YOLO Beav

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T12:11:00.002-04:00

(via www.someecards.com)

So Grateful

2011-06-15T23:53:00.000-04:00

One of the students from the Cannes Film program left his big suitcase and hanging clothes bag along with some souvenirs in my room for the past couple of weeks while he traveled around after the study abroad dates for our first program had concluded. He would swing back through after his travels to grab his things before flying back to the US of A through Nice.

He arrived today while I was up in class with our Cannes Lions students, but I gave him my key to settle in as he had just come off of a 16-hour train ride sans sleep. After I was out of class with our new students I grabbed him to grab a quick bite to eat before I was off to Nice for the afternoon to take our Lions students on a tour of the newspaper office of the publication, The Riviera Times.

When I finally returned back to my room around 9:30pm Sam, the Film Fest student, had already taken the last bus out of Juan-Les-Pins en route to the Nice Airport. I had already said my goodbyes to him earlier in the afternoon knowing I would probably get back from the Lions excursion too late to see him off, so I was shocked to be greeted by the below note that was left on my kitchen table:

(A) Does this count as a 'Letter of Recommendation' and would it be inappropriate for me to laminate and bring this on all as-yet-unscheduled-but-still-imminent job interviews? And (B) man it feels good to be appreciated for a job that I love and feel deeply connected to. It is difficult for me to work without passion and my role with these programs is something I whole-heartedly throw myself into year after year without hesitation. Receiving feedback like this is absolutely a gift.

Thank you, Sam. You made my day.

Preview of Dan's 2-Week Visit

2011-06-14T00:22:00.000-04:00

Rooftop of my residence overlooking the Mediterranean Sea in Juan-Les-Pins, FRANCE.

Touring around Cannes a week after the Film Festival chaos and hoopla had ceased.

Dan's birthday celebration at Pam-Pam in JLP.

Leaving France via train - heading to Italy to experience Cinque Terre during my week off between programs.

Walking to dinner in Riomaggiore, ITALY (our town in Cinque Terre)

In Manarola, ITALY hiking on the Via dell'Amore (neighboring town in Cinque Terre)

Gondola ride our first morning in Venice, ITALY. This picture has not been edited.

Finding out that pigeons love Dan (and vice versa) in San Marco's Square in Venice, ITALY.

On the Rialto Bridge overlooking the Grande Canal in Venice, ITALY heading to dinner.

Heineken Jammin' Festival in Venice, ITALY to see Coldplay headlining on our last night in Italia.

"Yellow"

Back in France. Up early on June 12th so Dan can head home and I can check in more students for our second and final study abroad program, The Cannes Lions Advertising Festival.

All in all, one of the best two-week-stints of my life.

Ask And Ye Shall Receive

2011-05-24T06:37:00.002-04:00

Wooohoooo!! A day after I was wishing for some U.S. distribution of "We Need To Talk About Kevin" - this article comes out:

http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/popcornbiz/We-Need-To-Talk-About-Kevin-Clips-Are-Tough-to-Watch-121524139.html

Get excited / Brace yourself, America. 'Kevin' is coming...

Tilda Swinton

2011-05-14T17:56:00.003-04:00

After hearing Jonathan Caouette speak to us at a hotel up by the Cannes Train Station we speed-walked down to the beach to get in our seats at the UK Pavilion to hear Tilda Swinton generously speak one-on-one with our group.

Here, the students are awaiting the arrival of Tilda. I know the background behind them is fairly white washed, but if I had adjusted the lighting on my camera correctly you would see the bright blue water of the Mediterranean underneath the bright white glow of huge yachts. Not a bad view.

Tilda was wonderful. Having just spoken to a crowd at Ebertfest in April with Roger and Nate (our professor/program director) we were able to somehow occupy a bit of her heavily sought-after time during the chaos of Cannes. She was open, lovely, honest, and insightful. Such an honor and a joy to have her speak to our group of budding film and journalism students.

She cited her two children serving as constant inspirations throughout her talk with us - especially when it comes to film. Not just acting in film, but appreciating film. Tilda described her home absent of television and video games, so when her children are exposed to movies, be it in a local Scottish theatre or simply watching Hitchcock classics in their home, she absolutely admires and is inspired by the way the children let the films wash over them and are absorbed into their young, honest psyches.

Tilda sipped on tea at first because her voice was wearing out from all of the interviews and panels she had participated in prior to speaking to us. Despite tirelessly fulfilling her duties as a lead actress in one of the most talked about films in competition, Tilda's mood and intention with us was nothing but uplifting and informative. She is a true professional. And her humility was surprising. When describing how she became involved in "We Need To Talk About Kevin" she recalled how she was dumbfounded that Lynne Ramsay and John C. Reilly even knew who she was. She seems to forget she's an Oscar-winning actress who is arguably one of the best of our time. I guess leading a secluded, normal life on the coast of Scotland could do that to a person. In her town she says she's "just her kids' mom" and at the vet she's "just her dogs' mom."

Shockingly, too, was her humor. At one point a nearby helicopter loudly started up and she childishly/mockingly stuck her pointer fingers in her ears and made a face. Smiling, she angrily demanded (in a pretending manner, of course), "Who is that [in the helicopter]?!" It made me daydream and imagine her marching over to the helicopter, knocking on its door, and telling its mystery passengers to quiet down so she could continue speaking to our group of university students in peace. She has the perfect combination of celebrity prowess and innate down-to-earth nature to be able to pull something like that off effectively.

I love this last shot shown below. This is Tilda's immediate reaction to our student, Donté Slocum's, question: "How have you grown as a person since you first started acting?" She pensively processed how to respond as the question really took her aback.

All in all, the concise, yet full thirty minutes we spent with Tilda on the patio of the UK Pavilion were so appreciated and sincere. She really took her time with our group. My perceptions of her before this talk and after could not be more different. She is such a normal, amazingly talented woman.

The day after she spoke to us Nate received an email from her apologizing for "rushing out of there." This completely unnecessary apology couldn't describe her character more. Genuine, kind, and classy. What an experience!

I guess the question is...

2011-05-13T01:33:00.000-04:00

Why WOULDN'T they repaint all the white lines on the road at 1:30am right outside our residence with a crazy loud machine?

Silly me.

Restless for "Restless"

2011-05-12T23:15:00.015-04:00

Gus Van Sant’s new film, “Restless,” premiered in the Un Certain Regard competition on the second day of the Festival. A majority of students along with myself and Jennifer Smith (the program’s Telecomm professor) got in line about an hour and a half before the doors opened for the screening. The early bird catches the worm in this town - that is for sure.

The students patiently waited in the "Market Badge" line and killed time by chatting, eating paninis and nutella from the food trucks 'round the corner, and scouring over their Market Guides to plan their next move after this movie lets out. I personally sat on the ground in line to give my poor footsies a rest. It's amazing what you notice from the ground angle. Check out our student, Ashley Derrington's, amazing leopard paint job on her toe nails. Too cool!

What happens next is a series of unfortunate events. The gate to enter the red carpet stairs finally opened and students began to boom up them into the Debussy Theatre (where all films in the Un Certain Regard category of competition are screened). However, the line quickly stopped in short bursts as several of our students were stopped for having on - gasp! - flip flops. I know, I know - American students in Cannes wearing comfortable shoes while waiting in line to see an afternoon movie - the horror! Well, thank goodness this wasn't our first rodeo and the students were prepared with bags of extra clothes/shoes ready to throw on. It is Cannes, after all, and I teach the students early on that you never know when you'll nab a last-minute red carpet ticket or be whisked away on a yacht and proposed to by a hot, young celeb - so it is better to arm yourself with tux/cocktail dress and fancy shoes at every moment of the day...because you just never know.

One by one, students paired high heels with denim skirts and shiny tuxedo shoes with cargo shorts. Who cares if they look like slobs as long as their feet are styling, right? (This is an unspoken french credo of Cannes.)

Well fast forward to the last few of our students attempting to get in and, lo and behold, Daniel Harrison had not anticipated needing to wear tux shoes at any part of his easy-going day. Thinking on the quick and acting even quicker, I get the brilliant idea for Sam Parker (a student who already made it past the devilish doormen) to "pass back" his closed-toed shoes to the toe-baring Daniel. Before Sam can object to my impulsive idea, I take his shoes from his feet and run them down to Daniel. Standing there, proud of my resourcefulness, I think, "Whew, we are in the clear." Ohhhhh, how wrong I was. Immediately several large, khaki-clad men take Daniel AND Sam by the arms and escort them out of the line and red carpet. Shocked, I begin asking what the problem was. The most ornery of these men proclaims that 'they are done' because 'they cheated'.

Now, before I continue - let me give you a quick rundown on these khaki-wearing folks. Every year, the Cannes Film Festival employs hundreds of men and women workers who, I have to assume hate their lives, to man the doors, carpets, entrances, exits, bathrooms, sidewalks, crosswalks, and anywhere where a person might stand and live their life. They are given khaki suit uniforms, an atom-sized amount of authority, and an atomic-bomb-sized amount of ego and attitude. I've always said how I believe a job requirement for these Cannes workers must be clinically diagnosed bi-polar disorder and tiny penises/frigid nether regions (depending on the gender). It only makes sense.

This brings me back to my exchange with the Napoleon-esque man with an earpiece (that I think is connected to nothing) who has kicked out two of our students. I begin politely pleading with him in French about how the boys didn't know it was wrong and should be let in. "Ce n'est pas possible," he says - aka, 'It is not possible' - a favorite phrase of the khaki-wearing workers. Usually, 'it' IS possible and my intent is always to prove them otherwise.

I continue speaking nicely to the man in hopes of changing his mind, but underneath the surface my blood is boiling. My calm exterior isn't working, so I turn up the heat a little. Still speaking French, I plead with a female worker - saying how the boys had been first in line, waited for hours, and were never warned about the shoe situation even though Festival employees had hovered next to them just outside the line and could have easily given them a heads up. She seems sympathetic, but explains that it's ultimately the ornery man's decision to make. Great.

I hop on my French cell phone like a mad woman, calling a dozen of the students already inside the Debussy begging for anyone with extra shoes to help out. Sam and Daniel look on outside the gates with puppy dog eyes as I execute every crazy idea that comes to mind in an attempt to get them in.

Twenty minutes pass with failed attempts at trading out shoes, more arguing in foreign tongues, and a final attempt to beg to let the boys in and kick me out since it really was all my fault to begin with. None of it works. Finally I leave the theatre as well and join the boys outside the gates. I was too fed up to stick around in the vicinity any longer and there's no way I would have gone in to see the movie knowing that the boys were left outside. I was more frustrated with the fact that they were missing the movie because of something I did that could have been avoided.

I try to lift their spirits (and mine) and we head across the street to Caffe Roma (my second time in two days) to drown our sorrows in pizza. We share a wonderful meal, discussing where we're from and what we want to do with our lives next. I realize that I am living a parallel life to these students in the sense that, after this trip, we are all jobless and intimidated by the unknown next steps in the 'real world'. They are graduating and wanting to hold on to every last second in Athens - I am unemployed for the first time since graduating from college four years ago and hanging on to every last second here in France before my no-paycheck-reality slaps me in the face when I fly home.

After a couple hours, we pay the check and pack up our leftover pizza (read: slyly, yet shamelessly shovel it into one of the many ziploc freezer bags I always carry with me in my pack). Hey, a girl's gotta be prepared. Yacht parties? Leftovers? I'm ready.

Daniel, Sam, and I head back to The Debussy which is now unanimously referred to as 'Debitch' by our students (who can blame them?) to meet our cohorts exiting the theatre after "Restless."

The students begin to trickle out of the glass doors at the top of the red carpet as do, to our surprise, the film's stars. In the red dress is Van Sant's female lead, Mia Wasikowska, being escorted out of the premiere.

And, the Cody Sanders lookalike in the next photo is the the male lead in "Restless", Henry Hopper (son of Dennis Hopper).

A few minutes behind the cast's exit, we spot a couple of our female students lagging behind and dancing like maniacs exiting down the red carpet. This is a hyper bunch of kids, so I don't think much of it.

However, when they reach the bottom of the stairs where we are waiting they are talking a mile-a-minute about how they just met and got a picture with Rachel McAdams. See below for photographic evidence of this. Pretty awesome - especially considering that it was our student in the photo, Brittany Biddy's, birthday. What a memorable birthday present for her!

(photograph taken from Brittany's facebook)

McAdams had attended the screening with her "Midnight In Paris" costar, Adrien Brody, so it was quite a star-studded premiere. No wonder they wanted our ungodly toes covered.

This concluded the end of day two of the Festival. There were highs and lows, but all in all it was another eventful day.

It's a bird... It's a plane...

2011-05-12T17:21:00.002-04:00

It’s a Blake Mitchell spotting in Cannes!!

Oh, wait. No. That’s just Jenn with her new haircut.

Finally!

2011-05-12T17:16:00.000-04:00

After two years I FINALLY have red TOMS shoes on the Cannes red carpet. Ta-da!

Granted, I was only allowed to wear them on the red carpet because I was attending a mid-day screening in the Grand Lumiere Theatre sans press and paparazzi. The nighttime premieres at 7:30pm & 10:30pm throughout the festival are more ritzy as those are the ones where cast, jury, etc. are in the theatre watching the screenings as well and there are hundreds of photographers yelling celebrities' names and snapping photos throughout the long walks down the red carpet. These are the screenings in which we commoners must dress to the nines to fit in with the glamourous event. In other words, my TOMS would be out of the question - unless I was famous, in which case I could wear these shoes and a potato sack and still land on the cover of fashion mags.

I digress.

