because I got to have a really neat conversation with four venture capitalists that came into the Pavilion around 2pm. It’s funny, because all my good conversations seem to start when people ask me where I’m from. I’ll say Montana, and we’ll launch from there into “I was in Montana in ’97 and I went fishing/skiing/hiking” or “My good friend so-and-so is from/traveled through/bought property in Montana.” It’s really a great conversation starter.

Anyway, that’s how my conversation with the venture capitalists started. I stood there chatting with them for a few minutes, until I got a not-so-subtle summons from my manager to come back to work (which is stupid, because there are more than enough people there to run the show without me while I talk for a bit). So of course, whenever things got slow again, I’d head back to their table to chat some more. By the time I was ready for my lunch break, I asked if they wouldn’t mind me joining their table while I ate. They said they were more than happy to let me join them. Score!

They were really nice guys, and I am so glad that I had enough guts to join them, as the conversations were really interesting. I found it fascinating that every time I asked them about their jobs (what specifically they did, what kinds of projects they’d worked on in the past, etc), they were really secretive and wouldn’t tell me anything. I got a lot of “Oh you know, we dabble here and there.” They weren’t being rude or anything, but I was getting the message loud and clear that they didn’t want to talk about their work. Which is fine, since for a venture capitalist, talking about your work is pretty much talking about your money.

But aside from their work, which I found horribly fascinating and wanted to know so much more about, we still found plenty to talk about. They asked me a lot about myself and what I wanted to do in life. They asked me about the American Pavilion student program and if it was worth it to me, as well as what I hoped to gain out of the experience. We also talked a lot about Montana and a lot about different books.

Overall, I feel really good about the conversation. And then at the end, we stood up and shook hands, and they left. I didn’t get their cards, which is the only thing I regret about the situation. But to be honest, what would I do with their cards? And what on earth would they do with mine?

I just feel like it’s so crass to only want to talk to people in order to feel out if they can offer you something. Networking is really important, of course. But talking to people solely for the purpose of getting something from them is hardly the way to go. I'm certain people can see right through that kind of thing.

I mean, I came here to learn. Don’t get me wrong—I’d love to walk away from the festival with some sweet job or internship offer. But I also want to learn as much as possible about as many facets of the industry as possible. And you can’t learn anything from strangers if all you do is try to sell yourself.

Anywho… that’s my story about the venture capitalists. No exchanging of contact information. Just a great conversation with interesting people that I’ll probably still remember for a very long time after the festival is over. To me, that’s worth it.

MY EVENING

The end of my work shift was interesting. It was supposed to be an extremely eventful evening, as the rumor was swirling through the Pavilion that we were to be visited by Elton John, Sharon Stone, and the cast of Desperate Housewives. Of course, no one could tell if we were going to be visited by all of or a combination of some of those people, but it was obvious that someone important was coming, because the Pavilion was prepared.

The Pavilion has a little VIP section for people (who only need to pay extra) to sit and enjoy the ocean view. The area is sectioned off by a little brown picket fence, and all the tables have flower centerpieces (the Pavilion attempted to up the swank in that section to make people want to pay more… but other than a few things, it’s all the same). The funny thing is that, other than the American ambassador to France who used that area for a meal after his talk, there hadn’t been a single person in that section all day.

I got off at six, but since the rumor on the breeze was that the famous individuals would be arriving at any moment, I figured I’d stick around for a while to see them. Well, that little while turned into an hour and a half. I ate dinner and wrote postcards while waiting, but they never showed. I sorta wonder if the Pavilion was stood up.

My friends and I gave up staying to try and see them, and, since we had red carpet tickets to the premiere screening of Chongqing Blues (a Chinese film directed by Wang Xiaoshuai) that evening, we headed back to the hotel to get ready.

THE RED CARPET

After donning our gowns (we wore black cocktail dresses this time—more versatile), we took the bus back down to the festival. We were all starving, and thankfully we had just enough time to grab dinner from a little vendor before heading to the theater.

That cart sells the most delicious (and cheap) sandwiches.

