Monaco/Monte Carlo

Hilary, Zac, Katio, Lindsay, Cory, and I all took a train to Monaco on Thursday after class around 4 p.m. We arrived around 5 p.m. and could not believe the beautiful view from the train station! Monaco is a stacked setting city where you have to take stairs to get to certain places. When we got off the train we were significantly above sea level. We figured out from someone at the train station that our hotel we were staying in for the night was only a fifteen minute walk. Some of the girls wanted to try and hail a cab but they did not seem to want to stop for us. So we wandered the streets of Monaco looking for our place. I took the lead and guided us to a dead end...so one of the guys decided to take charge! haha Thankfully it only took us about 30 minutes to find it. We were surprised to see it was a very nice hotel...better than what we have been staying in at JLP. Our room was very modern and spacious. Hilary, Zac, and I shared a room together. We set our bags in our place and decided to explore. Once we got out of our place we found stairs that looked like they leaded to a subway but they led us to the beach instead. Right above the beach level there was a beautiful park with a snack bar and breathtaking scenery. We had to take an elevator from this level down to the beach. It was a picturesque view of the sea with all the boats and cruise ships. We hung around here for a little and took a lot of pictures. Afterwards we ventured out to find the famous Casino Royale. We discovered a very nice bar buddha connected to it as well that we thought we should check out later. Hilary and I went off on our own to wander around the back of the casino. It was gorgeous and there were all of these hotels rooms connected under ground throughout it. We took lots of pictures here as well. It was very beautiful scenery and I was very jealous of all the extremely wealthy people who get the chance to stay there! We met back up with everyone and walked throughout the streets of Monte Carlo. There were a countless number of designer stores we were dieing to go in but they were all closed. We went back to the snack bar place from early and had a quick snack before we got ready for the night. That night we went to a random restaurant we found and had delicious meals. We had some complication with our waiter but we were able to straighten it out. We then ventured to a bar we spotted and hung out in there for a little while...we were the only ones in there, so I suppose it was not very popular. Afterwards we were able to get into the buddha bar and socialized with a few people for a little while. Then Lindsay, Katio, Zac, and Cory wandered off and Hilary and I went to this bar named Jimmys. We snuck in with another big group walking in. It was very cool and entertaining...the only bad thing was that one drink was 20 euros! Later on Lindsay and the rest of them tried to get in and well and the bouncers would not let them. So needles to say they were kind of upset with us for getting in but we were not about to leave! We had a great time mingling around and pretending we were posh! The next morning we had to check out around 11 a.m. and thankfully Lindsay, Cory, and Katio decided to stay for another night so we put  our stuff in their room to stay for the day! We went exploring again, this time we saw the famous Hotel de Paris where a lot of movies are filmed. We were able to see the Casino from the front but we were too under dressed to go in. I noticed there were all these random stadium seating stands throughout Monaco/Monte Carlo and we realized it was from the grand prix car race that had just ended on Sunday. Some of the streets still had reminiscences of car racing decorations. The streets are very narrow and winding, I have no idea how someone could race on that! We explored a lot of the history on Grace Kelly in Monaco as well. It was very neat to read about what she did. After that Hilary and I went back to the hotel got our stuff and rushed to the train station the make one of the early trains. We arrived just as it was about to leave and we quickly hopped on. When we got back to JLP we both passed out for about four hours. Then we woke up did some work and planned our adventures for Saturday. Saturday we went to Old Nice, Eze, and Ventimiglia. I will write more details on this later and post all of the beautiful pictures!