My daytime presence up the red carpet on this day is to catch an early screening of the highly anticipated in-competition film, "We Need To Talk About Kevin." Walking the red carpet in my red shoes for this screening ended up being unexpectedly 'on theme' with the heavy movie as the color red is used symbolically throughout its 110 minutes. In it we follow a mother (Tilda Swinton) through her current life, the aftermath of a mass murder at a local high school carried out by her son, Kevin (Ezra Miller), amid flashbacks of her life leading up to this point. The storyline is intense enough, but coupled with the expert cinematography with smart uses of the color red - the annual tomato festival in Spain; the Andy Warhol-esque shot of Swinton in a grocery store against a backdrop of tomato soup cans; the paint splattered on Swinton's small white house as an act of vandalism; and, of course, the blood from Kevin's victims - is effective and evocative beyond belief.

Rarely has a film hit me as hard as 'Kevin' did. The first 40min of the movie, to me, can be compared with the first 20min of "Saving Private Ryan." The immediate intensity of the situation into which you are introduced is jarring. It takes hold and won't let go. The glimpses we see of Swinton's current life (post-massacre) is empty, depressed, and desolate. I literally felt hollow inside just watching her. Her performance is award-worthy.

John C. Reilly plays Kevin's father in the film and his role is exactly what you want it to be - lovable and light. He represents the half of the parental unit with which Kevin finds joy, be it genuine or not. Swinton, on the other hand, is blatantly and inexplicably hated by Kevin, seemingly since birth. The story portrays both a tug-of-war between mother and son as well as a tug-of-war between Swinton's internal and emotional struggle. We, the audience, are the knot in the middle of the tug-of-war rope as we are pulled back and forth right along with the plot, giving reason to the exhaustion I felt when the credits finally rolled. I was drained - so much so that I literally had to separate myself from the group and avoid seeing or speaking to anyone for thirty full minutes in order to process what I had just endured.

At the end of it all - I LOVED IT. I was so affected mentally and emotionally, so for me that means the film and its performances were a success. As difficult as the subject matter is to tackle, I do hope that 'Kevin' finds its footing for distribution somehow, somewhere in the U.S. as Tilda's and Ezra's performances deserve to be seen.

(some stills from "We Need To Talk About Kevin")

-------------------***Update***--------------------

Sun. 5/22 - The Closing Ceremonies of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival just aired and Kirsten Dunst (from Von Trier's controversy-laden, "Melancholia") scooped up (read: stole from Tilda) the "Best Actress" Palme. Was Dunst's performance good? Yes. Some are even saying this is the best role she's ever played. Great. Fine. But what is this being compared to? "10 Things I Hate About You"? "Marie Antoinette"? "Bring It On"? Give me a break. I am happy for Dunst and think this will serve as an incredible rebirth for her career, but was it better than Tilda's performance? No. Both women play depressed characters in their respective storylines, but Swinton's performance is the one that made me FEEL depressed too. I don't know - you be the judge.

'Kevin', among others like Almodovar's "The Skin I Live In," the subtly erotic "Sleeping Beauty," and the critically acclaimed (yet unbearably boring) "Le Havre," were shockingly shut out of the winners circle completely. This makes me want to campaign for 'Kevin' and Tilda even harder in the U.S. as I sincerely think her unbelievable performance warrants strong Oscar buzz.

Old Brooms

2011-05-12T14:01:00.002-04:00

I have always had a profound respect for France's street cleaners (often referred to as 'Martians' b/c of their bright green uniforms). Their diligence in collecting trash, cleaning the streets, etc. is fantastic and noticeable. It always puzzles me, though, why their brooms are still made of twigs and sticks. They can have fancy, modern, neon green uniforms, yet the brooms on their clean-up carts are centuries old. Makes me laugh every time...

Festival Day #1 - A Recap...

2011-05-12T10:30:00.008-04:00

Begging, begging everywhere --- and not a ticket to snatch.

I arrived in Cannes in the late afternoon/early evening hours just about the time all of our students donned their fancy wear and sharpied some signs requesting "1 Invitation S.V.P." for the premiere of Woody Allen's "Midnight In Paris" set to begin in a couple hours. Scoring a ticket to this opening film is extra special because not only does one attend the screening of the movie, but you also get the added benefit of experiencing the Opening Ceremonies to officially kick off the Festival. The 2011 Jury, headed by De Niro, sits on stage in front of the crowd, says a few words, and gets things underway. This year I even saw that Jamie Cullum did a surprise performance onstage during the ceremony.

As usual, about half of our students got in to the opening ceremony and subsequent screening of the opening premiere that directly follows. 50% sounds like great odds, especially when we have 26 students dressed to the nines begging for tix - however, try explaining that to the half of the group who DON'T receive tickets. Their outlook on the process and its (temporarily) unfavorable results is pretty grim at this point, so it takes a lot to try and put a positive spin on it for them. I try my darndest, though.

Take, for example, Bobby - shown below. The sting of rejection was extra harsh when he didn't get a ticket into the premiere screening because it was also his birthday. He even mentioned this fact - in French, I might add - on his sign. Unfortunately, none of the wealthy cougars bought it thus Bobby was left to sulk at the American Pavilion. Pauvre, Bobby.

But wait! There is a second screening at 10:30pm that re-shows the opening film. Sure, this screening is absent of all the pomp and circumstance of the earlier screening as it lacks the presence of Woody Allen, Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Adrien Brody, Robert DeNiro, Uma Thurman, Jude Law (okay, you get the picture) - but the red carpet is still there, right?! So I convince the students to pick their heads up, turn their smiles upside down, grab a bite, hell - imbibe a little - then come back at 10pm and beg for the later screening like you mean it.

During this layover period when we all put out of our minds what is happening inside the Grand Lumiere Theatre while we are left outside, I head down the Croisette towards the harbor to the famous, Caffe Roma. This haunch frequently hosts my hungry taste buds during the Festival. Usually, I am accompanied by Sophie (the program director's daughter) and this time is no different. Sophie landed in France mere hours ago. She just stood in the registration line to get her badge while the red carpet chaos occurred, so she was accredited and hungry for some familiar Cannes foods. We sit at a table along the exterior of the giant covered patio dining on pizza and french fries (Sophie's choice).

A quartet delights us with jazzy old tunes throughout our meal - check out the guy on the oboe (?) - he was killing it!

After dinner, everyone returns to their respective posts trickled along the pavements around the Palais. And, darn it, if every single one of those kids who didn't get into the early premiere (+ me) didn't nab a ticket for the late showing. We were golden!

Happily we marched up to the red carpet, shiny tickets in hand, and worked that thing like it was our job. I HAD to get a photo of me and my brother, Alex, a transient student in this year's program. After all, this is his first Cannes red carpet (and certainly not the last) - the memory had to be captured photographically. I mean, come on...two Beavers, one red carpet?! Definitely worth taking the time to pose.

Two hours after walking the red carpet and six hours after delving into their first go of 'begging', the second half of our students had experienced night one of Cannes in all its glory. It may not have been what they expected and they may even have hated the Woody Allen movie, but there's no denying these kids were hopped up on adrenaline, finally having reveled in the sweet feeling of success. I snapped the photo below at the taxi stand just after the screening --- those smiles don't lie.

Day/Night One at the 64th Annual Cannes Film Festival = Complete. And Bobby's birthday was finally a happy one.

Midnight In Cannes

2011-05-12T02:46:00.000-04:00

It is well PASSED midnight in Cannes... but I have just returned home from seeing the late-night premiere of Woody Allen's "Midnight In Paris," the 2011 Cannes Film Festival Opener. It has been described as 'a love letter to Paris' and I can't disagree with that. Having personally fallen in love with the city some years ago during a semester-long study abroad in the City of Light, I can attest to sharing those love affair feelings with France's capital. I've often said that even seeing pictures of Paris is both wonderful and gut-wrenching at the same time - as if I am looking at photos of an ex-boyfriend. Woody Allen does the city and his actors justice in 'Midnight' which is truly a step in the right direction for his recent work.

Students' Blogs

2011-05-11T12:03:00.000-04:00

As the Festival is now underway, I and our 26 students are running around like crazy people all day every day in Cannes seeing films, hearing speakers, (scheduling speakers - me), etc. Apologies for my sporadic presence in the blogosphere. Hopefully the below links of some of our students' blogs will help fill in the gaps...

www.cj3395.tumblr.com

www.ccgoestocannes.tumblr.com

www.biddysincannes.wordpress.com

www.melaniejmarx.tumblr.com

www.danielincannes.blogspot.com

www.cassiedean.wordpress.com

www.lightscameracannes.wordpress.com

www.geraldcannesdoit.wordpress.com

www.ksorrels.blogspot.com

www.ashleyinfrance.tumblr.com

www.jordanabroad.wordpress.com

--------------------

***UPDATE -- More of the students' blogs added below...

http://www.bigfootblogect.blogspot.com/

http://leighreilly.blogspot.com/

http://ashleyreviewscannes.blogspot.com/

-------

Aaaaaand even more blogs...

www.Shandreaevans.tumbler.com

www.dontesview.blogspot.com

http://allshewrote86.blogspot.com/

http://candicemeetscannes.blogspot.com/

http://mikedonalds.wordpress.com/

http://betoncannesreviews2011.wordpress.com/

------------

And they keep rolling in...

http://hisroyalbeavness.wordpress.com/

http://bonjourkevin.wordpress.com

http://bobbyscannesreviews.wordpress.com/

http://whatswrongwithkevinandrenee.wordpress.com/

http://danielincannes.wordpress.com/

http://onefunkyhomosapian.blogspot.com/

http://angeliquetakeseurope.wordpress.com/

http://onbecomingafrencher.blogspot.com/

ticklemefrench.wordpress.com

2011 - Official 'Group Pic'

2011-05-10T18:27:00.000-04:00

The 2011 UGA Cannes Film Festival Study Abroad Program

OFFICIAL PICTURE

Photographed by yours truly

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

2011-05-08T08:48:00.001-04:00

(via www.someecards.com)

Juan-Les-Pins (from my balcony)

2011-05-05T21:52:00.000-04:00

By day...

And by night...

Le dîner...chez moi!

2011-05-05T20:34:00.000-04:00

Thanks to my favorite red-head - the lovely, former Program Coordinator of this Cannes study abroad (aka: my one and only predecessor) - and her unexpected recipe advice the last time I had dinner with her at "The Grit" in Athens, GA....I bought eggs and tabouleh at Casino (the local, French grocery store) to make for dinner tonight. Odd combination? I thought so, too. But according to one Ms. Firor (yes, her name is pronounced "fire" and her hair is red) it is an ideal combination. I blindly (and wisely) followed her suggestion for one delicious homemade meal. C'etait magnifique!

Before:

After:

Dinner for one on my lovely French balcony. Sigh.

I'm here!

2011-05-05T17:27:00.000-04:00

I'm alive. I'm happy. I'm jetlagged, my hair is dirty, but, damnit, I'm here.

For proof, see below image that I just took on my balcony:

I arrived yesterday (Tuesday) morning 45min earlier than scheduled (thank you, tailwind) from JFK into Nice. After a wonderfully sunny day-and-a-half on the ground here, it is now late afternoon on Wednesday and I just returned from a quick trip to Antibes to buy a new printer cartridge and four reams of paper - all of which I carried back to JLP by my lonesome. So, basically, I am She-Woman.

Namita (our French colleague) also arrived yesterday from her home in Avignon, as she does every year, to help me set everything up has at the beginning of the program. She is a native French-speaker and her negotiation skills for room rates at our student residence (where I stay) and the local apartments for professors is unparalleled. Her expertise comes in very handy in the days before the students arrive as she and I set up the housing for everyone, arrange catering for the 'opening dinner' we hold for the students on Monday night after they arrive, etc. She also delivers all of the 30-some-odd French cell phones we loan to our students/professors that she stores at her home in Avignon during the off-season.

Anyway, after a busy 24-hours of hitting the ground running with her in all of our planning efforts, Namita has left for the day to go stay with some friends of hers in Nice for the night. Apparently they were able to get tickets to a Classical music concert going on in Monaco tonight, so she and her friends will attend that together before she arrives back here in Juan-Les-Pins to get back to work with me tomorrow morning.

The rest of my evening looks relaxing! I can finally unpack, get everything settled in my apartment, shower (with soap & shampoo, at long last!!), BLOG, and begin the process of creating/printing the Orientation packets I will give to each student upon their arrival this weekend. Perhaps I'll even squeeze in a little pilates on my balcony at sunset - oh la la!

For now, though, I am snacking on some Comte cheese, watching live coverage on CNN (the only English channel I get) of Obama arriving at Engine 54 in NYC (a fire station that lost 15 men on 9/11) to deliver a private speech in the wake of Bin Laden's capture/killing. Oh, and I'm uploading some other photos to use on this blog - so, stay tuned.

I plan to work BACKWARDS from today to get you up to speed on the last 36 hours of my life. Away I go...

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T12:15:00.002-05:00

Valentine's Day has never meant much to me - so I'm neither happy nor sad today. I do intend to have some good food for dinner tonight, but besides that expectations are pretty low/non-existent.

I DO have something to celebrate though... Dan is now OFFICIALLY BOOKED FOR EUROPE this summer!! Thanks to my expert travel-agent-via-internet skills and about 60k Delta Skymiles that Dan had accrued, he is now booked to enjoy an 18-day European getaway this summer. I'd say that more than makes up for his unfortunate absence last year.

I am extra excited because I am getting to experience new places I've never been to before this year - including London and Venice - in addition to sharing with Dan some of my all-time faves (like Cinque Terre and, possibly, Rome - maybe just for lunch).

Anyway, just wanted to share my excitement. Valentine's Shmalentines......but YAY FOR EUROPE!!!

LONDON

CINQUE TERRE

VENICE

92 Days

2011-01-27T14:28:00.008-05:00

92 days, 92 days - how am I inspired? Let me count the ways...

