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.

Moonrise Kingdom red carpet

 Jessica Chastain giving us an autograph!

Bérénice Bejo from the Artist

 Freida Pinto!

 Wes Anderson

 The back of Bruce Willis! haha

 Eva Longoria!

Diane Kruger

What a whirlwind!

These past two days have gone by so quickly and I have seen so many great movies! Thankfully I have chosen to see movies that are in competition for the festival instead of out of competition. Every single person I have talked to who has seen out of competition films has said they were not very good. On Thursday I was able to get into my first movie at the Lumiere which is the theater where are the in competition movies premiere. The premieres of in competition movies screenings in the Lumiere with the actors are around 7 or 8 at night. Deanna and I were able to get tickets from someone for the 3 in the afternoon premiere which was a little easier since the actors were not in the theater at this time. The movie I saw in there was "De Rouille Et D'os" (Rust and Bone), it was in french of course but there were subtitles. It was an emotional movie but I really enjoyed it. It stars Marion Cotillard from "Inception" and she did a fabulous job. Afterwards we went to the American Pavilion and there was a cocktail party from 6-8 with free drinks and h'orderves. We were able to socialize and network with people here so it was a great opportunity. Zac and I went to see "Mystery" in the Debussy theater after we mingled a little at the pavilion. It was a very intense Chinese movie but we really enjoyed it. We went and hung out by a panini stand waiting for another group to finish their movie. While we were sitting there fireworks started going off for the "Mystery" after party and they were so amazing! The Chinese really know how to party...I tried getting into it with my badge but I was denied haha! Earlier on Thursday I saw "Moonrise Kingdom" which was the opening premiere the night before that I did not make it into. I was happy I got a chance to see it because it was a very cute and endearing film. While I was waiting to go into that film I met some very nice/annoying Americans! The guy I met told me he was working for some company buying movies and that he was a musician/actor. I found this very comical because he seemed to expect me to swoon over him when he said this...and I did not. haha Yesterday was a very long day as well. I went to see "Rust and Bone" again because I had enjoyed it so much and I wanted to see how the other people I was with would react. We were all tearing up by the end of it. We were tying to see "After the Battle" in the same theater afterwards but it had been cancelled. So we went to eat the American Pavilion and got in line early to see the "Beasts of the Southern Wild" which was a hit at Sundance Film Festival. It was a movie based on New Orleans. Zac, Deanna, and I rushed back home to change into formal wear for the red carpet premiere of "Reality" an Italian movie. Of course we got on the wrong train and went all the way to Nice. We got back to Juan Les Pins around 8:40 changed really fast and we were on a train back to Cannes at 9:11. We had some other friends already there trying to get tickets so they were able to get more than one and Zac was able to get one for me! We got to walk the red carpet together and it was very cool and overwhelming. I will post pictures of this soon! Sadly the movie was not very good but it was very cool seeing the film with the actors and some people seemed to enjoy the movie. It did not end until 12:30 pm and none of us had really eaten yet so we went to a cafe afterwards and had dinner. We had to take a taxi home because the train stations closes around 11. I got home around 2 pm and I was exhausted so I am taking it easy today and getting ready for the premiere of "Lawless" starring Shia Labeouf, Tom Hardy, Jessica Chastain, and Guy Pierece! Hopefully I will be lucky enough to get a ticket! Dracula in 3D is premiering afterwards and I want to try to go to that as well.

OH MY STARS!

Sadly I did not get into the opening premiere of "Moonrise Kingdom"...even though the other four girls I went with did! I must have been making a displeased(frowny) face after they received tickets into the premiere before me so the "important" people decided I did not deserve one. I'm sure you all know what frowny face I am talking about! So the group of us who did not get into the premiere hung out at the American Pavilion which we were fortunate enough to have passes for! We were able to get food and drinks in here. Once we were done we decided to go back to JLP and on our way out we were blocked by a red carpet! The premiere had ended and everyone was on their way to a fancy dinner. We were on the "important" people side so all of the stars and super starts came through the side of the gate we were on! We saw...Alec Baldwin, Jessica Chastain, Eva Longoria, Ewan McGregor, Chris Pine, Wes Anderson, Freida Pinto, Tilda Swinton, Diane Kruger, Bill Murray, and Bruce Willis! I will post pictures tomorrow!!!

Pictures!

 The beach in Juan Les Pins

 The Yachts I will be mingling on

 Our group at the entrance to the Cannes film festival! I look extremely excited!

 Cannes banners displayed throughout the city!

 Don't I look just like Cameron Diaz...?

Cannes!

Lost room key...

This morning was very interesting to say the least. Last night around 10 my friend DeAnna and I went to get a quick bite to eat. When we came back to my place I unlocked my door and accidentally left my key in it. A few minutes later we heard someone knocking and french voices so we were hesitant to opening the door. I had already forgotten that my keys were in the door, so I assume they were trying to notify us. After they left we were going to head down to another friends room and I remembered I had left the key in the door. I went to Anna's room our program coordinator and explained to her what happened. Her and I went down to the lobby to talk to the person who works at the front desk overnight. He only spoke french of course and told us no one had turned in a key yet. So my roommate Hilary and I moved all of our important belongings into Anna's room and we slept in there for the night. This morning Hilary went to check on our room and a pillow had been moved onto our counter and our balcony door had been left open with leaves and a lighter on it. Anna and I went back downstairs and told the man who works at the desk during the day and he has been notified of our incident. I had to pay 90 euros to replace our door lock and keys! The good thing is they were able to replace it right away and the man who works at the front desk came into our room and investigated. He figured out the way the leaves had been thrown onto our balcony it had to of come from an apartment above. He said it was three french boys in there early 20s staying in the apartment above us. He guessed the boys were just messing with us because they saw pretty girls and they are immature. He went up to their room to talk to them but I do not think they answered. So since the lock has now been changed they cannot get in anymore. Hopefully they will not pester us or we will have to change rooms. Hilary was very sweet about all of it and I told her I would sew the key to myself. haha