Final full week in JLP

This past Monday the 28th our classes started. We have them every day from 9-1:30, with a 30 minute break in between. I am really enjoying Dr. Smith's class learning about all the marketing and production of movies. On Monday we learned of a project due on Thursday, where we got into groups and picked a film from the festival to figure out strategy for releasing the film in the U.S. and what we will do with it once we get the film into the states. The movie I was assigned to was Mud, which I was very happy about since I enjoyed it so much. In Dr. Kohn's class he discussed with us how to write film reviews well and then he picks students to read reviews he liked the most. Surprisingly I was the first one to read on Monday. I did my first review on Rust and Bone and it was a positive one. I mainly focused on the music and cinematography. Another classmate of mine, Grafton was selected to read his review of Rust and Bone as well and his review was very negative. From the comments of fellow students, most seemed to think his review was better written. I thought, how could you not enjoy the cynical and entertaining opinion he had. After class I went to do some laundry and try to get a new phone card for my phone, but the phone store was closed. I accidentally turned my white shorts and white tank tops light blue because I was not thinking and mixed all my laundry since it was so expensive to do. I borrowed bleach from someone and was able to get most of the color out. Our residence did not have internet either so I decided to go across the street to this little restaurant I really enjoy, Pan and Cake that had wifi. After I accessed all the information I needed to write my third set of reviews I went into my room to write. That night I planned a dinner for all of us to go to at Cafe Milan down the street from our place. Of course I was the last one to get there and sat at a separate table with Hilary, Lindsay, and Katio. We still had a great time and got complimentary drinks! Hilary and I went to finish our reviews after dinner and then went out for a little while with a small group of people. It was a quiet night but we enjoyed each others company since we were having withdraws from the festival. The next day class was pretty much the same as the day before but it was a beautiful and warm sunny day out. Right when class ended a group of us headed straight for the beach. The water was freezing but Madeline and I decided to go for a swim, it was very refreshing! The salt water was so clear and it did not sting my eyes like it usually does. There were barely any waves and I noticed a lot of people enjoyed swimming laps far out into the sea. That night Collin and Gary came to visit me, Hilary, and Laurie in jlp. We went to a really nice dinner at one of the beach restaurants. I had delicious grilled salmon and vegetables. Colin was very funny/entertaining and reminds me of Austin Powers with the ridiculous things he says and the grand gestures he makes. Gary was very polite and quite funny. We did not stay out late that night and I did my best to go to bed early. Wednesday morning Hilary and I were exhausted even though we did not stay out too late. After class we took about a two hour nap and then met with our group at Pan and Cake to work on our project. It did not take us long to finish and I had a delightful cappuccino with an omelet, fries, and salad. We headed back to our room afterwards and worked on our reviews. We were the only room that was lucky enough to get internet. Zac came over and visited with us for a little while and we had a few good laughs and then went to bed. Yesterday we also made our traveling plans. We made reservations for a one night stay in Monaco. It will be me, Hilary, Zac, Katio, Lindsay, and Cory. We are leaving today after class and spending the day there tomorrow as well. Friday night we plan to go to Ventimiglia, Italy to have dinner, so we can say we went to Italy! haha We have not decided exactly where we are doing Saturday and Sunday but we plan to do day trips!

