Les Adieux et le Bonheur

Well, it’s official, I am all packed up and ready to head home. I had my last class ever with Pascale and was very very sad! I’ll miss class with her the most. I received my diploma today as well and got to see my grades. I ended up with all A’s and moved from A2-2 to B2-1 so I moved up about six levels in French over that past four months which is preeeeeetty good. Usually they say you move up three.

At the pause I got a picture with Pascale and then Amanda and I talked about how much we are going to miss class and Cannes and just everything. Our second half of class consisted of us watching a video of people who try to dress like they think Japanese girls do, but they just imitate Japanese models and as we all know, no one actually dresses like models do! Pascale talked about how she’ll have an entire new class next week and that made me sad too, but it was good. I’m glad I had the opportunity to have her as a teacher, she’s definitely one of the best teachers here.

Lunch was actually rather delicious today. We had duck with mashed potatoes and chocolate pudding for dessert. It was yummy! After lunch I decided to head out on my own to see the Musée de la Castre because I have been wanting to go for a while and today was my last possible day to go and see it.

I was able to go up into the tower to see the panoramic view of Cannes and it was absolutely gorgeous. I almost started crying up there, but I held myself together because I know I’ll come back one day. I have to. After that I spoke with the guards in French after they asked me how I liked the view and I said it was very gorgeous and that it’s my last day here after four months, so it’s hard to say good bye. They understood and they wished me luck with my trip home.

I returned to the collège along the seafront and then joined Hanna and Jennifer on the beach for the last time before our farewell drink. We had about an hour of beach time all together one last time before having to go in.

The farewell drink was nice, but it was also sad. It was a bittersweet ending to a great four months spent here in Cannes. We had champagne and snacks and Nick had everyone sign his flag. After the farewell drink though I had to check in online and print my stuff off and then the real fun began. I made sure all of my things were packed up and in order while finishing a bottle of champagne with the roommates as a last little farewell drink between ourselves. We took a break from the packing when we went to leader price for the last time and ordered Mister Pizza for dinner for the last time.

As you can tell, today was filled with a lot of “lasts” but there will always be the firsts and the memories that come with both and in-between. I wouldn’t trade my time here in Cannes for anything in the world. It was truly a wonderful experience and I am so glad I decided to study here. I missed out on a lot of things at home, most importantly the birth of my baby niece, but I still wouldn’t take it back. Coming here has made me stronger and I’m thankful for Cannes and all that this trip has taught me and I cannot wait to return one day.

Final Seminars, Clone Wars and Farewell Dinners

Today in class we reviewed the different verb tenses and when to use them, along with relative pronouns and when to use “il y a, depuis que, pendant, etc.” which are things that say it has been this long since, during, etc. Once the review was finished it was time for the pause, aka break and it’s pronounced like “pose”, so I sat with Hanna and Jennifer on a bench until I saw Pascale heading back once the bell rang signalling that the pause was over.

Pascale stopped to talk with Marie-Hélène, my French Civilization professor for the second half of the semester, who pointed at me and said (in French) “She’s a very good student” and Pascale said I was and she said no, she’s very good in my class and Pascale said I was good in my language class also. I just smiled and said “Merci” because I didn’t know what else to say. They continued talking and Marie-Hélène says she wishes she could clone me and Pascale said it’d be nice if we had twenty Jessica’s for the AIFS students while putting her arm around me and laughing. I know it sounds dorky, but it really made my day! I always try really hard in all of my classes so it was nice to hear them say those things, because French teachers don’t give out praise very often. I told Marie-Hélène that I have three sisters, so it’s almost like I was cloned, and she asked if any were learning French. I told her Julie is and she said that I should send her to Cannes too because she’ll love it just like I do.

Once class started again, we just discussed an article we read about a girl who had a head injury and had to be home schooled during her recovery. We then shared our accident prone stories from school. I had the most accidents (big surprise there) but the two main ones I told them about was me running into the tree and stapling my finger. Céline decided I had the strangest things happen to me and I told her it was just me being clumsy more than anything else. Pascale’s son came with her today so he kept drawing pictures of the words people didn’t know on the board like candles and forehead. It was funny and I was happy I could understand him when he told us his story, because even though he’s much younger than us, French is his native language so he was talking fast like most French do and telling us about how he broke his arm in school.

After my language class, I had lunch and then got ready for my last seminar ever in Cannes! I was really hoping that François wouldn’t make me stay for the whole time since we already had our final, but he said that an AIFS student complained 5 years ago when a teacher let her go early so he had to keep me the whole time, but would give me two breaks. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that I WAS THE ONLY ONE THERE! CJ of course skipped class and Robin isn’t in the AIFS program, so she took her final early and had already left. I got an A+ in the class though, so I guess I can’t complain. François also said since I was taking notes that since I’m such a good serious student he should talk to his lawyer and specify in his will that all of his power point slides should be left to me. He let me out of class 20 minutes early today too, but I was really tempted to just leave after the first break, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Sometimes I wish I didn’t care about my grades, life would be so much more enjoyable haha.