First visit to Cannes

Yesterday we met with Professor Kohn and he went over his expectations for us for the film reviews we will be turning in. He said each student will probably end up presenting 2 or 3 of their film reviews...probably 0 or 1 for me haha! Afterwards we finally went to Cannes and it is the most beautiful place I have ever seen! It reminds me of a French L.A. It was only a ten minute train ride from our residence in Juan Les Pines. We arrived in Canne around 1:30 and took a group photo in front of the entrance to the festival! Everyone there was so excited and full of energy. People were walking all over the place with their badges and Cannes gift bags we receive with all of the films information and schedules. We proceeded to have a 30 minute class in the park with the harbor full of beautiful yachts as our scenery. Then we went into the festival to get our badges and gift bags and we had to show them our passports to get in. This is the area of the festival where all the in competition films will be shown and there are about 24 of these. The rest of the films are out of competition and will be shown in tents or theaters all over Cannes. I felt so prestigious walking into the main part of the festival...I was hoping to spot a star but I noticed some people had many badges and gift bags so I'm sure the stars has their minions get their belongings for them. Our badges are like gold here so we cannot lose them! We took a little tour of Cannes after we got our badges. We went to the Majestic hotel where a lot of celebrities are spotted. Last year a girl who went on this program talked with Kirsten Dunst for about 30 minutes at this hotel. When the tour was over a few of us decided to go eat at a cute cafe.  Zac(a new good friend) and I sat together at our own table because we were not able to push ours together with the rest of the group. We joked that it was our first date...too bad hes gay :( haha. When we were done eating we went and toured the harbor with all of the yachts, they were ridiculously huge and I could totally see myself on one! Later we took the train back to our place, bought some wine and went to the beach with the film schedules we received so we could all decide what films we wanted to see. It was a very exciting and relaxing day. Today the film festival will officially begin. Throughout the day documentaries and market premiers will be playing. Tonight the opening ceremonies will begin with a film directed by Wes Anderson called Moonrise Kingdom. It is  starring Bruce Willis and Edward Norton. I cannot wait to see what it will be like, I'm sure I will be starstruck!

First few days in Juan Les Pines/Canne

My first couple of days in Cannes, France have been very entertaining to say the least. I arrived around five on Saturday extremely exhausted. The eight people I arrived with all decided to go grab a bite to eat. So we went to a food stand called Master Burger that is well known for their baguette sandwiches. They include five meat patties and fries. I thought this was a very overwhelming choice and I just stuck to a normal burger since I cannot eat bread anyway. That evening we all went out to a restaurant/bar called Zapatas and met some locals. I could not understand what they were saying since I do not speak french but some of my fellow classmates were able to communicate. They were very nice and bought us the biggest bottle of wine I have ever seen. I will include a picture of this later! They work at a hotel here and said last year Angelina and Brad stayed at their hotel for the Cannes Film Festival. So I am hoping Robert Pattinson will stay there this time! We ventured out to cabana type bars on the beach as well and they were so beautiful. The drinks here are quite expensive, they are usually between five to nine euros. I was able to get a meal at Master Burger for five euros. Sunday I went to the beach with my roommate Hilary and another girl named Laurie. Most of our group came and joined us later. This was very relaxing and helped me get over my jet lag. Thankfully there were not that many topless women on the beach but there were a lot of speedos. The water was freezing but there were a lot of kids swimming. Hilary and I got some delicious frozen yogurt later on that day. Katio (another girl from the group)who can speak a little french went with me to get a phone card for our french phones so we can all communicate with one another through text. That night we went back to Master Burger but I got a hot dog instead and we went and sat inside this bar called Hemingways to eat because it was raining. While we were there a man who works at the bar brought over a huge trash bag full of ice and spilled the entire thing all over the floor. It was hilarious and they were able to easily clean it up. Later on we all met up in of the boys rooms and hung out and socialized for a little while then went to the beach and some more bars. We met some people from Liverpool and Canada. The people from Liverpool were not very nice. Before we went back to our place we went to the beach again and some people decided to skinny dip...needless to say I was very uncomfortable and just sat on the beach and waited until they were done! haha I did not want to walk back to my place by myself. Yesterday morning we had orientation for the two classes we will be taking. Critical Writing and Reviewing will be taught by Kohn and Telecommunication Research will be taught by Smith. They mainly just talked to us about the festival and how we should act. They said some of us might get lucky and get invited to after parties at nice hotels or on yachts! I was very excited to hear this! Last night we went and sat in this nice park where they had home cooked food for us. It included chicken, pasta, couscous, and of course wine. While we were eating Anna our program coordinator went around the table trying to decide if any of us looked like any famous celebrities. She said last year some students had their pictures taken and put in magazines mistaken for some celebrities. We could not really find anyone in our group who could be mistaken for any celebrities. Now we are off to our first day at Cannes!