Last couple of days of the Cannes Film Festival

Thursday the 24th Hilary and I took a break for the day and just prepared for the premiere of the Paperboy premiering that night. We were able to get there early enough to beg for tickets! Zac and I were able to sit together in the balcony. We both really enjoyed the screening, Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, and Matthew McConaguhey starred in. Nicole Kidman starred in a roll I had never seen her play before and I really enjoyed it. I would recommend seeing this film when it comes to the states. I have already written about Friday when I received Robert Pattinson's autograph and saw his premiere of Cosmopolis(best day of my life.) After the premiere on Friday we went to a party at the American Pavilion and socialized and networked with a few people. We also went to a bar called Byrons where they made mojitos in giant glasses and put roman candles and sparklers in them! We wandered around in Cannes for a little while after and ended up taking a taxi home soon after. Saturday Hilary and I hung around jlp and worked on a few reviews for Dr. Kohn's class. We left around 5 to make the train to Cannes for the Mud premiere with Reese Witherspoon and Matthew McConaguhey. Of course the trains were on strike and were about an hour behind. We called Sara a taxi that we have been taking since we've been here because she is a great price. It took her about an hour to get to jlp from Cannes because there was tons of traffic. As Sara arrived to pick us up a train was leaving and a few people took the train and made it to Cannes 20 minutes before us. We arrived in front of the Palais at 6:45 p.m. and the premiere started at 7 p.m. We were frantically holding up our signs and two of the girls were quickly handed tickets and swooped away. Right as I got there some random man in a nice tux came up to me and started randomly talking and I found out he was from Atlanta, Ga. He told me he was going to give me his extra orchestra ticket if his date did not arrive in time, I was very eager about this. Unfortunately his date arrived ten minutes before it was time to go in. Hilary and I were the only ones left trying to get last minute tickets. Finally a kind Asian man comes up to me and hands me a ticket for balcony seating...I did not want to go in until Hilary had a ticket so I waited around with her for a few minutes. Right before I headed in someone gave her a ticket in the orchestra! I was so jealous and she got great seats and was able to meet Reese Witherspoon! My friend Deanna received orchestra seats as well and sat two seats away from Alec Baldwin and Robert Pattinson, needless to say I was EXTREMELY jealous! Deanna told me Rob was even cuter in person! I still thoroughly enjoyed the film and think it was one of my favorites. I would suggest everyone see it when it comes to the states! There are two really cute young boys starring in it as well. One of the boys starred in the Tree of Life film with Brad Pitt that was released last year. After the premiere we all met outside to wait and see if any stars would come by. While we were waiting a random man named Dan came over to us and asked if we would like to experience "Champagne dreams and caviar wishes!" I thought this was an odd question and was not so sure about it but the rest of the group thought it sounded like fun. So we followed this man and his posse to the Ritz Carlton. His "private" room was not ready so we sat on the patio and chatted. Dan told us he was a producer and explained to us his grand idea of creating 3D television where you will not need glasses. He told everyone around us his great plans and was very repetitive. So we all started calling him 3D Dan. It started getting late so we decided to go to the Cannes Cinema Club instead. It was a very cool swanky looking jazz club. One of the rooms entrances was a book case that opened. We met another group of producers/musicians in the club. The producer was a man from Liverpool named Collin and the musicians were Nick(who had electric blue hair) and Scott(who had bright blonde hair) who were from L.A. They were here to market the music in their film, they did not expect anyone in Cannes to be interested in actually buying the film. They ended up having producers come to one of their screenings and 10 of them were interested in buying it. They were very ecstatic about this! We also met Gary who was with them and he was a recent graduate from Union Station in Northern London. He was a public relations major and took a class taught by Collin and he was trying to get an internship with Nick and Scott in L.A.  They were on their way to Old Cannes for dinner so we decided to join them. The streets of old Cannes reminded me of San Francisco. They were cobble stoned and very steep. We found a very cute, nice cave like restaurant to have dinner. While we were eating 3D Dan had a little too much wine and passed out! We all decided it would be best to try to leave him. We decided to go the Casino club with them after dinner. We could only get in with a special pass, which they had. This was where Rob and Kristen were seen on Wednesday night. Once we got to the Casino 3D Dan had caught up with us. When we got inside we were able to lose him again. The Casino was very posh and there was a beautiful patio with a grand piano on it and people were doing karaoke around the piano. We hung out here for a little and then went back to Nick and Scott's yacht where we heard some of their music they produced in their film, it was mainly rock&roll. Once I saw the sun coming up I decided we should probably go back to jlp and get some rest before we had our last day in Cannes. Hilary and I woke up on Sunday around 11 a.m. We were still extremely exhausted, but glad that we had such an entertaining last night in Cannes. Hilary and I arrived in Cannes around 1:30 to see the screening of Amour in the Debussy theater which ended up winning the Palme d'Or. This is the highest award you can win at the festival. Unfortunately Hilary and I did not really enjoy the film and left a littler earlier. We went to get delicious gelato we were told was amazing, and they were right! Then we went to stand in line at the Debussy again for the screening of the Hunt, which was a film we had been trying to see since the beginning of the festival. It was an intense and riveting film that we both loved and ended up doing our final reviews on. When the film ended we went to Cafe Roma to watch the Cannes Film Festival award shows. Only two people from our group ended up going to this because it was nasty and rainy outside and most of us didn't bring anything nice to change into. The lead actor of the Hunt Mad Mikkelsen won best male actor. This terrible film I saw near the beginning of the Festival, Reality won the Gran Prix(runner up.) The only winner I was really excited about was Mikkelsen. We all decided to leave Cannes after we watched the award show and me, Nick, Austin, and Alex all decided to stop by the Monoprix(like target) to get a few things. We ended up missing the train and had to take one to Antibes and then do a 20 minute walk from Antibes to jlp. Thankfully it had stopped raining by this time but it was pretty chilly. That night I had a quick bite to eat at the fast burger places with Zac and Austin and went to bed by midnight(I think this is the earliest I've gone to sleep since I've been here.)

Adventures continued....