The roomies and I at the restaurant.

After my seminar was finally over I started to get ready for the AIFS farewell dinner =(. I seriously cannot believe that it’s already the end of my stay and that I only have 3 days left until I’m home; it feels like the welcome dinner was last month. We ate at Maema Plage, which is a restaurant on the beach, and I had the Caesar salad, prawns, and chocolate fondant.

Gambas! (aka Prawns)

Before dinner we went out to the little sitting area outside and took pictures on the beach. It was a chilly day today and it’s supposed to rain on Friday, but I hope it decides to be nice instead! While we were waiting for our food inside, they brought us out our drinks. I ordered a glass of white wine to go with my meal and it was very good. There were many farewell toasts made and Nick came around to each table to tell us all good bye and it was just sad!

Brittany and I sat next to each other so we took pictures together with sad/happy/loving faces. She was the first person I met on the trip because she sat across the aisle from me on the plane trip to London. Hanna and Jennifer sat across from me and they have been my roommates for the past four months and I just kept thinking about how weird it is going to be to not see all of them every day.

Brittany and I at dinner.

It started raining during dinner and we decided the man upstairs was crying because we were leaving Cannes. The food was delicious though so that helped lighten the atmosphere. The salad had chicken in it which was to die for, the prawns were yummy and the chocolate fondant was just delicious! I am definitely in a food coma though after eating all of that! We did it in French style though and didn’t get out of the restaurant until two and a half hours after the meeting time. I’m kind of looking forward to the American restaurants where you don’t have to wait FOREVER for your food, but I’ll miss the French way as well.

The roomies and I with Sandrine and Aude!

It’s now past midnight here, so technically I only have two more days left in Cannes. I plan to enjoy it as much as I possible can while I still have the chance.

Ile Saint-Marguerite (May 30th)

Well today was the last Monday I’ll ever spend in Cannes (while 20). I had my morning language class with Pascale, lunch and then my last AIFS excursion ever. We went to the Ile Sainte-Marguerite. It took us about ten minutes to get there by ferry, but if you include the walking to the port, it was about 40 minutes there and then back.

My first close up shot of the island

Brittany, Joelle and I followed Aude to the fort, along with some other AIFS students, but the museum is closed on Mondays, so there wasn’t really anything to see. The excursion was supposed to be on Friday, but the cinema teacher moved the final to that day so we had to go on Monday, so it wasn’t Aude or Sandrine’s fault that the museum was closed.

At Ile Sainte-Marguerite

After seeing the fort we were given free time to explore the island whose perimeter is about 8km. Brittany, Joelle and I just walked to the other side to see the beach that Aude told us about, took pictures and then decided to head back to Cannes because it was EXTREMELY hot on the island!

This path reminded me of Forrest Gump!

Once we got back to the Collège I started to pack up my things in preparation for Saturday. My desk and closet feels extremely empty now, but I weighed my one bag that I have packed already and have 13 pounds of wiggle room, so that’s good! It had been my carry-on on the way here though, so I’m still nervous about the big bag. I have less to put in it than Hanna and Jennifer have in their bags, so I should be okay. I’m going to weight it on Friday just in case though!

My desk before everything was packed up =(

Gorges du Verdon aka the Grand Canyon of France (Sunday, May 29th)

Today we went on our last bus ride excursion for AIFS. We took a 3 hour windy mountain bus ride up to the Gorges du Verdon. We stopped a few times on the way down the mountain and we were able to see some breathtaking views.

The Gorges is amazing to say the least. We saw some crazies actually bungee jumping off of a bridge into the Gorges and I about lost it! I could never ever EVER do that! I would be fine once I jumped, but I wouldn’t be able to work myself up to that point! I was nervous just looking over the edge!! They had tree branches arranged into a heart at the bottom, so I guess if you die you at least land in or near a cute little heart…

The Sainte Croix lake is turquoise blue! It’s unreal how amazingly beautiful the water is! The lake is man-made, like bull shoals, but has water like the deep lake near the mill in Alley Springs. We were given an hour free time at the lake, so Hanna, Jennifer and I decided to rent a paddle boat to go into the Gorges.

I am SOOO glad we rented a paddle boat! It was only 4 euros each and the view inside the Gorges was definitely worth it! The water was beautiful, the rock formations were interesting and the natural waterfall was GORGEOUS!