1. Friends & friends of friends.

http://annarouthphoto.wordpress.com/

http://blueeyebrowneye.com/

http://wessumnerphoto.tumblr.com/

http://farewellpaperie.com/

2. The email blast I got this morning, entitled: "What if Anthropologie did weddings?"

3. This quote:

"There is no security in life; there is only opportunity."

- General Douglas MacArthur

4. And this quote:

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

- Howard Thurman

5. The countdown in my planner

6. My hope to wear these on this year's Cannes red carpet

7. The successes and ballsy endeavors of former Cannes students

http://www.mtvu.com/shows/shows-featured-content/oscars-correspondent-contest-top-10/

8. New ideas

9. My camera

10. My passport

11. Passport stamps

12. Warm weather (& warm weather clothes)

13. The unknown

14. Life lessons

15. Movie boom in GA

16. D.C.

17. L.A.

18. Paris

19. New gadgets

20. DIY

Hat Trick

2010-06-16T17:34:00.003-04:00

Just realized tonight that this is the third World Cup in a row during which I've been in Europe. A recap of vivid snippets I remember from each of the last three tourneys...

2002

Sitting in a park in Geneva, Switzerland with several of my high school French classmates watching World Cup games on a huge screen that had been erected in the middle of a public square area.

2006

Sitting in an alley in the streets of Rome outside a bar that had set up two 32" tv's out onto the road so more people could see. Italy won this year, so I remember things being INSANE!

2010

Tonight...whilst enjoying a brew and watching Uruguay (unfortunately) beat South Africa in an Irish Pub of sorts in Antibes, France I made my realization of how Europe calls me to its continent during World Cup years.

That is all. More realizations to come, I'm sure...

Revelation

2010-06-12T23:22:00.002-04:00

While talking to Dan tonight using an international calling card from my favorite beachside phone booth - I had a revelation. We realized that I would be home in exactly 3 weeks (21 days) meaning that I have been here for 40 days thus far - since I am here a total of 61 days. Yes, I counted before I left.

Anyway, it dawned on me that 40 days is the same amount of time as Lent... which THEN got me thinking even further. During Lent this year I gave up bread & cheese, but had Dan with me by my side throughout that time. Now, though, during this pseudo-Lent (40 days as of today), I have unlimited bread & cheese, but I don't have Dan.

How come I can't have BREAD & CHEESE & DAN all at the same time?! These are only 3 of my favorite things!! Oh well. Just thought that was interesting.

USA! USA! USA!

2010-06-12T11:01:00.004-04:00

(via www.someecards.com)

Luckily, this doesn't apply to me - as I'll be watching it in real time at a much more reasonable hour (live on tv @ 8:30PM over here in France).

Also, I'm strongly considering / pretty much most definitely going to wear my American flag t-shirt tonight...and probably every other time the U.S. plays this World Cup. I packed and brought it with me solely for the purpose of wearing it on my flight home to the U.S. after 9 weeks abroad since it falls on the 4th of July --- only the most patriotic day to return home to the states. However, now that World Cup fever is beginning to hit - I may have to whip out the stars and stripes slightly sooner than expected.

This is what my shirt looks like.

(via www.urbanoutfitters.com)

L-I-V-I-N

2010-06-12T10:21:00.004-04:00

Still sorry for all the delays posting updates. Been too busy l-i-v-i-n.

Cannes Lions students checking in today and tomorrow, so should have time to add some stuff this weekend --- minus the few hours when I'll be cheering on USA v. England this evening!

Happy Birthday to "BJ the DJ"!!

2010-06-11T10:17:00.002-04:00

It's Dan's mom's birthday today - whooopeeee!

If I had the power I'd steal this cake from Matt's 4th birthday party and give it to you today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Firenze

2010-06-08T11:05:00.002-04:00

aka- Florence... is where I am now and where I will be for the next 2 days. Not originally a part of my plan - although I didn't really have a plan - but alas this is where I am and I like it.

We left Cinque Terre early this morning after a good day and a half of eating, hiking, swimming, and lounging on rocks at the water's edge. Noticing that our train to Florence connected in Pisa, I suggested we stop there for a touristy and snapshot-heavy pitstop at the famous tower. Beaucoups of pictures to follow...

After Pisa we had a slight mis-step in all catching the same train, but we YOLO'd our way through it and found each other at the hotel lobby in Florence just fine.

...which brings us to the present momen. We arrived to the hotel in Florence - knowing that three girls (half of our group) had a reservation scheduled here. The Hodge Twins and I had no reservations anywhere in Florence. Our mis-steps turned into mini-miracles as the guy working the front desk of the hotel (which was ENTIRELY BOOKED, mind you) somehow arranged to switch our rooms so that ALL SIX OF US can room together in mac-daddy Florence suite. We have a king bed, a double bed, and two twin beds AND our own bathroom. Not to mention enough extra space with which we could accomodate a middle school dance. There's also a chandelier. Oh la la. So, needless to say, I have sidelined my plans of arriving earlier in Rome and will now be in Florence for a couple of days. Hard to pass this deal up.

Well, I'm off to find some gelato. Ciao.

For Carl

2010-06-07T17:04:00.000-04:00

Our love is international, Carl.

(And according to this graffiti art, it has been since August of '09. Accurate much?)

Via dell'Amore - Duffeaver Style

2010-06-07T16:14:00.013-04:00

Took tons of gorgeous graffiti pics on the Via dell'Amore between the cities of Riomaggiore and Manarola while hiking the rocky, coastal trail in Cinque Terre, Italy. These just happened to pertain to me and Dan (aka: 'Danna', aka: 'Duffeaver').

Bittersweet

2010-06-05T08:20:00.002-04:00

- Checked all the students out this morning

- Packing for my week off in between programs

- Going to Italy tomorrow (without Dan, as originally planned)

- etc etc etc

There's lots of happy things going on right now, so I'm keeping my eyes fixed on that without forgetting about what could've been / what was SUPPOSED to be... Grrrr...

Anyway, off to Italy in the morning to relax during my week off. Cinque Terre first followed by Rome. Reminds me of my post-Cannes travel back when I was a student on the trip. Ah, memories.

It Always Happens in Threes

2010-06-04T13:32:00.000-04:00

Dennis Hopper then Gary Coleman.....just wish it didn't have to be her as the third.

Thank you for being a friend, Rue!

Happy Birthday, DAN!!!

2010-06-03T10:13:00.001-04:00

(via www.someecards.com)

Irony

2010-05-28T02:15:00.003-04:00

French strikes on every form of travel during our program's "travel weekend." Ah, France.

So...in regard to my LAST post...let's just change it to, "I hope to be at the French Open" (and so does the 80euros I spent on my awesome ticket).

Currently I am camped out in Nice airport - and am so far on my second delay of the day. I HOPE there aren't any other delays. Dear god, I hope there aren't any others.

I WILL BE AT THE FRENCH OPEN TOMORROW!!!!!!!!

2010-05-27T14:51:00.000-04:00

Ketchup

2010-05-24T15:56:00.003-04:00

Today classes begin for the students. From 11-1 they have Dr. Kohn's Journalism class which focuses on discussing and critiquing the reviews they have written about the movies in the festival. Then from 2-4 they have Dr. Smith's Telecommunications class which focuses on the business and marketing aspect of the film industry.

I am spending my time:

- sitting in on their classes

- collecting and printing reviews

- posing as the 'media buying guru' in Dr. Smith's class

- continuing preparations for the Cannes Lions program and for those students who are gearing up for their journey to France

- serving as the ever-present "house mom" to 28 college students

- deciding on my own travel plan possibilities for the week I have off between programs

- and, finally, catching up on my blog with all the juicy happenings from the 12-day Cannes Film Festival (better late than never, right?)

So, keep coming back to check for updates -- I promise I'm working on them.

Another Student Blog

2010-05-22T16:09:00.001-04:00

Eric informed me that he created his first-ever blog last week, so I feel compelled to share it with the rest of you. The world should not be deprived of Eric. Ever.

http://ericincannes.tumblr.com/

Enjoy.

Lo, Hearts Behold

2010-05-20T00:33:00.002-04:00

Well, that failed. I logged into our techy little online site for about 5min before my French internet said, “Non!” Sorry, Jeb and Mrs. Davis. You know I was there in spirit.

Day Huit

2010-05-19T21:46:00.002-04:00

I had an early start in Cannes today, so I came back relatively early tonight. Now, I sit in my room typing away on my white laptop, catching up on the past week’s worth of activity. Quite a task.

I am not alone, though – no. For tonight I am accompanied by some white noise in the background… “French Idol” (entitled “Nouvelle Star”). Exactly like “American Idol” – which, incidentally I never watch at home – this French version of the show features pretty-faced young folks who are mediocre karaoke singers, at best. The greatest factor by far, however, is that these poor native Frenchies find themselves singing almost exclusively American songs. For instance, one of the male contestants just gave his best shot at the classic hit, “Well Comb Two Zee Oh Tell Callie Four Knee Ah.”

*Holy crepe! Important interruption! A fantastic French commercial that I’ve never seen before just came on – only it’s in English and the people in it are George Clooney and John Malkovich. (Do the Coen Freres work on international ad campaigns in their down time? Makes you wonder…) Anyway, wow. I must instantly find this on YouTube and add the link on here so you can share in this amazingness with me. Voila: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODB9xXLZ2oE&feature=related

Okay, back to typing my blog and watching “Nouvelle Star” (so much for white noise. Anybody got an Adderall?)

…two hours later...

Okay, just remembered I have my final meeting of the year for the ‘09/’10 GDS Alumni Board. Crap. Gotta run downstairs and see if I can get on internet to join this online board meeting. If it works I will be occupied with that from midnight-2am. Ah, the joys of having a full plate. Wish me luck!

Students' Blogs

2010-05-18T18:01:00.005-04:00

Since I'm failing to update in a timely manner...here are some of this year's students who are keeping blogs:

Blake Mitchell --> http://blakemitchell89.tumblr.com/

Melissa Buckman --> http://screwyouimhilarious.wordpress.com/

Katie Kellogg --> http://www.gallivanterblog.blogspot.com/

Natalie Leff --> http://nleffcannes.tumblr.com

Enjoy!

P.S. I haven't personally been to their blogs yet, so I can't vouch for any of the material. :)

My apologies

2010-05-18T12:11:00.000-04:00

I have so much to catch you up on, but unfortunately the internet here is about as reliable as Courtney Love showing up sober to an event.

It is now day 7 of the Festival and I haven't written since the opening day. I've seen many a celeb, a few movies, and jumped through my fair share of hoops to nail down speakers and, what's more, nailing down the tres elusive cheap meeting location.

Gotta run now (of course) - and won't be back to JLP until late tonight. No idea when my updates will come...but they'll come, damnit.

"Your Mother's a Whore"

2010-05-15T16:49:00.002-04:00

Day Trois

2010-05-14T22:50:00.003-04:00

Being the haggard old lady that I am – well, at least compared to these Energizer bunny students – I took the third day of the Festival “off” to stay in Juan Les Pins and catch up on sleep, sanity, and computer usage.

Posting up in the wifi-friendly lobby of our residence, I sunk deeper and deeper into one of the cracked leather couches for approximately seven hours – accomplishing way less, blog-wise, than I had set out to complete. It’s amazing how accustomed we (in America) have become to instant gratification, technologically. When the loading of a website or the upload of a photo takes longer than .5 seconds it feels like an eternity. Needless to say, it has been a struggle --- in France, I achieve as much in an hour as I would in ten minutes back in the States. And yes, I WILL take some cheese with this whine – preferably camembert and emmental.

Besides my time-sucking-blackhole-of-an-internet experience there were a couple noteworthy anecdotes I’ll take the time to share…

Living in a French residence makes for some fantastic people-watching in our very own lobby. The slue of characters is similar in that they are mostly European vacationers – a lot of times with families (read: adorable kids with even more adorable accents) – or they are quirky, elderly locals. On this, my day off, I was lucky enough to have encounters with both of these ‘types’.

The first encounter occurred with the former of these examples. A pack of siblings plopped themselves down on the plush, brown couches around where I sat. There was the older, adolescent sister who quietly set the example – there was the husky, middle-child brother whose slicked back hair and bowling ball-esque stature was more than amusing, and then there was the youngest sister with curly hair down to her back who was full of life and too cute for words. All three were pre-occupied with electronic devices that matched each child perfectly – size and age-wise. It was like the three bears in Goldie Locks and the sizes of their furniture. The oldest typed on her regular-sized laptop, the middle child gazed at his personal DVD player, and the youngest energetically played on her tiny handheld Nintendo device. The site of these kids with their perfectly-sized gadgets, respectively, was entertainment enough….that is, until the youngest little girl started loudly cussing at her Nintendo. Repeatedly. It was HILARIOUS! Her older brother and sister were hardly fazed by her outbursts – which made me wonder if this type of language/behavior was normal. The little girl couldn’t have been more than five, yet she was shouting “merde” at poor little “Mario” on her screen. “Merde! Mario a tué!” If I heard a kindergartener in America yell, “Shit, Mario died,” I would correct them – or in the very least strongly question the way they’ve been parented. Is this a cultural difference? It was my understanding that ‘merde’ means ‘shit’ and ‘shit’ is equivocal to a cuss word. Am I wrong? Has this term been lost in translation? Perhaps ‘merde’ is more closely aligned with ‘crap’ – still getting the meaning of ‘shit’ across, but in a less severe word form. I don’t know – this encounter really made me wonder…

Second, there is an old man whose walks through the lobby I have managed to witness twice daily. He often takes up complaints about who knows what with the front desk – he seems to really make the staff work for his approval, which I like. The students refer to him as “a boss” (not in the workforce sense…but in the current college lingo sense). From behind, in his flannel shirts and fitted jeans, he has the frame of a 30-year-old version of himself – yet when he turns around to face forward his 70-year-old potbelly and wrinkles are revealed and I love him all over again. My favorite accessory is his blue NY Yankees hat that he wears constantly. So badly I want to take a picture of this man for Pete Heid (one of my advertising coworkers and the biggest Yankees fan I’ve ever met). Anyway, on this day I find myself in the elevator with him for a few brief moments. I seize this opportunity to tell him, “J’aime beacoup ton chapeau” (aka- I really like your hat). He says, “New York!” and continues on to tell me an unlikely story. Instead of the typical ‘I went to NYC and bought this hat’ tale he told me he had gone on a trip to Spain and found this hat for sale en Espagne. He bought it there solely because he like the hat, admitting to me that he had never even been to New York let alone the United States. I laughed in French (quoi?) and bid him ‘au revoir’ as the elevator stopped at his floor. I smiled the rest of the way up to my floor.