Wednesday the 23rd I decided to sleep in a little. On my way to the train station to head into Cannes I ran into Laurie and Erin. We all decided to go to the press conference for On the Road to see if we could get a glimpse of Kristen Stewart, Garrett Hedlund, and Kirsten Dunst. Thankfully we arrived just in time to see them coming out of there press conference and I took some pretty good pictures of them! Afterwards we went to go see Like Someone in Love, which was a Japan drama. It was very slow paced and kind of pointless...I did not like it. Then Philip Kaufman came to speak to us at the American Pavilion. The movie he had in the festival was Hemingway and Gellhorn, which we were able to screen before we left for Cannes. Afterwards we all changed into our nice red carpet clothing and went to beg for tickets, for the premiere of On the Road. Thankfully I was fortunate enough to get a ticket for Hilary and I. There was a big group of us that got to sit all together in balcony seats. It was a very interesting movie and I would really like to read the book now. It should be in the states sometime soon. While we were in the balcony seats Hilary told me to look up at the screen where they had the red carpet streaming live. Of course Rob is making his way down the carpet! I was overwhelmed with giddiness and joy! I had no idea that he would be at the On the Road premiere, I thought he would only be at his films premiere on Friday! I was able to run down to corbielle seating where you can look over the edge to see the people in orchestra seats and I spotted him right away! He looks even better than his pictures and his mannerisms are just as I expected(sorry this sounds creepy). I could not believe I was actaully seeing him in the flesh for the firs time! I was able to see Kristen and Garrett as well. There were some pretty intense scenes in the film and I was wondering what the actors were thinking of themselves when this was happening. Its such a cool feeling to be in the theater with the stars when they have a film premiering. After the premiere I ran back down to the coribelle seats again to try and get better pictures of Rob, they were pretty blurry but I was content with just seeing him for myself! It was so cute seeing him clapping and smiling for Kristen's film (they are supposedly together.) He really seemed to enjoy her performance. Right as he left his road he was surrounded by his bodyguard...I guess they knew I was in the theater. We headed home after this premiere and got a quick bite to eat and did our best to go to bed early. Thursday was the premiere of Paperboy(turned in paper?) starring Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, and Matthew McConaughey.

Robert Pattinson!

The most AMAZING week!

I am glad I am finally able to update my blog! Last Saturday the 19th I was fortunate enough to get two tickets to the Lawless premiere and I gave one to Zac! It was a great film starring Tom Hardy and Shia Labeouf, I was very surprised and impressed by it. After the screening we had a late dinner at a nearby restaurant and I had the most delicious grilled chicken. We were going to stay after and hang out in Cannes for a little but Lindsey lost her wallet and was not feeling up to it so we all decided to take a taxi home. Sunday Hilary and I slept in and then went to Cannes to see Confessions of a Child of the Century...it was a very slow and bizarre movie. Be glad it will not be coming to the U.S. We then ventured to a delicious dessert place that I cannot remember the name of. I had the most delicious chocolate mousse that came in a tiny glass jar. I will post a picture of it soon! We tried to make it to another movie called Antiviral but the theater quickly filled up after we stood in line for thirty minutes. Hilary and I stayed up til around five that night writing our first reviews that were due the following day. We had to choose two different movies we had seen to write one long and one mini review on. I will post this other blog later as well. Monday Hilary and I got up early because we wanted to make it to the screening of the Hunt. We were in line for about an hour and a half and about to walk in until press barged in front of us and took our seats! Needless to say Hilary and I were a little upset but we met these really kind Japanese producers in line. One of them told me he used to work for a small television station in Japan when he was younger. I told him that was something I was doing this summer! He had some great tips for me. Hilary and I wandered on over to the Palais and walked into a random Israel movie called Bear...it was very disturbing but I was able to follow it. Afterwards we went to see Frank and Chip: The Olympic Experience, a documentary on the first married couple to attend the Olympics together. It was a very cute and informative documentary. Hilary and I went back to JLP and met up with Deanna to eat dinner, I had a delicious filet mignon and felt full for the first time since I've been here. During dinner they kept asking me questions about my gluten sensitivity and Hilary decided to give up gluten for the rest of the week to see what it is like. Then we took another trip to the Casino (the grocery store.) Later on I went with Zac to get his dinner and we got lost on our way back. We all finished our reviews together and had a quite, restful night. Tuesday I woke up at 8 a.m. to see You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, it was a very interesting movie about a play. We had two speakers meet with us in Cannes that day. They were Jonathan from Participant and Australian/Dutch director Paul Cox. They both had very different views but I enjoyed hearing what they both had to say. Around 3:30 Hilary and I went to the red carpet to wait for Brad Pitt to walk by. We were very dedicated and stood in our spots for about 3 hours. Even though I became a little claustrophobic and this man continuously bumped into me, it was definitely worth it! Brad popped out of his car and immediately started signing autographs for fans surrounding the red carpet. As he made his way down the carpet Hilary and I were in awe of his beauty. He slowly shuffled up the stairs posing as he did. He came over to the side we were near and waved right at us and Hilary and I both snapped amazing shots of him. We were so excited and overwhelmed that we were able to see him SO close. Then we met up with some friends for dinner and headed over to the majestic to mingle with some celebs. Hilary and I changed into our evening clothes and posted up in the bar to casually sip on wine and wait for celebrities. I was telling Hilary a story when she looks at me wide eyed and slowly points for me to turn around...there he was Matthew McConaughey standing right in front of us with his beautiful wife. He was wearing and all black suit with his curly hair slicked back. He was very attractive but a little shorter than I expected. Hilary and I did our best to continue conversation with one another but we had some trouble trying not to stare at him. Hilary was able to get a photo off him right before he left! Later on in the night Paris and Nicky Hilton briskly walked on by us. We could not believe we were actually seeing celebrities off the screen! I will post the rest of my past week later on :)