We wanted to swim, but didn’t bring any towels and were afraid we wouldn’t dry off in time. I absolutely loved the Gorges du Verdon and am really glad I got to see it, I just wish we would have had more time at the lake than at some of the other places.

After the lake we headed to the town nearby and I got ice cream while we walked around perusing the souvenirs. There was a pretty waterfall there as well, but not as nice as the natural one. We then headed back to the collège where we relaxed and got ready for the last week of classes.

Midnight Swim and the Best Movie Ever (May 27th)

Tonight I was hanging out in the room with the roomies and there was a dance party starting in the foyer. A song came on that reminded Jennifer of the “Free Willy” theme song so she asked about it. HANNA has never even seen “Free Willy”!! Jennifer and I reminisced about the plastic necklace that came with the VHS and how amazing the film is, so I decided to find it online and load it.

Jennifer and I went down and made some popcorn and got ready to rewatch the best movie ever! Hanna started to watch the first half hour of it and then she left for the rest of it until the end. Jennifer and I on the other hand continued watching and enjoyed the movie thoroughly. We’ve decided that Hanna is just too much of a youngin’ to appreciate the movies us ancient people grew up with.

After finishing the movie we decided to go for a swim in the sea because the water has been nice lately and “Free Willy” inspired us. We started to walk through the tunnel to get to the sea when all of a sudden we see headlights and had to jump onto the ledge to avoid being ran over by some crazy French driver!

It was worth it though because despite the water being kind of chilly with the sun down, it was beautiful! You could see the stars and the city and everything was just very pretty. We don’t have many days left in Cannes, but we are trying to do/see as many things as we can before our time runs out!

Finals!

Well, I had two finals this week and a paper due on Tuesday. I ended up being very unlike myself and finishing the paper on Sunday night. I then edited the paper Monday and printed it out for the next day. Once the paper was out of the way, I started to type up my notes so I could study and get rid of some space for the trip home at the same time.

I had my Organizational Administration final on Wednesday and it wasn’t too bad. I’ve gotten all A’s/A+’s on all of my essays I’ve had to write for the class, so I’m expecting an A in the course. The final took less than two hours, but he continued teaching AFTER the final! So Rather than getting done at 3, I wasn’t finished with class until 5:20 AND I have another class this week which will probably last four hours as well! It’s pointless too because there are only two of us left in the class! We also took our group photo before I had my final on Wednesday and watched this movie one of the past AIFS students made about coming home after Cannes. I only saw the beginning since I had to go to class, but apparently everyone who doesn’t want to leave got even more depressed about leaving Cannes. (She apparently rolled over and cried on her bed in the final shot, so I guess I can understand why) I’m not expecting to have any return culture shock though, so no worries here! =)

I spent Wednesday night studying for my French Civilization final and finishing French homework. The final was actually really easy (in my mind) and we got everything back today for the semester and I got all 18’s out of 20’s so I got an A in the class! The French don’t like to give out 20’s, so despite me not liking to get points taken off, I was ecstatic about the 18’s!

I’ll be getting my other final back tomorrow and Pascale says she won’t be giving me a language final and that she’s basing it off of classroom work and participation, so I’m pretty excited because I participate a lot. Sometimes I participate to much so I try to sensor myself sometimes and wait to see if anyone else is going to say something before I do. All in all, classes have gone wonderfully and my stay in Cannes is coming to a successful end.

Oh yeah! Parfait! (May 23rd)

Today Jennifer, Megan, Joelle, Brittany and I went with Sandrine to the Palais to get photos taken for the AIFS catalog. We had to dress up nice and were getting some funny looks for being in dresses and heels now that the festival is over. (It’s socially acceptable to wear nice outfits at all times during the festival just in case you get an invitation to a screening) It was super hot on the way there, but luckily we took the bus for most of the way.

The photographer was short and energetic. He kept arranging us one way then would start taking pictures and just kept saying “Oh Yeah! Parfait!”. Then he would arrange us another way or give us random directions and continue saying “Oh Yeah! Parfait!”. We got pictures taken standing on the steps, walking on the steps, and then different groupings of us on the steps.

We then headed down near the hand prints and he took pictures of us looking/pointing at the hand prints before we headed to the port. We then got pictures taken in front of the boats, holding our shoes and standing in front of the boats, and then holding our shoes and jumping in front of the boats. It was a very awkward experience and I can safely say I never want to be, or should be, a model! Sandrine just kept laughing because we had to do random poses like looking at each other and laughing, etc.

But after an hour of pictures, it was worth it because she sent us the group photo he took for us to print off and keep for ourselves for agreeing to do the photo-shoot. 