Finally, I got a small taste of home. Through a quick gchat with Dan I learned that Charley (mine and Dan’s sweet little Puggle) was in daycare back in Atlanta. I immediately go to Bark ATL’s website to take a peak in its three dog rooms – Little Pup Lane, Mid-Hound Lounge, & Big Dog Way – via the online motion cameras the daycare provides. I found Charley and her doggy friends PASSED OUT in the Mid-Hound Lounge, her white underside exposed, in prime position for a belly rub. I took a quick still shot of the room and dragged the photo to my desktop (see below). I love that even 4,735.2 miles away (yep, check it: http://www.distancefromto.net/) I can see my baby girl and get a little jolt of happiness from home. God bless Bark ATL’s video cameras (and skype)!

Courtesy of services provided by: www.barkatl.com

Around 8pm I venture out from my comfortable lobby setup with our program’s Telecom professor, Dr. Jennifer Smith. Jen needs dinner and my stomach’s gurgling indicates that I do too. I suggest in an instant that we dine at “Pasta de Lys,” the cheapest, best pizza/pasta place in Juan. Jen has heard me raving about it since last year, so she is eager to try it.

*Cool bonus: “Pasta de Lys” will provide you a Chinese takeout-esqe ‘to go’ box for your leftovers should you choose to take them with you. In a country where ‘doggy bags’ are virtually non-existent (and definitely taboo to request) this is a huge perk worth mentioning. The restaurant also offers delivery service. Yes, delivery service in France. It’s so cute – they have a little motorbike that sits out front with a plastic crate strapped on the back that can hold pizza boxes. I love it.

[insert food pic]

As you can see, this place – and this food – is fantastic.

After we finished carbo-loading the ball was in Jen’s court to guide us to a dessert place. Being the nutella crepe connoisseur that she is, Jen immediately leads the way to “Grand Marnier” – the fanciest, shmanciest crepe stand I have ever seen. Like its closely-situated competitors “Grand Marnier” possesses the standard round, heated crepe maker, metal crepe spreader, and oversized jar of nutella. Unlike the other crepe stands “Grand Marnier” trounces the competition with sprawling marble countertops – an unrivaled luxury provided to the walk-up customers. Additionally, there are two crepe-constructors extraordinaire (as opposed to the usual, one-man crepe operation) and this tag-team duo perpetuates their professionalism through their uniform chef hats, at least a foot high, and their crisp, white chef jackets. They clearly take their crepe-making seriously.

*Cool bonus: “Grand Marnier” provides a never-before-seen (at least in my quarter life) crepe eating device: plastic tongs! Genius! Beige in color and free for the taking, these tongs are also labeled with the “Grand Marnier” name – as are the napkins. Needless to say their investments have paid off.

[insert crepe pic]

“Grand Marnier’s” crepe is, hands down, the best nutella crepe I have ever consumed.

Day Deux

2010-05-13T23:59:00.003-04:00

Day 2 of the Festival started off beautifully. Crisp air, blue sky, sun shining.

Sophie, Lily, and I headed in to Cannes around midday to catch the Market Screening of “William Vincent,” a film that James Franco both starred in and produced with his company, ‘RabbitBandini.’ I’ll be honest, we (along with the students who showed up for the screening) were mostly holding out hope that the present-day James Dean would show up in-person to present his film to the 60-person market screening audience. He did not – and the film was beyond awful, soooo… 1 point James Franco, 0 points us.

Synopsis:

From James Franco’s RabbitBandini Productions comes the story of William Vincent, a man (Franco) who assumes a new identity for the sole purpose, it seems [read: NO purpose], of disappearing in plain sight. He is living in the shadows of New York City, until one day chance brings him in contact with a vague crime syndicate [keyword: vague] made up of a trio of unlikely criminals [read: uninteresting people], one of whom is Ann, the couresan/confidant of the syndicate boss. William and Ann fall in love almost immediately [without explanation – about as much build-up of a paltry RomCom], to the great displeasure of the Boss. When the Boss prohibits William from seeing Ann [senselessly], the reluctant criminal’s reaction is swift and extreme, and forces him to flee the city, leaving behind Ann and whatever small life he had constructed for himself [keyword: small (read: uneventful, hardly making a dent on anyone or anything, pointless – just like this plot)]. The film begins when William, after four years in exile, returns to the city to rescue Ann from her enslavement by the Boss [interesting’ish premise uninterestingly played out].

At least we all got a free glass of wine out of enduring the “my first film school” film. While we waited in line before the screening we were handed some petite glasses of vino by a couple of Festival waitresses. Methinks this was an attempt to drug us so we would enjoy the film. Unfortunately for them I don’t think we would’ve enjoyed it even if they had passed out pills of ecstasy and free passes to Euro Disney. This flimsy, painfully dull, wannabe-existential movie did not stand a chance – it tried WAY to hard. Better just stick to soap operas and weed movies, James.

Après le film, the students scattered to go catch more screening and Sophie headed back to Juan for dinner. Lily and I strolled along the International Village and walked through the park to grab some food at the little outdoor café by the carousel and fountain. (Same place I had that meet’n’eat session with Dr. Smith and those students a few days prior).

Feeling a bit Frenchy I ordered a classic dish, a Croque Monsieur (which is basically a glorified ham and cheese). Lily and I ate and enjoyed the bustling scenery before heading over to the Cinéma de la Plage (aka- Movie on the Beach).

We flashed our badges, were handed a plush, white, fleece ‘Stella Artois’ blanket (which now sits in my hotel room after I expertly smuggled it out – hey, gotta get souvenirs where you can!), and made our way up towards the front to grab a couple primo seats in the rows of cloth folding chairs.

Before long the familiar sounds of a man yelling, “Shoo-shoo! Shoo-shoo!,” reverberated into our eardrums. This is exactly what I had been waiting for. This same guy is here EVERY YEAR walking the aisles of cloth beach chairs selling his “shoo-shoos”, which are basically little plastic bags of praline-covered nuts. It’s 2€ for one bag or 3€ for two. Of course I opt for the two-bag option, so Lily and I can each enjoy a treat during the movie.

The movie playing on the screen out over the Med tonight is, “From Here to Eternity.” Ahh…a movie about Hawaii and the U.S. military as I sit on the beaches of southern France…could this BE anymore perfect for me?!?!

About halfway through the film we are distracted by the booming music and flashing lights of another projection. It seems that a Chinese cinema party is on and popping just a little ways down the beach from us. Lily and I attempt to stay focused on the large screen in front of us as best we can – we don’t want this to ruin our beach movie experience.

A half our later, just when we had successfully zoned out the noise from the neighboring party – FLASHES of FIREWORKS appear above our screen out over the waters of the Mediterranean. It was truly a moment worthy of “oos” and “ahhs.” We were mesmerized and taken aback as this would turn out to be the BEST fireworks show that Lily or I had ever experienced in our lives. Hands down. I immediately mentally apologize to the Chinese party people for the mean thoughts I had toward them earlier --- because THIS was truly a spectacle. I’ve never seen anything like it. Amazing.

Day 1 - Complete

2010-05-12T23:34:00.004-04:00

I made it into Cannes hours after many of our unstoppable students had already gotten 3-4 film screenings under their belts. This is a whole new breed of participants, these students. Their excitement is palpable, but their humility remains intact throughout. They are wonderful.

Once I got off the train in sunny Cannes I stopped into 8 or 9 hotels, unfortunately, not making it past many of their lobbies. They were either too small to accommodate a group of our size OR they were already booked the entire 12 days of the Festival. I have a couple of strong leads with which I'll need to follow up in the coming days. Both places have rooftop solariums that could seat 30 of us plus a speaker comfortably. Send good vibes my way in hopes that I can nail one of these places down - hopefully for the price of "gratuit" (though unlikely).

After my hotel search I popped in to my fave shoe store, André, to see what they had in stock for oh ten. I gave them lots and lots of Euros last year - which included the purchase of my FAVORITE tan, leather, peep-toe, wedges with the wooden heel --- one of which is currently lost in G'boro, North Cakalaki from the weekend before I left. Long, sad story, but I guess that's what a high school reunion of sorts can do to a person (or rather, a shoe). Blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-al-co-hol. Oh well. And no such luck finding a replacement pair at Andre this year. I guess they are "so last season" already. Bummer.

*One fun note about my visit to André (Dan, pay attention here) - when I walked in the store I was met with the familiar sounds of Vampire Weekend's latest song playing through the speakers. Ah, what a refreshing reminder of home.

I left the shoe mecca empty-handed (thank goodness for my bank account's sake) and made my way through the criss-crossed streets up to the Croisette, the main drag of Cannes. I rendez-vous'd with Sophie and Lily at the American Pavilion to pick up my Festival-long pass to the Am Pav (another unprecedented coup for this year's program participants). I was handed my Am Pav badge and two free drink tickets, so we wandered through the crowd of familiar accents and grabbed a table on the sunny patio.

Many of our students were there readying themselves to head out to the streets and beg for tickets.

Notice the difference between the girls' signs (above) and the boys' signs (below). Just an interesting gender study. Ha.

The boys went to change into their tuxes, and Lily and Sophie into their dresses, so I was left to sit on the patio by my lonesome sipping a (FREE) Stella and planning out which screenings/speakers I want to see.

After a bit more time lounging and scheduling out my next few days - I gathered my things and trekked back out into the winding streets in search of a daggum hotel/meeting space for our group. On my way to some familiar establishments I passed faces I knew on just about every corner. Students were holding up signs EVERYWHERE - and looking good doing it!

After I searched for more hotel meeting locations I attempted to make my way over to the doors in front of the Palais to meet up with Sophie and Lily, who had failed to land a ticket to the "Robin Des Bois" (aka- 'Robin Hood') premiere. However, I only made it so far before I was corralled in with the masses on the grasses due to the barricades EVERYWHERE. I felt like a bull being wrangled through the grid of rodeo barricades - I was trapped - and a cowboy was about to mount me. Wait, what? No. But I WAS trapped in the crowds...with a FANTASTIC view of the red carpet.

[insert Kate Bekinsale glamour shot here]

Can you say, 'movie star'? People around me literally gasped when she started walking up the stairs with her dress draping dramatically behind her.

*Insider note: One of our more fashion-conscious students, Katie Kellogg, informed me later that she and Kate Bekinsale were wearing the SAME designer, Marchesa, during that first premiere night. That, to me, is impressive - considering most of my clothing can be found at your local Urban Outfitters or Target.

[insert picture of entire jury]

I call this "Blurry Jury."

Next I saw the curvaceous Salma Hayek. Even from 200 yards away I felt like Roger Rabbit staring at Jessica Rabbit - I mean, bodies like hers do not exist elsewhere in the world. She looked amazing. Unfortunately, you'll never know b/c I didn't get a good enough picture to share it on here. Guess you'll have to just catch it on "The Today Show."

[insert picture of Russell Crowe giving a peace sign and Kate Blanchett looking so effortlessly beautiful it would make you sick]

...whenever the internet will upload one photo quicker than 3omin then I will post the aforementioned picutres - but for now you can just fantasize.

The Festival Kicks Off Today

2010-05-12T15:38:00.000-04:00

And the first premiere ("Robin Hood") is tonight - which I could care less about. It WOULD be worth getting into solely for the first 45min which is the Opening Ceremony, complete with the full jury on stage and Tim Burton at the helm. We'll see - I may not put forth the effort to dress up and try to get in.

I DO however want to figure out where the heck this elusive "VIP Room" is which is a club in Cannes. Kid Cudi is performing tonight to kick off the festival and T.I. is performing tomorrow night. Within the next week people like Karl Lagerfeld, Paris Hilton, Kelis, and The Blackeyed Peas will all be holding events there. Now if only I can find a way into this exclusive Cannes inner-circle... I'm on a mission.

Okay - gotta go get dressed/ready real quick to hop the 4:10 train into Cannes. I guess I'll stuff a dress and some heels into my bag for tonight JUST in case...

Got to get to work for the next few hours though - nailing down one or two (or three) hotels where we can host our students and special guest speakers that I'll line up in the coming week and a half. Time to hit these hotel workers with some French negotiating - YOLO Beav style.

Okay, see ya.

The Official Cannes 2010 Picture

2010-05-11T19:42:00.004-04:00

Happy/Normal picture

Goofy picture

Just Finished Orientation

2010-05-10T16:54:00.000-04:00

And we're prepping for our Annual Welcome Dinner up on the rooftop of our building. But guess where the students (and one professor) are going for a pre-dinner snack?

Master Burger.

Icelandic Volcano In Action

2010-05-10T12:33:00.001-04:00

I had mentioned earlier that one of our students, Melissa Buckman, actually SAW the erupting volcano out of the window of her British Airways flight on her trek over. The pilot pointed it out to all passengers on the side of the plane she was on. There were other students of ours on this flight, however Melissa was one of the only ones awake to snap this amazing picture. It's history in the making, folks.