Then we got to walk the red carpet! I wanted to take more pictures, but there were many, many ushers and guards everywhere, rounding up people and having them move quickly inside. Once inside, a well-orchestrated group of ushers handed along our tickets until we were taken to our seats. We had great seats. We were on the floor, in the orchestra pit area, and right behind us, separated by a large walkway, were the seats for the stars of the film.

First time on the red carpet (but hopefully not the last)!!!

Julian on the red carpet, at the top of the stairs into the theater.

In the giant 2200 seat theater, the Lumiere, where all the premieres are held.

Tyler, Beth, Julian, and me in the theater.

Since we were attending the 10:30pm premiere of the film, we all assumed that there’d been a 7:30pm premiere earlier that had had the cast and crew in attendance (as was done with Robin Hood the night before). They were showing footage of the stars walking down the red carpet as we waited, and it was fun to see the beautiful dresses, etc.

Then suddenly, an announcer said “Ladies and gentleman, please welcome Wang Xiaoshuai,” and the entire theater stood up as the director and all the cast walked in. We had been wrong—we were attending the actual premiere! And we were right next to them!

The director is in black, wearing glasses. The main character, the father, is at the very end in black. The kid in white played the son (in flashbacks).

The film itself was excellent. I loved it. The story was about a father who returned from the sea (he’s a captain) after learning that his son, who he hadn’t seen in over ten years, was shot by a police officer after taking a woman hostage in a cosmetics section of a department store. The father, by confronting those who knew him best as well as those who were with him in his final hours, tries to piece together a picture of what his son was like. It was pretty powerful.

The movie might be considered a little slow to some, but the way the camera lingered on each shot was very deliberate and almost intriguing. I also loved the way the director used cool blues and warmer hues to accent the cityscape versus the flashbacks and memories. Overall, I thought it was an extremely beautiful film, and the story was really compelling.

AFTER THE RED CARPET

After the premiere, most of us weren't tired, so we thought we'd walk around and try to find something to do. Every night there are rumors of fabulous parties, and of course, last night was no exception. So we headed off in the direction of the beach party that was getting the most attention.

We didn't have an invitation to the party. At all. But Justin, our resident BS-er and all-around good guy, got us in by saying we were here on behalf of some lady. I didn't recognize the same, but it worked. We just waltzed in. Feeling pretty good about ourselves, we took a seat and reached for the menus, looking around. There was a man playing jazz on the table (to a recorded accompaniment), and diamonds were dripping off every surface of the woman sitting at the table next. I glanced down at the menu. Caviar was 900 Euros. Nothing was under 50 Euros. We'd effectively BS-ed our way into a party that no one could afford. Needless to say, we left rather quickly. At least now I can say I've seen the festival experience of the other half.

Day One - Wednesday

So much to say, so little time!!!

MORNING

The first thing I did was go in search of a phone. I actually went to three different places and had three different conversations (almost in French) about what was the best-- and cheapest-- phone to buy. Of course, as soon as I knew how to say mobile la carte (a pay-as-you-go cell phone), the process became much easier. I'm improving my vocabulary daily.

It actually surprised me a little that English isn't more widely spoken here. I know thats an extremely ethnocentric thing to say, but I guess I figured that since there was a large festival here every year (conducted mostly in English), that more people would know it. But I don't mind. I actually love getting to speak French, and the locals here are so helpful and inviting. They appreciate that I'm learning and trying to speak their language (which apparently is not the same case in Paris).

I'm also to the point where I can order all my food in French without pointing. A funny side note on ordering in French restaurants is that the waiters don't automatically bring you your check. You have to ask for it ("L'addition, s'il vous plait!"), because they just expect you to sit around for forever afterward. I like it that way. You don't feel rushed.

And you don't tip here in France at all. The tip money is built into the food prices and the taxi fare. As is the tax. So that's pretty nice. The price they list is the price you pay, and I appreciate the simplicity of that very much.