 delicious dessert!

 Brad Pitt waving at us!

 Matthew McConaughey...whoops he caught us!

Having wine at the snazzy Majestic hotel!

MY LIFE IS OFFICIALLY COMPLETE!

The day I have been preparing for, for about seven years has finally come! I MET ROBERT PATTINSON! Today is the day I have been preparing for since I arrived in Cannes. My roommate Hilary and I woke up around 8:30 a.m. to go to the press conference for Rob's premiere of Cosmopolis tonight. I put on the snazziest day dress that I have and made sure I did my makeup and hair just right! We caught the 9:39 a.m. train into Cannes and arrived in the Palais where the press conference was to be held around 10 a.m. We were some of the first there so we were able to stand as close as the security guards would let us! We waited for about an hour and I cannot even remember exactly what was going through my mind. All I know is I was very shaky and could not form complete sentences to anyone. Once we saw the doors close on our left we knew they were letting them in from the other side. This is when the hyperventilating began...First Sarah Gadon who plays Elise Shifrin in the film walked down and she was signing autographs and taking photos. She came up to me and Hilary and gave us an autograph and I told her thank you so much and she told me how sweet I was and asked if we were having a good time at the festival! I'm not sure what other movies she has been in but I was already starstruck! Then Rob appears and the panicking/excitement increased by a TRILLION. I videoed him the entire time while people were constantly shoving things at him to sign. Thankfully he brought his own sharpie! Once he got close to me in the line he started walking away to go into the press conference room but thankfully my constant shriek of, "ROB, ROB, ROB...please sign this," persuaded him to come back over! He was laughing and smirking at us so I believe he did not mind/enjoyed it! He looked up right as he walked away and I told him thank you! It was literally the best moment of my life...I teared up a little bit afterwards but I was able to keep calm. Two camera men came up to me to interview my reaction and that was a bit embarrassing/awkward but I did not have a problem expressing my emotions to them!!! I have photos and a video that I will try to post, it is all very entertaining! I am going to do my best to get an orchestra seat in the premiere tonight so I can be seated near him!

Last night Hilary, Zac, Lindsey, Katio, and I were all in the Majestic hotel bar casually having drinks and socializing. All of a sudden Lindsey recognizes Sam Riley who plays one of the leads, Sal Paradise in the film On the Road. He was sitting at the bar with who we think was his wife and another actor from the film Danny Morgan. Lindsey wanted to go up and introduce herself and tell him how she liked him in On the Road which we had seen the night before. I was going to go with her but she was too nervous so I became very courageous and went on my own. I walked up and told them I thought I recognized them from the film On the Road and they said yes that they were both in it. I introduced myself to them and shook both of their hands and told them how great they were in the film. They kindly smiled and thanked me and I told them to have a wonderful rest of the night. It was so amazing meeting them and not as nerve racking as I thought it would be. I really enjoyed Sam's performance and I cannot believe I was able to go up to him like that! Very productive past two days I believe! :)

I have so many other great stories to write about that have happened this week. I will add all of my other amazing stories and photos on Sunday when the festival comes to a close.