Guess where the students went for dinner tonight?

2010-05-09T22:15:00.001-04:00

Master Burger.

French Spam...

2010-05-09T17:17:00.000-04:00

...is the equivalent of shit - excuse me, 'merde' - on the ground. It's everywhere.

I'm determined that the French get some sort of sick joy out of watching people step in their dogs' messes.

A Walk in the Park

2010-05-09T16:45:00.001-04:00

Once we bought out Master Burger's supply of all things delicious we walked across the street to the big JLP park to sit alongside the wall and eat our paninis, fries, and Coca Lights (aka- Diet Cokes). As we ate, one of our more hilarious students, Eric Jones, took it upon himself to judge every French local who walked by and make hysterical commentary about them aloud for all of us to enjoy. He is a walking one-man-show, that Eric. People have started keeping journals on hand just to write down the amazing one-liners that he comes up with. You can read these on twitter by searching #ericincannes.

Just on the other side of the bushes from us in the park was a full-scale Bocce Ball Tournament, complete with concessions, announcers on loud speakers, and chairs for spectators. It was intense - each team wore matching bocce t-shirts or track jackets (many of which you could tell were made with iron-on letters) - I loved it. There's old men playing bocce on the park's little courts all day everyday, but on THIS day it was for all the marbles.

It is such a boy's club though. I'm determined to break into their little bocce boy circle and become the first female/American champ of JLP. Watch me. I'll do it.

These old men are going DOWN.

Kiddos, Meet Master Burger.

2010-05-09T16:34:00.000-04:00

The students wanted some lunch and asked for a cheap, good place to go. I knew JUST what they needed. Everyone, meet Master Burger --- the best, cheapest paninis in town. Where else can you get multiple hamburger patties, cheese and fries wrapped all in to one tasty baguette (conveniently called, 'The American'...go figure). The guy who runs it gives random discounts to random customers at random times, slicing euros off the price left and right. A couple of the students were lucky enough to be given free waters and free fries for having to wait a whole 2 minutes for their paninis. This guy is great.

(The lady operating the Wall Street sandwich shop was none too pleased to see Master Burger get 100euros worth of business in about 5min from all our students. All I have to say is, where your discounts be, girrrrl?)

I think the students will be frequenters of the Master Burger. :)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

2010-05-09T12:17:00.000-04:00

(courtesy of www.someecards.com)

Unexpected Late Night

2010-05-09T11:03:00.002-04:00

After the last of the students arrived with horrific tales of flight cancellations, rerouting, machines eating debit cards, and getting caught in the rain with all luggage in tow --- I was done with day one of the check-in process. It was 11pm when the last couple soaking wet participants came through the lobby doors - and they (and I) were hungry. Our options for food were limited since it was so late, but I didn't want to let the weary travelers down --- so who do I turn to? The sweet owner of the pizza place across the street who made me such a special 'to go' salad a few nights prior.

The restaurant lights of "La Grappa" (his place) were still on across the street, so I walked over and asked what time he closed. I'm pretty sure he would've closed the doors right then, but I told him there were three others plus myself who would come in for pizzas. He immediately obliged, started fanning the flame of his wood fire oven, and set up a table to serve us.

What started out as a late-night, quick bite to eat before bed.....turned into 4 HOURS of eating, drinking, laughing, and having extensive numerology readings (courtesy of the restaurant owner, Jean-Francois', good friend - Michelle, pronounced "mee-shell"). By the time 2:30am rolled around Jean-Francois was pulling out the Limoncello and shot glasses for all of us - obviously not wanting the night to end. We had a ball - found out extensive and eerily accurate things about all of our current lives according to "our numbers" (day, month, year we were born + beaucoups of numerology calculations indicating the current status of our lives).

Finally, at 3:30am we called it a night - but not before Jean-Francois starting writing out a calendar on the tablecloth trying to determine a date when the four of us could come back again for another exclusive "soiree". Next time, he said he would have Michelle bring her tarot cards - so you know that will be a fun night! :)

Here are some pictures from our unexpectedly late, yet fun evening...

Here's Anna Ferguson getting her numerology reading from Michelle. Michelle is literally saying how she has never seen numbers so good in her life. Anna's numbers for this year (the year that she is in Cannes, getting married, and writing her thesis) were comprised for three number 7's AND three 21's (aka- 7 xthree) - which is AMAZINGLY lucky. Anna is shown here in a bit of shock as well as a bit of relief considering that this is such a big year for her.

Here I am getting MY numbers read. Considering I am so in tune with everything Aries (even down to the stupid daily horoscopes in the paper) this was, of course, EERILY accurate for me. I'll be honest, it made me cry a little. It truly is ALL in the stars for me - and, in this case - all in the numbers. This stuff does not lie (for me, at least).

And here's Cody getting his numbers read -- and let me just tell you Michelle was ENAMORED with him (as you can see in this picture). She just kept on mumbling repeatedly the whole night (in French), "Oh, your path (in life)! Oh, your path..." I guess that was a good thing.

P.S. During this ENTIRE 4+ hour experience I had to translate E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G the whole time as the students speak no French and Jean-Francois and Michelle speak no English.

After the EIGHTH, yes EIGHT, try of me trying to get all six of us in the picture with my camera set on the counter I gave up and just took a pic of the five other folks --- Josh, Cody, Michelle, Jean-Francois, and Anna.

I'm Loving This

2010-05-09T02:38:00.003-04:00

One of the students, Josh Olds, just introduced this to me.

Amazing / Hilarious. Diggy (aka- Rev Run's middle son) has dropped a mixtape. Josh was playing it for me and it is actually really good - way better than his older brother, Jojo. You HAVE to listen (especially you, Dan).

Love him. Love his family. Miss their show.

The Students Are Coming! The Students Are Coming!

2010-05-08T19:40:00.000-04:00

The first batch of students arrived this morning bright-eyed and enthusiastic despite being very sleep-deprived. Eleven boys and girls pulled up in three taxis from Nice airport around 11am this morning and they've been going strong all day.

I introduced them all to the "Pan & Cake" crepes across the street and then they went to explore Cannes a little on foot. They are trying their hardest to stay awake until 9pm so they can start adapting to the French sleep schedule. To stall their bedtime they've been blogging and tweeting like crazy on their laptops all afternoon --- I'll post some of their blog links on here in the coming days.

Still waiting around here in the lobby (have been for the past 5.5 hours) for a couple more students to get in today...but I'm hearing that lots of people are being rerouted due to the Icelandic volcano erupting again last night. There's buzz that Nice airport may even be closed tomorrow, so students' (and professors') - and celebs' - travel getting here is going to become more and more interesting over the next 24 hours. And by interesting I mean a giant pain in the ass. Glad over half the students made it here today.

Oh, P.S. - one of the students who got here this evening came over on British Airways and got a picture of all the ash coming out of the volcano as they passed Iceland. It's an amazing picture. She's considering sending it to CNN's iReporter in the name of UGA Cannes Film Fest- you know, to get our name out there... :) I'll send a link to it later if she posts it.

Sweet Plugs

2010-05-07T23:47:00.002-04:00

Got all the welcome packets printed, stuffed, charged and completed. Now it’s time to hit the hay…with my fancy new NEON ear plugs (as shown below). Bon nuit!

A View From The Top

2010-05-07T19:14:00.001-04:00

A couple of shots from my room/balcony. Love!

The Yachts Are Coming! The Yachts Are Coming!

2010-05-07T18:21:00.005-04:00

After 7hours on my feet today hitting the streets of JLP to set up all things ‘housing’ with Namita, I have now decided to rest upon a perch by a front window in my room and test out my skillz as a paparazzo. (Or is it paparozza since I’m a girl?)

This is my perch.

My voyeuristic spells upon this perch are becoming longer and longer – it’s so easy to just gaze out and daze out. I feel like I’m a part of my own, personal neighborhood watch. I also feel like the creepy American staring down at everyone from the window. Hm.

Jaz-Z, Beyonce – is that you? Meet you in St. Tropez!

Brangelina – is that you? Shiloh needs a life vest!

Notice in that last picture - there's a person at the back left side of the boat pulling a jet ski into the back/bottom of the boat. Yeah - that yacht is HUGE. ...Aaaaand I'm stalking it. :)

Sleepless in JLP

2010-05-07T17:33:00.003-04:00

Couldn’t fall asleep 'til 3 last night even though I thought I was tired. Thanks, body, for more mixed messages. Sheesh.

Finally fell asleep after 3, but was awoken at 6 to what I thought was the Gestapo pounding angrily on my apartment door. Turns out the Gestapo were not at my door (or, really, anywhere in the last 60 years) – but nonetheless, I shoot out of bed like a mistress being caught by Elin. Once awake the loud noises fail to cease. I decide that Juan-Les-Pins is being invaded by a noisy fleet of tanks. Wrong again. Turns out 6am on Thursday morning is when France decided it was best to bring out several humongo trucks to clean – nay, POWER wash – the streets of this itty bitty beach town….for an HOUR AND A HALF. (*Namita later told me it was probably some sort of a strike. Ah, the French.)

Note to self: Buy ear plugs today at Casino (the grocery store around the corner).

So Euro

2010-05-06T20:47:00.000-04:00

My drinks are so Euro right now.

Dinner Excursion

2010-05-06T20:16:00.001-04:00

Guess what? My appetite came back! And I am starving!

Since I haven’t really eaten a meal since the picnic-style Moe’s and Joe’s lunch of chicken quesadillas on the floor of Carl’s cube Tuesday afternoon -- (had to get my Cinco de Mayo fill early) -- I was turning into quite the Ana Anna. (that’s eating disorder speak, folks. look it up.)

*SIDENOTE (aka- Completely Unrelated Tangential Meandering): Not only does my last name stand for “lady bits” (‘Beaver’), but my first name is lucky enough to have the honor of standing for 'Ana', a glorified personification of an eating disordered girl (think, Fiona Apple) - derived from, ‘anorexia'. Ana is often spotted hanging out with fellow skinny bitch, ‘Mia’ (you know, like, buliMIA). I’m not even making this up, folks. This is the type of information I learn when I see a friend on facebook who has gotten too skinny and then spend the next hour and half of my ADD-plagued life on urban dictionary-esque sites centered around eating disorders. I also read about some sort of weird tie-in about what it stands for when these types of girls wear red and purple bracelets?? I don’t know - I learned a lot of crazy things during that Google search. So beware, skinny friends, I'm watching you...

Anyway, getting back to it. I was STARVING, J, but still not quite ready to indulge in the delicious richness often found in typical French cuisine. So I opt to go the salad route and start wandering the local streets.

Saw this on the way.

I finally stumble into a little pizza place across the street from my residence. I ask if they can make a salad "à emporter" (aka- 'to go'). The owner was overtly accommodating and assured me he could do this - offered me a place to sit down in the restaurant while I waited. It was a good thing I sat down because it took him about 40min - no lie - to prepare it. I guess he was just trying to make it perfect. I didn't mind waiting - it was nice being out of my room and listening to a nearby table of French folks chatting over their meals. Anyway, when he finally brought it out - he gave me the salad in a big thing of tupperware - ha! If I had known they didn't do take-out, I wouldn't have made him go through all that - but he was so nice. Anyway, I promised him I would bring back the tupperware, silverware, and dressing container he gave me because "je reste juste la-bas" (indicating my residence was right across the street). He knew because he said he saw me get out of the taxi the other morning. That would've been creepy if he wasn't so nice - but I didn't get that vibe from him at all. He was legitimately just looking out for an apparent out-of-towner. So nice.

My delicious salad. Can you tell it was a pizza place? Notice the pesto covered mozzarella. LOVE. IT. This shall now be known as "Le Anna Special."

O.K., Let's try this again

2010-05-06T18:23:00.002-04:00

Today, Day 2.

Slept in (as in I slept from midnight to 11:30am), woke up, and tried to shake my shakiness from the day before. Still a bit uneasy, but managed to force down a croissant. I repeat – FORCE down a croissant. It was hot, freshly baked, and I had to FORCE it down. Didn’t taste it either. Hmm...considering this is what my mouth has been watering for all Spring leading up to this, I immediately know that I am still not quite up to par. I mean, BODY, get with the program! We’re in freaking FRANCE for crepe’s sake.

Anyway – I go with my body’s unwillingness to participate and say to myself, ‘go back to bed, young lady.’ So I did. Until 4:30 that evening.

I woke up to my beeping travel alarm alerting me to get my derrière into gear – as I had a scheduled time to meet our on-the-ground France correspondent, Namita, who helps out with the program with logistics and such throughout the year. I had to meet her at 5:42pm in the next town over, Antibes. Thankfully it is only one stop away via train – a total of 2 minutes on the tracks.

Seeing Namita get off the train brought a much-needed smile to my face. She gave me a suitcase full of things I need to set up my “personal office” back in my room (printer, cords, CD’s, about a thousand cell phones, etc). We sat in the Antibes train station for 10min before she had to continue on her way to Nice. After an express espresso with her and the suitcase now in tow – I hopped the train back one stop to my quaint little stomping grounds in Juan Les Pins.

Et voila! Here I am on my laptop --- answering emails and taking names…

Saw this at the Antibes train station. Good ol' Steve Carrell and Tina Fey. What if I just stuck it to the Cannes Film Fest and went to see this movie in one of the local theatres instead of one of the flashy red carpet premieres one night? Not cool? No? Alright.

Crazy Train

2010-05-06T12:13:00.005-04:00

Or, rather, crazy PLANE...

Yesterday was my first day on the ground here back in France. I would have written had a crazy person not taken over my body.