JOB

I started my job Wednesday. I think I forgot how tired I always am after working six hours at home. Don't know why I was surprised when I was wiped out after a six hour shift in Cannes. Maybe I thought that the ocean would magically swipe the exhaustion away.

But not to worry! The job is still great. I love it. I work by the ocean (have I told you that yet?), where I can watch all the beautiful yachts (including a giant pirate ship) floating around in the deep blue. And the sunset over the water was stunning.

Everyone says that waitressing is the best networking job here, and I tended to agree. But now I have proof. In one day, almost everyone got at least one person's card. Lauren made friends with some filmmakers from Scotland who will be filming in Philadelphia (her hometown) this summer. They said they had extra red carpet tickets that they wouldn't be using. Shannon met a producer from England who gave her the number of a producer in Hollywood. Cassie gave a producer/filmmaker a copy of her Family Guy script. And I met Kim, a producer from Denmark who produced the Oscar-winning short film in 1999 (he got to give an acceptance speech) and works for the company that produced the Oscar-winning shorts in 2002 and, most recently, 2010 (The New Tenant). A good day on the networking front for all.

That being said, some of the kids are way too aggressive. It's crazy. I can't imagine that any producer would enjoy being approached solely by some student just so they can give them their card. I'm not giving out my cards. I mean, if someone asks, then yes, I have one (it's pretty too!). But otherwise, no pushing my name and phone number on some director who is just going to throw it away as soon as he leaves the table.

Work is veeeeerrrry easy. So there's lots of standing around time. This will come in handy when they start holding round-table discussions at the Pavilion, because I can pop in and listen whenever. And they are getting some pretty big names for those discussions too. Thursday is the United States Ambassador to France, and sometime in the future, we'll also have Ryan Gosling and James Franco. Oh. Yeah.

EVENING

After work, a lot of students got tickets to the red carpet premiere of Robin Hood. A few of us didn't get tickets but decided to dress up and go to the premiere anyway. We figured we'd stand outside and there was a good chance there'd be someone there not wanting their tickets. Here, if you get a ticket, it must be used, or else the person will be "blacklisted" for the rest of the film festival (can't get anymore tickets, etc).

That's a good thing for us poor students who don't get tickets. There's almost always someone wanting to get rid of their tickets.

So we went and stood in this huge crowd. We watched as the large crowd from the first showing of Robin Hood (the one attended by all the stars) left the theater. The stars all went down the stairs in small, small groups. Which wouldn't have been a problem, if the sky hadn't decided that this would be an ideal time for a pretty good rainstorm. My group was without umbrellas, so we just stood there at the rain from other people's umbrellas pooled and then poured on our shoulders. We used our bags to protect our dresses, but our hair was destroyed.

And then suddenly, out of the blue, the night turned very eventful. Lauren fainted. Just completely passed out. At first she was complaining about feeling sick. Then she wanted food. I didn't have food but offered her my water. She took the water bottle, but by then was shaking so badly that she couldn't unscrew the lid. In the time it took me to take off the water bottle cap, she'd started convulsing. I threw all my stuff at Julian (the guy with us) and grabbed Lauren as her knees started giving out. Holding her up and supporting her against my body with a giant bear hug, I pushed/waddled my way through the crowd, saying "Excuse me" in both languages (which I'm sure was unnecessary, since the look of minor panic on my face probably said it all).

I thought that maybe we'd get out of the crowd and she'd be okay. But just as we found an open sidewalk stretch, I lost her completely. She fainted and I couldn't support all her body weight (not in heels, at least). I turned and gave her to Julian. He told me to go get help. Not having any idea what kind of help we needed (and even less idea how to say it in French), I rushed through the next set of people to find a security guard standing at the door of the Palais.

Now, try asking for help in another language when you are coursing with adrenaline, don't really know what kind of help you need, and remember zero vocabulary words relating to medical emergencies. Let's just say that there was a LOT of pantomiming involved. By the time I finally conveyed that I needed help carrying a girl into the Palais who'd fainted and we returned to where Lauren had passed out, she was gone. People pointed me in the direction of where she went, and after a quick merci to the poor guard (who was probably still completely confused as to what was going on), I ran after Lauren, who was quickly disappearing into the Palais (via a private entrance).