Due to a combination of jetlag and a severe, adverse reaction to something I took on the plane from JFK to Nice – I morphed into my own worst nightmare. Constant shaking, teeth chattering, afraid to sit down in my own room, no appetite, disorientation, etc. etc. etc. -- I was in A GLASS CASE OF EMOOOTIONNNNNN. If I never experience anything like that again it will be too soon.

Yikes! Glad that is O-V-E-R.

The Trip is Underway

2010-05-04T15:29:00.000-04:00

Just landed in JFK Airport from Atlanta. One half of my plane rides is now complete.

A bit of travel advice to anyone ever flying thru JFK...

Don't do it. Reroute thru Laguardia. Holy jeez - it was about as organized as Robin Williams' thought process. I felt like a Costa Rican rooster wandering around aimlessly - don't ask me why.

So that's that.

Stateside

2009-06-11T23:00:00.000-04:00

Dan and I made it back to Atlanta last night from Paris. As with most things in my life, there is a story to be told about our flight home. I promise to write the details on it later, but let's just say it includes old people, vomit, and a near emergency landing in South Carolina. It's always interesting!

I know I haven't done an update since we left the Riviera, but I want to update you on everything in sequential order. My plan is to attempt to pick up from where I left off with pictures and such in Juan-Les-Pins and continue thru to Paris and then our flight home.

I'm super jetlagged. Apparently I was overly ambitious in thinking that I could fly home on a Wednesday night and be at work Thursday morning. Dan convinced me I was crazy and needed to take a personal day to catch up on rest and get the body clock back on schedule. He was right......I slept today off and on until 5:07pm. Feels good.

I'll try to update as much as I can before bedtime tonight. Back to work in America tomorrow!

Paris - Day 1

2009-06-11T22:34:00.009-04:00

We took an early flight from Nice and landed in Paris at 9:30am Sunday morning. All of our luggage came through just fine and we grabbed a cab to our hotel. Having only gotten 5 hrs of sleep in the last 2 days I was exhausted --- and so was Dan. We decided since we had landed so early we could spare a couple hours to lie in the room and rest before we hit the pavement to explore the city. Our power nap turned into a long nap, but we felt GREAT when we woke -- ready to get outside with enough energy to appreciate the sights we saw.

Our hotel was a block away from the Vivain metro stop in the Montparnasse area of town. I knew exactly where to go from here...hop on the metro line and take it straight up 5 stops to St. Michel (my old stomping grounds)! Emerging from the underground metro we walked up the stairs right out to the front of the St. Michel fountain.

From there we walked across the street toward the River Seine and watched some boats float by below. I told Dan to turn his head to the right and -boom- there was Notre Dame. We took some pictures out front then headed for the doors to check out the inside. Turns out we were right in time for Sunday evening mass, so our tour of the interior was even more beautiful as we were accompanied by the live singing of hymns. The incense began wafting through the air as we moseyed through the crowds staring up at stained glass windows, chandeliers, and equally as intricate gothic, arched walkways. I've always loved it in here, but it made it even better hearing Dan say he had never experienced anything like it. I'm so glad we saw it together.

Leaving Notre Dame we noticed that the rain had turned into a drizzle. I decided we had to walk back across the Seine over to the best little bookstore in Paris: Shakespeare & Co. - a must see! Love it there and, yes, I bought a book (another one of Stephen Clarke's hilarious British commentaries on the French).

We walked outside this time and noticed that the drizzle had turned into an unexpected moment of dryness with sun poking through the clouds. I told Dan it was imperative that we run to the metro and go to the Eiffel Tower that second since it was supposed to rain the entirety of our time in Paris and we must take advantage of the weather gods temporarily smiling on us - so that's what we did. Even though in my lifetime I have spent a total of nearly 6months in this city, I had NEVER been to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was closed in 2002 when I went with my high school class as it was less than a year after 9/11 and when my family tried to go during my study abroad semester in 2005 it started snowing, so they closed it down for fear that the cables would snap from the cold. So, this was the day I was meant to go to the top! We stayed there for hours...taking our time strolling along the river from the metro to the monument, grabbing a nutella crepe at the carousel right across the street from the Tower, waiting in line with many an American high school group to go up the elevator, being silly with my camera at the bottom of the Tower before our ascent, keeping Dan calm at the top due to the crazy height which was not helped by the whipping wind, and finally gazing up at the glittering Tower lights that flickered on at 10pm sharp. (*Note- If my memory serves me correctly then the lights usually twinkle for 10min at the top of every hour beginning at 10:00 each evening...however, this time they only stayed illuminated for 5min. Result of the economy? Too high of a power bill? Just curious.)

Last day in Juan

2009-06-06T22:21:00.000-04:00

I already did one post on my last day in Juan-Les-Pins when I was checking all of the students out of the residence. Beginning with check-outs at 4:30am that morning, I was finally done with the last of them around mid-day. Instead of going up to bed to sleep, Dan and I made the most of our last day in the south and paid 15euro a piece to rent padded beach chairs in the sand. It was unnaturally windy this day so the waves were choppier than I've ever seen them on the Med. It was warm in the sun, though, and we soaked up every last ounce of our last day before Paris.

Student Check-Out Day

2009-06-06T02:25:00.002-04:00

Today is the official end to the 2009 Cannes Film Festival Study Abroad Program at UGA. It is 8:26AM here in France and I have been checking students out since 4:30AM this morning. All but three people have checked out of the residence and made their way to both the Nice airport for long plane rides home and to the train station for many post-program travels.

I am emotionless, but I think that's only because I'm too tired to "feel" right now. I'm sure this all will hit me (the students being gone, the fact that I have to leave my life at the beach) later on. If it doesn't hit me later today then I'm sure it will tomorrow as I'm on an Air France flight for a 3-day getaway in Paris. And if it doesn't hit me then then it'll for sure hit me come Thursday morning when I'm back in the offices of Fletcher Martin a mere 12-hours after I've touched down stateside. My mind cannot even begin to fathom what that morning will feel like.

For now, I want to soak up the rest of my time in this beautiful, quaint, dreamlike place. I hate to leave it, but I can't WAIT to come back!

I'm adding more pictures to my last post (which can be found below this one) as I wait for the last of the students to turn in their keys. After those final goodbyes you can find me passed out from exhaustion on the beaches of JLP for one last day in the Mediterranean sun. Okay, I think it's starting to hit me... I better go focus now so I can ditch this laptop and get out to enjoy this lovely, sunny, French life to which I've grown so accustomed.

A bientot!

June 3. Danny's Birthday!

2009-06-04T21:26:00.000-04:00

For Dan's birthday we went out to eat at a restaurant on the beach (literally ON the beach...our table/feet were in the sand) called Le Jetee. I had salmon and Dan had steak. Some highlights: listening to the calm waves of the Mediterranean hit the beach as we ate, watching the sunset from the dinner table, the amazing waitstaff and how nice they were to us --- our waiter even surprised us with two complimentary birthday shots at the end of dessert.

After dinner the plan was to head back to the residence and have a glass of wine in my room before heading out on the town for a rare night out. All week Dan had encouraged me to talk up his birthday with the students to see if anyone wanted to go out and celebrate....but I just kept telling him how they all had papers due the following day and I doubted many people would be able to make it out.

Arriving back to my room I turned the key to the door and Dan walked in to flick on the lights. Right on cue he was met with a huge "SURPRISE!" from a roomful of students dressed in all white. Yes, folks. I am the first person in Dan's 32-year history to have ever successfully thrown him a surprise party -- and a surprise WHITE party, at that (I'm patting myself on the back as I type).

The white party under black lights. We took the party out to Juan-Les-Pins super-Euro, Club M. There was dancing aplenty as we celebrated Danny's birthday in style.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAN!!!

Finally some pictures

2009-06-04T06:13:00.009-04:00

Here are some pictures from our first week together in France...

SATURDAY --- Eze, Monaco

Pulling in to the hillside town of Eze on the grafitti'd train.

Attempting to find the nearest bus stop. We had been told by students who visited Eze the day before that we HAD to pay 5euros and take the bus 20min up the mountain where we would be met with a beautiful garden which would pale in comparison to the view overlooking the Mediterranean down below. Apparently our bus ride up to the top of the hill was not meant to be because our timing was off. It was 45 min until the next bus went up, 20 min to get up to the top, and the next train we needed to catch to Monaco was shortly thereafter. Too shortly thereafter, in fact, that our bus trip plans were squelched as we headed back to the train station and decided, "we'll see it next year."

The train - in very French fashion - didn't show up until 25min after it was due to arrive. Thus, Dan and my trip to Eze turned into an hour-long detour on our way to Monaco. We took plenty of pictures at the train station in an attempt to appease our boredom and distract ourselves from the fact that we were a mere two train stops from Monaco and still had to wait so long to get there. So close, yet so far away...

We made it! (P.S. - NICEST train station I've seen in Europe.)

This church we stumbled upon has been there since the year 304 (!!). America is so young.

Dan being a good Catholic...dipping his fingers in the holy water and doing the 1-2-3-4 thing.

Dan paid 1 euro and we lit a candle together. We walked through the church passed all of the wooden pews, finally taking a seat in the second row at the front and prayed together. I thanked god for sending Dan to me...both in France and in life...and wished for god to continue granting us his "traveling mercies" (b/c I ALWAYS remember my youth group leader in middle school mentioning that in the group prayer anytime we got on a bus. Gotta love the Methodists!). I don't know what Dan prayed about.

After our brush with religion, Dan and I headed straight to the Monte Carlo casino. Our arrogance was palpable as we strutted along the shoreline flaunting our cash in euros. Breezing by the single security guard at the door we perused the casino's interior and its clientele. We were the only Americans in there. However, Lady Luck spat in our faces quicker than you could shout, "Le Blackjack!" Within seconds we were down a combined 25euros on the daggum slots (i.e. the world's fanciest trash cans for money). Our spirits were still high despite our misfortune as it was a cool feeling to simply be gambling in the ACTUAL area of Monte Carlo in Monaco versus its American counterpart, the infamously charred hotel/casino version of Monte Carlo in Vegas.

This is the shopping mall in the Monte Carlo section of Monaco. Yeah, this area has some money...

Dogs are allowed in restaurants, stores, hotels, and offices....but heaven forbid they be allowed in the park!

Here are a few more pictures from our afternoon/evening in Monaco:

SUNDAY --- Antibes

A street performer came to the outdoor restaurant where we were dining for lunch. He set up shop for a 15-20min performances perfectly situated behind Dan's chair. Dan didn't mind too much as he was engulfed in the spicy/pepper olive oil that they serve here (Warning: To all Customs agents who may read this do not be alarmed when Dan's suitcase is weighed down by bottles of these on the return trip). Also, the performer ended his set with the crowd-pleasing song choice of, "La Bamba." Viva France!

After lunch we walked along the harbor and into the city's walls. At first glance I thought these flags said "Arby's". Ha

As soon as we entered the Antibes' walls we found ourselves being welcomed by a jovial, seemingly impromptu parade.

Typical street in Antibes. Love it!

Here's another cute little alley.

We bought three paintings (3!) from this artist at the open-air market. One of a nearby street in Antibes, one of Cannes' harbor, and one of the Monte Carlo Hotel where we visited the day before. They are all gorgeous and distinct in their own way. Thank you to our artist friend, Vincent!

Beautiful city walls along the Med.

Gorgeous, yet treacherous, water and rocks below.

Napoleon wuz here.

The afternoon quickly digressed as soon as we reached the landmark Absinthe Bar... (see below) ...

MONDAY --- Cannes

We ventured over to Cannes Monday afternoon after Dr. Kohn's journalism class let out. It was rainy the whole time we were there, so we didn't really get any pictures. We did however shop like CRAZY and eat a good meal at Cafe Roma.

TUESDAY --- Nice

Tuesday morning we let our rebellious sides run wild and grabbed a train to Nice without paying. (Read: heavy sarcasm here. No one ever pays for trains around here. Riding for free is well worth the risk of being fined - which is rare. I'm waiting for the day when my making statements like this comes to bite me in the ass...)

Anyway, we spent a couple of hours walking and shopping in the lovely city of Nice. P.S. - This was probably the fourth time I've been to Nice in my life and it was the 1st time EVER since I've been that the town and general infrastructure was not under construction. Nice is now actually nice. Hats off, local government and construction teams.

"Travel Weekend"

2009-06-01T06:30:00.003-04:00

Having been given the Friday off from class creating a 3-day weekend students ventured whimsically to places like London, Amsterdam, Venice, and Avignon. Meanwhile Dan and I used this time to take quick train trips to Golfe Juan, Monaco, and Antibes - each enjoyable in their own right. I've already written about our first day of lounging (topless!) on the beaches of Golfe Juan and I planned to write about our Monaco experience this morning, but considering my camera's juice is completely dissipated at the moment I guess I'll just give you a little taste and divulge the full details with accompanying pictures later.

Monaco was fantastic. I don't know if I've even visited a place where everything down to the sidewalks is so ornate. The remnants of the Grand Prix race from a week ago are still intact in the streets. We walked around for about five hours exploring the winding streets of the world's second smallest principality (Vatican City holds the title of smallest). We documented every square inch with 300 pictures or so. I promise to only post a miniscule portion of those.

Yesterday from noon to eight we journeyed through the tiny, old streets of neighboring Antibes. I'd spent a day there before when I was here three years ago - lunching with ladies from my program and snapping goofy model-esque picture poses atop a scenic overlook by the sea. This trip with Dan, though, was somehow different. We took more time to notice the small things - exploring many more nooks and crannies than I had previously. The local artists in the open air market, the myriad of hats for the taking at the hidden absinthe bar, and the rocky shoreline with white crested waves crashing beneath the walled city were just some of the things we admired.

I'll post more in-depth stories of our adventures along with pictures later on when I get a chance. For now we're going to grab lunch, charge my camera battery, and head over to Cannes for an afternoon of sightseeing, shopping, and maybe a movie in one of its many theatres. I can see out the window of our rooftop classroom now that there appears to be a threat of afternoon thunderstorms as the sky goes from a light white down to a deep purple off in the distance behind the harbored tip of Golfe Juan......hopefully we can do a quick raindance to hold off the looming showers.

Anyway - time to run. Will report back later. A tout a l'heure!

Danny has landed!

2009-05-30T06:47:00.008-04:00

After an 8-hour flight, a 6-hour layover in Paris, and another flight down to Nice complete with a 40-min delay.....Dan has made it to me in the south of France!

He arrived jetlagged, yet excited --- so we hit the ground running in my home base of Juan-Les-Pins right away in an attempt to prolong Dan's head hitting the pillow and get his body clock adjusted to France time.

Living just half a block up from the blue Mediterranean Sea makes for a lovely view from my balcony as well as easy access for strolling along the boardwalk. Dan and I did just that as soon as we unpacked his very well organized suitcase. :)

On the way to the restaurant-lined beach we made a quick pitstop for some mid-afternoon gelato (which I seem to have adopted as a daily ritual). Dan LOVED his cone full of Snickers and chocolate goodness. We then walked out on a rocky point to admire the distant yachts and crystal clear water just at our feet. Dan can't get over the scenery of Juan-Les-Pins...restaurants with couches and tables that allow its patrons to dine with their feet in the sand, colorful awnings from the shops and apartments looming just behind, and not to mention topless French sunbathers as far as the eye can see.

We got him some good handmade French pizza that is as thin as our Arby's FSI's. He LOVED that too. We had a great (cheap!) bottle of French red wine with our pizzas which you could've mistaken for warm milk as it began to lull Dan to sleep while he was still seated at the table. At one point during our conversation I had to inform him that only one of his eyes was still open --- I'm pretty sure he doesn't remember most of that first day/night as I've had to repeat a lot of what I said - but I can understand. I've already dealt with the exact same thing with our 25 students when they arrived. I'm a pro now.

The next morning we got up and went to my favorite spot for breakfast crepes - "Pan & Cake." We enjoyed ingredients like ham, cheese, mushrooms, and egg warmly wrapped into our soft crepes. Yum! Grabbed two 'pain-au-chocolats' to go and headed toward the train station for a day on the beach in the neighboring town of Golfe Juan. Below are some pictures from our afternoon - it was great and so relaxing.

Today is Dan's third day on the ground here and the students have been given a day off class to allow time for a "travel weekend" of their choice. We are going to use this time to take a day trip over to Monaco and hopefully stop in Eze on one of the legs of the train ride. It's another beautiful day with a bit of a breeze so it should be perfect for walking around and exploring new areas. I've never been to either of these places, so I'm excited to see them for the first time today with Dan. I'm sure we'll have SO many pictures to post after today.

Okay, better go check the train schedule before the entire day gets away from us on the internet. Talk to you soon.

-ab & dd

To all worried family/friends...

2009-05-30T06:45:00.002-04:00

[***I tried to post this the other day after receiving a concerned gmail message from my dad, but my internet connection failed during the posting.***]

I guess I should have clarified better in my previous "French Hospitals" post that it was NOT ME who was in the hospital last week. I was there with a student --- who is also doing fine. All is good - just want to make sure no one is worrying because everything here is great.

Again, I am a big fan of the French medical system. The doctors make housecalls, the over-the-counter prescriptions at the pharmacies are to die for (not to mention they cost like 3euros), the prices for hospital visits are a miniscule fraction of what they would cost in the States.....it's incredible. I love it. If this is what everyone refers to as "socialism," then vive la France because it is daggum wonderful! A nurse has continued to come to our residence once a day every day since our student returned from the hospital to check up and make sure everything is okay. We are in great hands!!

That is all. :)

Laundering

2009-05-27T07:44:00.002-04:00

About to spend the day washing sheets of the Juan-Les-Pins guest apartment (in addition to washing some of my own clothes for the first time since I've been here).

Hope to also get some sun by the pool and write some postcards (and maybe a better blog post) this afternoon as well.

A tout a l'heure!

More Cannes Blogs

2009-05-26T07:28:00.004-04:00

Click on the following links to check out blogs from some of our students over here.

http://angeyang.blogspot.com/

http://lindseybrooke.tumblr.com/

http://sarahwalpert.blogspot.com/

http://georgefrance.blogspot.com/

http://www.bryceincannes.com/

http://grino-grino.blogspot.com/

I love looking at these although I tend to find myself getting jealous of their fun adventures.......which really makes no sense since I am here in France with them. I think seeing their experiences through posts and pictures vividly reminds me of (and makes me miss) the camaraderie I shared with my fellow classmates when I attended this program as a student back in the good ol' days of college.

*P.S. -- If any students see this and want me to add their blog to this list just let me know. I only posted the ones I knew about... :)

I booked my hotel in Paris the other day

2009-05-25T05:54:00.006-04:00

The only reason I am devoting an entire post to this is because:

(a) I am spending more money on this 3-night, post-Cannes program hotel stay than I ever have on a hotel visit in my life. Granted, in my past hotel-booking experience it has often been with the mindset of: "Can I cram fourteen of my other friends into this standard 'double' room conspicuously enough after a night of one too many games of beer pong or bar shots in (fill-in-the-blank) college town?" In those such cases the rate usually ends up being no more than $10/person, so my Parisian booking this time around is certainly a shock to my poor credit card's system.

(b) The hotel was chosen from a long list of potential venues after some meticulous Google-searching on my part. I reviewed the list thoroughly and repeatedly, considering factors such as location and decor with price being very low on the list of considerations because, 'Hey, when in Rome (er, Paris), right?' Besides, by the time this Parisian getaway takes place I will have been housed in the south of France on UGA's dime for more than a month...so to justify my frivolity once more, I guess I just feel like I can finally 'splurge' a little.

The hotel is called HOTEL A LA VILLA DES ARTISTES. The aspect I liked most about this hotel is the uniqueness of each "Arty" room as shown in the website's pictures and descriptions:

" The “Arty” Rooms have been entirely renovated and dedicated to

the modern arts. Each room has its own special atmosphere of different

artistic periods such as Fauvism, Cubism or Surrealism. "

The location of this place is also ideal because it is situated just south of the gorgeous Luxembourg Gardens directly adjacent to the iconic Latin Quarter, the arrondissement in which I spent most of my time during my 4-month period of studying at the Sorbonne back in college. Four years have passed since my semester-long stint in Paris and I cannot WAIT to get back to my old stomping grounds. Paris is, after all, my absolute favorite city in the world.

It was also my first love. No really. I fell in love with that city when I lived there. Returning to school in Athens, GA after my time abroad in Paris if ever I saw photos of the city on tv or in books my heart and stomach would drop as if I was seeing an ex-boyfriend with a new girl. Call me creepy or weird, but Paris has this lasting affect on people - it certainly has with me. Ha - sidenote - a actually read not too long ago about a woman "legally" (in the loosest sense of the word, I'm sure) married the Eiffel Tower, changing her last name to 'Eiffel' and all. I wouldn't take my obsession with the city that far, but apparently this woman did. Anyway, that's neither here nor there...

Now that I have this glorious place booked I am left with the task of trying to figure out who I can show Dan, a European newbie, all that Paris has to offer in a mere three days. I'm up for the challenge...

French Hospitals

2009-05-23T07:56:00.010-04:00

I have been absent from my blog, my email, and normal life as we know it for the past few days as I was spending some (unexpected) quality time getting to know the French medical system --- particularly the hospitals. My observations are as follows:

- The exterior of a French hospital may appear to be a rundown "Jefferson's"-esque apartment complex from the '70s, but this is misleading because the interior has definitely "moved on up to the Eastside" and is far more in line with our 'American standards.'

- If you are a visitor accompanying a patient in their room for the night the bed you are issued by the nurses might turn out to be a stretcher...like the one on wheels used in ambulances. If you enjoy sleeping on a permanent incline and if you don't mind lying on a surface where a dead body may have preceded you then THIS is the bed for you!

- Your single room will be very nicely accommodated with a patient's bed, window, desk, chair, and private bathroom with accompanying shower (i.e. a drain in the floor next to the toilet with a handheld shower thing mounted on the wall). However, be prepared when you ask for the accessories needed to shower -like a towel, some soap, and shampoo- as this hospital is not a hotel and does not have such things. Instead you will be issued a hospital bedsheet for drying, some gauze dressings to wash your face, and a mystery murky fluid in a dixie cup that may or may not be turpentine and molasses with which to wash yourself. Use on private parts at your own risk.

- Nurses changing the IV's of a patient are not concerned with the IV fluid OR the patient's blood splattering onto the bed, floor, or visitor's feet below. Once finished, their concern level does not waiver from the aforementioned when it comes to to cleaning up said splatterings, thus leaving the visitor to clean off the blood from their own feet with a towl...I mean sheet.

- As a guest of a patient, you can occasionally be served food (pending the patient you are

with is temporarily not allowed to eat per doctor's orders). This is good. You may, however, be given a beet salad for your lunch. This is bad. The only halfway decent thing about a beet salad is that for one brief moment it will remind you of Dwight Schrute from "The Office." Then the smell and appearance of the beets will once again overtake any remotely entertaining thought you may have had for the remainder of its presence in the room.

*These are key observations that I have been fortunate enough to note firsthand, so I felt it essential to share with any and all of you who may find themselves one day in a French Hospital. Now back to my regular updating of this blog...

Slacking

2009-05-20T08:32:00.003-04:00

I promise to finish writing about the last few days. I have seen three new movies that I am dying to tell you about among many other things. So I will include all of this when I finish posting later tonight (afternoon - your time).

For now, though, I'm going to take a break from this blogging business to take care of some REAL business over here. I have to:

- Get back in touch with film critic, Michael Phillips (Chicago Tribune), about speaking with our students this Friday evening. And since it seems like our good fortune has run out at the Hotel Victoria (their hospitality for our "free" meetings lasted only so long) I must book another place for us to meet with our guest speakers. Luckily, I found a super swanky hotel right across the street from the Victoria that looks like it'll work. Need to get back in touch with the manager there and book a time/menu for us on Friday (they're charging us in food/drinks instead of a base price....which I can appreciate).

- I also have two friends in town who arrived via train last night. They have backpacked through 5 countries in the past week. That makes me tired to think about. So now they're shacking at my place in Juan-Les-Pins to slow down their pace for a few days of R&R on the beach. I think I may join them for a couple hours this afternoon.

- While sunning in the sand today I also need to jot some ideas down for my next article on athensexchange.com since I have left them hanging since last week. I feel really bad, but the business of Cannes has consumed my life and left little time for solid, reflective writing. I will give it my best effort later today, though.

- Tonight is the red carpet premiere of the in-competition Tarantino film, "Inglorious Basterds," starring Brad Pitt. The Croisette is going to be CROWDED tonight because everyone will want a glimpse of Brangelina. Most of our students are going to beg the hardest they've begged so far for a ticket to tonight's screening, I know. While I would love to be in there with Brangey and 'tino, I think the chaos would be more than I could handle in heels. Instead I think my visiting friends and I will don some long-sleeve tees and flops to observe the red carpet from afar and then hit up the laid-back movie on the beach with a make-shift picnic on a blanket. That is much more my speed these days.

- Then hopefully tonight I can muster up enough energy to finish posting about the last few days. I'll channel "The Little Engine That Could" as much as humanly possible ("...I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..").

Until tonight, mes amis... A bientot!

A busy beaver, am I

2009-05-19T05:36:00.006-04:00

Realizing the last post I made on here was on Day 3 of the Festival is quite daunting given that it is now the morning of Day 7. Trying to remember what has happened the past four days is killer. So much happens and you think you'll remember so easily then - voila - you don't.

Here's my best stab at what I've been up to (without going into a 'Dear Diary'-esque rundown):

(the rest of) DAY 3

- Saw a late afternoon showing of the Un Certain Regard selection, the Japanese movie "Air Doll" ...it was okay, certainly not great. Glad I saw it, but don't care if I ever see it again.

- Went to a great pizza place ("Le Pizza") at the far end of Cannes with Sophie, Raven, and Chaz Ebert (and their longtime assistant, Car

ol, who showed up with camera in hand per Roger's request for her to snap some pictures that night for his well-read postings at Cannes).

- Discovered the similarities that Chaz and I share when it comes to writing and basically taking on any task

--- perfectionism. Don't want to start a task if you can't devote all the time to it that it needs and once we do start a task it's hard to ever finish it for fear that it is not perfectly done (i.e. scrapbooking would be a nightmare for us). We both did agree that we are good at planning events and following through with those because we can see the instant gratification from the people they serve immediately following their completion. For example, I said I feel that sense of accomplishment when I execute various events for Fletcher Martin or for this Cannes group and she followed up with a very nice, reassuring, "Yes, I felt the same way when I planned t

he event surrounding Roger getting his star on the Hollywood walk of fame." So, as you can see, Chaz and I are operating on very similar scales here. We're basically one and the same. :)

Day 4

- Utilized the space I arranged for us at the Hotel Victoria for the first time when the Swedish producers, Carl and John, from "Let The Right One In" spoke to our group of students. They were perfect and so was the Hotel Victoria staff. At the end of the day the use of that space cost us 20euro in glass bottles of Evian for the speakers. Not bad.

- Walked around Cannes all afternoon shopping and whatnot. Ha

d high hopes of begging for tickets for Ang Lee's red carpet premiere of "Taking Woodstock", but apparently nature had other plans for me. My body's condition deteriorated rapidly throughout the day as more and more signs were beginning to show that I was wearing myself out.