Of course, by the time I got there, she was completely coherent and asking for food. There was a team of three paramedics (probably there to watch over the event), and they took her blood pressure and asked her (in broken English) when was the last time she'd eaten, etc. After convincing them that she was fine and didn't need anything else, we left in search of food for the poor girl's blood sugar.

We found a cute little restaurant, and after ordering pizza and wine, we pretty much just laughed the entire time about our eventful evening. All in all, it was way better than watching Robin Hood. I can see that in the States.

**pictures to come**

Star Sighting - Day Zero

While getting our tour of the Palais, we saw Kristin Scott Thomas, a famous French actress (The English Patient, The Horse Whisperer). I found out later that she is the master of ceremonies at Cannes this year.

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.

Welcome to France!

The flight to France was fast and uneventful. I think I slept the whole way.

When we arrived in Nice, there were six or seven of us total who had experienced a layover and were late getting to the program. As it turns out, most girls had their layovers in America. Lauren and I were super lucky to get stuck in Dublin.

Once we were all accounted for, which took at least an hour or so, we all took a bus ride to Cannes La Bocca (a small city next to Cannes-- there really isn't any separation between the two), where our hotel/apartment complex is located.

By the time we got to our apartments and had a mini orientation, it was already after six. We were told the morning sign-in procedures, breakfast times, and our mentor groups (I'm in Brent's group, or B Unit rather-- feels like summer camp all over again). We were also given our backpacks, American Pavilion t-shirts to wear to work, and little flash drives (with 16 GB!).

Then we got to go up to our rooms to freshen up before a mixer at 8pm.

The view from my front door on the seventh (top) floor... the complex is huge.

There are at least four large buildings,

each at seven stories high.

The view of my room from the front door.

Our kitchen, with the front door in the back.

There's also actually a small staircase by the front door

that leads to a second floor with two more bedrooms.

And my bed! It's actually remarkably comfortable

(though anything would be comfy after a long exhausting

day and some remaining jet lag).

And the best part of my room is...

THE VIEW!!!

Exploring Dublin

Trinity College

Trinity College again.

That tree on the right has to be the BEST climbing tree

I've ever seen. But people aren't allowed to walk on the grass,

so no one can get to that tree. Its such a shame.

Pretty public park.

Even though it was chilly, there were a large number

of people laying out on the lawn.

Part of the same beautiful park.

I want my backyard to look like this someday.

A very grand, very old church, right in the middle of the city.

Extremely talented street musicians playing Irish

folk rock. That kid in the middle could play that flute

so incredibly quickly, it was unbelievable.

The streets in the center of Dublin all look like this--

narrow cobblestone streets flanked by

an eclectic array of painted shops and bars.

One of the many bars in Dublin-- though this probably gets the award for best decorated.

After a long day of walking around the streets of Dublin, Lauren (my new friend) and I decided to step into one of the local pubs to rest our feet. Our only requirement was that the place had to have live music. That wasn't hard to find. So our second requirement became that we had to be able to find a place to sit down. No leaning against the wall (my legs wouldn't stand for that -- pun totally intended! haha!).

So we each ordered a Guinness (brewed fresh just outside of town), and we sat for at least two hours listening to first the band above (and then a second band). They were both fantastic groups of musicians. And the music was always so fun --upbeat and energetic-- though it all started to sound very similar toward the end (it was all Irish folk music).

Overall, I had a great time exploring a new place, and now I can say I've been to Ireland. I definitely want to come back here though. I can't wait to return and explore the Irish countryside-- it looked so beautiful green and quaint from the airplane.

And then maybe, after I've finished exploring the Irish countryside, I'll purchase this little shop that's for sale (the white one in the picture below) and start up a little French bakery. Then I'll make friends with the owners of the "Joy of Chai" tea shop next door, and we can swap scones for hot coffee every morning before we open our shops for the day.