- Nixed plans for the premiere and grabbed a train home, lymphnodes fully swollen and chest and head feeling not so good.

- Went to bed and tried to sleep this off until the next (very busy) morning of meetings and more planning.

Day 5

- Woke up with the Swine Flu. (Probably not, but it was definitely a close cousin.)

- Slep

t in as long as I could before I had to get another train to Cannes for an 11:30 meeting in the Cannes Classics office of the Palais with one mister very Greek, Van Papadopoulo. Still not well, but as you know, "The show must go on!" Nate (who by this time had already flown back stateside to NYC for the Peabody Awards) had set this meeting up for me in his absence before he left. I was to meet Mr. Papadopoulo and get details on the admission of our students into this year's Cannes Master Class (being held the following Tuesday - i.e. today...in an hour - i.e. why the hell am I still typing this freaking blog). Last year the Master Class was conducted by Tarantino, the year before it was Scorsese. Usually the class is held in a 1,200+ seat theatre, but this year the theatres size was a paltry 350 seats. (Yikes!) Luckily though, Mr. Papadopoulo really appreciated the Athens, GA to Athens, Greece connection and decided to reserve a tenth of the theatres seats for our group of students (insert shock and happiness on my part). So that meeting w

ent very well and we left it on the note of, "See you Tuesday at the Master Class...and if you ever make it to Athens, GA please bring us a fantastic Greek restaurant."

- Went back outside to kill time before our next speaker presentation at my little gem, the Hotel Victoria. Sat on a bench to change into some basic, black flats that I'd just purchased from the shoe store Andre, and ended up meeting a pleasant new friend on a sidewalk bench. As I was changing my shoes I heard this poor girl getting hit on by two not-so-suave French guys and though, "Poor thing." As soon as the guys left she looked at me for a unifying girl-to-girl glance and was surprised when English came out of my mouth. We struck up a conversation immediately and found great compatibility in one another. Originally from Romania, she now lives in San Franc

isco working on the account side of advertising, most recently for Razor Fish. She was killing time in Cannes while the friend she was visiting worked during the day and I was killing time before my next meeting. We decided to grab lunch together and keep each other company. Talked a lot about the industry and whatnot - she was very amazed and interested at what I was doing in Cannes, so I was glad to show her around the sites and hotspots along the Croisette.

- Left Felicia to run to the Hotel Victoria and set the place up for our second guest

speaker, director Paul Cox. Paul is a lovely Dutch man who claims Australia as home. He is cynical, realistic, and strongly set in his beliefs. I kind of love him. I'm sure some of the students were taken aback by his often polarizing opinionated stances, but I think on the same token several students "got" him. He had prepared a 6-page, single-spaced document to read to us basically laying out his views on things not only in the film industry, but in life. Thankfully he's emailing that piece to us so I'll be able to post some of his words on here. He is truly a poet and a lover of art and beauty. Everything else pales in comparison. I thought of my brother frequently during Paul's talk with us. Alex, an extremist in many senses of the word, sometimes takes his thoughts and opinions too far...but for being a 19-year-old, I am just damn proud that he actually puts thought into things about which other people his age are either careless or ignorant. Alex - I will forward you Paul Cox's email as soon as I get it because your thoughts on religion, politics, war, life, value systems, etc. are eerily the same. I wish you could meet dear Paul, but for now his Word Document words will have to do.

- Came back to our home base in Juan-Les-Pins for the rest of the day in hopes of ridding myself of this phlegmy chest/cough condition.

- Made some depressing phone calls to Duffy - missing him and our dog, Charley. (Apologies again for my morose nature. Blame it on Paul Cox who seems to put everything in crystal clear perspective for you.)

- Read a bunch, went to bed, and slept soundly until my next day in France.

to be continued...

*More later. About to run to the Master Class in Cannes (with the Dardenne Brothers) .... will finish this post and write about my experience with the D. Bros when I return.

-ab

P.S.

2009-05-15T16:30:00.009-04:00

The guest presenter at the Roger Ebert Dedication we attended at the American Pavilion this afternoon was Martin Scorsese. Sooo, you know, it was basically just a typical Friday afternoon for me with Rog & Marty. No big deal.

P.S. - Scorsese is shoorrrrrrt. Seriously short. But just as perfect and cute as you would expect him to be...thick-rimmed glasses and all. And yes, I did just do a 'P.S.' within my "P.S." post. I'm allowed to because it's my blog.

My First Contribution to ATHENS EXCHANGE

2009-05-15T16:19:00.004-04:00

I am contributing to this online Athens Exchange site about my experiences while in Cannes and I submitted my first article to them this morning. My contact point for the site told me he read my entry as more of a "blog"-type style (go figure), so he posted it under that section of the site. Anyway, you can find it here :

http://www.athensexchange.com/blog/335

There's more to come from me on www.athensexchange.com AS WELL AS on this blog. Mark my words!

Yes, I know...I need to post more often

2009-05-15T06:12:00.005-04:00

I've been busy like you wouldn't believe. Take this morning for instance...

I had my alarm set for 8:15AM with the intention of waking up early enough to finish my first article for the online Athens Exchange before heading in to Cannes to catch the 11:30 reprise of last night's in-competition film, "Fish Tank," directed by Andrea Arnold.

Well those plans remained in tact long enough for me to fall asleep last night and get woken up by a different phone sound at 8:09AM. The head professor/director of our program, Dr. Nate Kohn, was calling to inform me that he had arranged for our 25 students to be admitted into the American Pavilion later this afternoon for a dedication they're doing for Roger Ebert. I was to immediately get to a working email network (easier said than done in France), email a lady at the Pavilion the names of all our students so she could clear them with Festival security, and print 25 copies of the make-shift invitation from a forwarded gmail chain. This is how quickly my morning took a complete turn in a new direction. And such is the life in Cannes.

It has now been four hours since that phone call from Nate and I have checked all of those things off my list and then some... At noon I had to call the Swedish producer, Carl Molinder, of the movie, "Let The Right One In," because that's when his plane was landing in Nice. We spoke about scheduling a time for him and (I believe) his producing partner, John, to come and talk to our students. He's calling me back in an hour to confirm the day/time.

Which reminds me...I'm also supposed to reserve a meeting time for our group at 2PM on Sunday to listen to Nate's life-long friend, director Paul Cox.

P.S. Quite possibly my biggest accomplishment since I've been in Cannes so far is walking the strip of hotels along the Croisette, going door-to-door, trying to find a meeting space (room, terrace, large closet, etc.). The hard part was trying to find a space within our tiny budget of 100euro/hour. Well, I ended up talking to this old man working the desk at the Hotel Victoria (situated right behind the Hotel Stephanie - formerly the Noga Hilton) at a rate of FREE! Yes, 0euro/hour is what I got us. (I'm patting myself on the back AGAIN for this accomplishment...arranged completely in French, I might add). Anyway, gotta call my old man friend Andre again this morning over at the Hotel Victoria to set up times to meet with the Swedes and Paul Cox.

Okay - it's now 1PM and I have to book it back up to my apartment to change shirts and splash on some make-up. Gotta meet the students at 1:45 outside of the Grand Lumiere Theatre to stealthily coordinate our entrance into the American Pavilion for the Ebert dedication. Oh, and I just found out the trains are on strike (as of an hour and a half ago). Brilliant.

Soooo...I need to run out of here, ready myself in two seconds' time, catch a cab to Cannes, celebrate Ebert's dedication, possibly catch a 5:30PM showing of the Un Certain Regard reprise of "Air Doll" (aka- "Kuki Ningyo," a Japanese film directed by Kore-Eda Hirokazu). Then tonight - if the weather holds out (it's been sprinkling some this morning) - a bunch of us are going to try and attend the 'Movie on the Beach' (Cinema de la Plage) where they set up a HUGE movie screen about 10 yards out over the water of the Mediterranean. They have a couple hundred cloth folding chairs set up in front of it in the sand for one of the most unique viewing experiences you can imagine. Tonight they're showing "Pink Floyd: The Wall," so it will be absolutely awesome if the weather stays on our side.

Okay - gotta run. I'm late. Can't keep Roger waiting.

One is the loneliest number

2009-05-08T11:43:00.005-04:00

This is the first post I've been able to do since I've been here. The internet has been down all along the coast for my past three days in France, so voila - just pretend like I posted this on Wednesday, May 6 (my true first day in the country).

One…(o’clock) is the time I got to Hartsfield-Jackson airport in ATL on Cinco de Mayo. Three (o’nine) is the time I made it to my gate for my 3:20PM take-off. *Note to self- Do not eat at the airport Houlihan’s for a pre-departure lunch no matter how bad you want the greasy American potato skins before you leave. The only “skin” I will remember from this experience is making that flight by the skin of my teeth. Never again…

One…bag made it all the way through with me on my journey to Nice (which, as you know, began in Atlanta and then connected in Paris). It is important to note here that I was expecting two bags to meet me in Nice. For reasons why I had to end up checking a second bag please refer back to paragraph ONE. For future reference: if you arrive at the gate that late there will not be any more overhead compartment room on the plane and the lady at the gate will throw your bag under the plane with the other checked luggage and that lady will forget to enter your bag into the online airline/airport system of all-knowing all-important information….thus, your bag will take a detour in Paris for longer than the four hour layover you had planned.

One…day is how long your bag will spend in Paris without you. (Lucky bastard.)

One…is the number of passports a person has in their name at any given time in their life (pending they are not a criminal with multiple identities).

One…is the number of passports that I had going into this trip.

One…is the number of passports that I left on the seat of my taxi that drove me thirty minutes from the Nice airport to my residence in Juan-Les-Pins. (Given what I went through a mere two weeks before this trip with my passport at work involving a moment of severe ADD, a dumpster, and a really nice Mexican cleaning lady who deserves a major raise…this is not a good pattern of behavior for me and my beloved passport.) My dad will likely kill me and assuredly roll his eyes when he reads this because it will remind him of another not-too-fun story of a

One…hundred dollar bill that I haphazardly threw away (on accident) on a flight to Honolulu about five years ago with my family. That was a Christmas present from my parents that I never saw again (and a $100 tip that some lucky stewardess got for some last-minute Christmas shopping). *Note: to any current/future employers who may be reading this – I am superbly good at organizing people, events, and figurative things…but on occasion the palpable things in my life can get a little messy. *Note: to any current, licensed doctors who may be reading this please consider making me your poster child for ‘Adult ADD’. It should also be noted that I will accept (nay, I desperately need) your free samples – hint hint. Anyway, back to the situation at hand-

One…heart attack is what I nearly had when I realized my passport was gone.

One…(billion) is the number of phone calls I and the kind sweet French girl, Charlotte, and I made (combined) to the taxi company and the Nice airport trying to find and retrieve my passport.

One…crazy emotional phone call is what I made to Dan in a telephone booth on the street of Juan-Les-Pins, crying my eyes out amidst a jetlagged haze I can barely remember and will absolutely choose to forget.

One…is the number I have assigned to the angel-of-a-woman working this day at the Nice airport Air France desk --- she searched the airport bathrooms for my passport, spoke to me slowly and calmly in French throughout my debacle, and ultimately arranged for my passport (which was later turned in to airport 'Lost & Found' by my female taxi driver, another angel I might add) to be delivered to me at my residence along with my lost luggage the following day. Yes, this lady is #1 in my book.

One…place setting was set on the beachside restaurant dinner table at which I ate this first night in France.

One…beer and beautiful Mediterranean sunset is all it took for me to settle my nerves and remember, ‘Hey, I’m in France. Life could be worse.’

One…minute is all it took for me to fall asleep on this neverending day/day-and-a-half that started in Atlanta on the 5^th and ended in France on the 6^th. Beginning this trip in a very “me” fashion surely made today feel like a lifetime.

So in conclusion and on the bright side – I am here – in France – and I made it in ONE piece ('one' being a very strong, yet loosely defined word in this sense). At the end of the day, after the ups and the downs, I still know that I am a strong person and I can definitely handle this, however, the saying 100% reigns true that “ONE is the loneliest number.” But hey, it’s only day ONE and things can only get better from here. Tomorrow being day two is a fantastic start…

Packing Shmacking

2009-05-02T18:45:00.007-04:00

Spending the day (eh hemm...weekend) packing for my 5-week stint in France. Such an arduous task - especially with so many distractions around.

Speaking of distractions... Is anyone else in awe of the toothless, possibly drunk redneck who just won the Kentucky Derby?! And apparently the horse's owner is either Brooks or Dunn - I can't decide. I am already fantasizing about what "a cartoon by Robert Smigel" would look like for this. I love it!

Okay, back to the grind.

T-Minus 5 Days and Counting...

2009-04-30T14:12:00.007-04:00

In five days I will soar over the Atlantic venturing back to a tiny town in the south of France called Juan-Les-Pins. Its more popular neighbor, Cannes, is situated just 10 miles east along the bright blue Mediterranean waters and it is the reason for my return to this, my favorite country.

My foot last touched the train platform in JLP about three years ago in June of 2006 and, honestly, I never thought in my wildest dreams I would be back. However, as fate would have it my dream came true and this past Fall I was offered the Program Coordinator position for the Cannes Film Festival Study Abroad Program at the University of Georgia - a program I had attended as a student just three years prior.

The 2009 Festival begins in only two weeks' time and I am thrilled to see it in person once again. My personal 'program prep' in the Riviera begins in less than a week just days before the arrival of our 25 hand-selected UGA students. The reality of it all is only now sinking in and I can't wait to share all of my new adventures this time around.

I look forward to having you follow me through this year's sites and sightings in one of the most picturesque cities on the planet during one of the most prestigious film festivals of all time. Cannes Film Festival 2009 --- here I come!