Cinéma de la Plage (May 22nd)

Well today was the last day of the film festival, so we decided to go see the surprise film that was showing at the beach. We decided to lay out all day relaxing and reading while we still have time. After dinner, I popped some popcorn, grabbed my towel and made my way down to the beach with the roomies. The film ended up being about Roger Corman.

The Screen!

For those of you who do not know who Roger Corman is, I am now an expert. The film was actually really interesting and it was made to bring him some recognition for his hard work. He has worked with many famous actors, including Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda and Robert De Niro. (Fun Fact: De Niro was the head of the Jury for the film festival this year.)

He has worked on mainly low budget films and has produced 396 films during his career, with more on the way. After years of being mocked and ignored in the cinematic world by the Academy, he was given a lifetime achievement award. It was really fascinating to see all of the work that he puts into his films and how he shoots a lot of the scenes.

Enjoying the film!

His films were very popular with the drive-in crowds back in the day, but once Star Wars came out, that kind of stole his followers and his films now go mainly straight to DVD. It was a sad, but happy story and I liked that he never sold out and that he always stuck to his guns. All other directors started to make the multimillion budget movies that Corman could make for less than a million.

Tour de France (May 21st)

The roomies and I decided to go bike riding the Saturday after amfAR. We woke up early to find the bike rental shop. We ended up using Mistral Location and rented bikes for the day. We then rode back to campus to eat brunch before heading out on our adventure.

On our way to Saint Tropez we passed by a very pretty castle and seafront in Mandelieu, so we decided to head there. We thought it would take us a long time, but we ended up reaching the castle in about twenty minutes, so we stopped to take some pictures and continued on our (hilly) way to Théoule-sur-Mer. It was very gorgeous and we took some more pictures. It was really nice to be able to ride our bikes along the coast; everything is just so beautiful.

Once we were done in Théoule-sur-Mer we decided to head to Antibes. We stopped by the collège to fill up our water bottles because it was a hot day and then continued on our way. It was kind of crazy trying to make our way through downtown Cannes during the festival. We ended up having to get off and move over to the road that was the “sidewalk” during the festival and rode our bikes there since it was still early and not too busy.

We ended up making it to Antibes in about 40 minutes by taking the route that followed the coast. It was such a pretty route and I’m really going to miss the sea. I wish we could have biked more, but at least I got to do it once! Once we reached Antibes we locked up our bikes and just walked around for a bit. We got some  yummy ice cream and relaxed on a bench overlooking the sea. We decided to head back after the ice cream though because we agreed that if we sat there any longer we may get too tired to ride our bikes back to Cannes.

On our way back we ended up stopping at the Plage de la Californie to put our feet in the water and relax. We sat there watching the kids play in the water and just took it easy. We stayed there for about thirty minutes before returning our bikes and heading back to the collège.

We ended up biking over 26 miles and had an awesome time. I was definitely a little sore from it all, but it was worth it!

amfAR’s “Cinema Against Aids” (May 19th)

We woke up early to get ready, eat breakfast and catch the bus by 9am. The shuttle took us to the Hotel du Cap in Antibes. (The Hotel du Cap is one of the nicest hotels in the world! One night alone in a normal room is over a thousand dollars!) We were given lanyards upon our arrival and then shown part of the grounds on our way to the cabana where we would be storing our evening wear for later. We then were broken up into two groups and my group had the riveting task of removing every strip of velcro from the amfAR banners and moving them to the very bottom. Fun fact: the velcro was only messed up because all of the volunteers from the day before (Hanna, Jennifer and I were at the amfAR headquarter’s that day) put the velcro on too high! They said they were told to put them there, but it was frustrating nonetheless!

After fixing all of the banners, to the point that my thumb was starting to go numb, Brittany and I had the glamorous job of washing out TRASH CANS! The other girls ran off at the first mention of trashcan duty to help with something else. Once we finished cleaning the trash cans, we got to EMPTY trash cans! WOOHOO!

I had a break from trash duty, however, to move a large fridge from one dressing room to another and then move a mini fridge into the dressing room the large fridge had been in. Once that was done Ben (the guy in charge) told us to grab some lunch and then come to him for more information.

Lunch was pretty delicious. We had salad and paella (semi spicy rice with seafood in it) and then a chocolate brownie/cake for dessert. After lunch I went to ask Ben what he wanted us to do and he told us to remove all of the protective plastic covering from the floor in dressing room 5 and to clean the mirrors. Well the plastic covering was just annoying. We cleaned the mirrors first and then had to carefully move furniture and then put it back without getting the carpet dirty in order to remove the plastic from underneath.

Once that job was finished it was time for more trash duty! Ben put me in charge of making sure each dressing room had three trash cans with trash bags in them. Well this was easier said then done because we had to run around looking for trash cans and bags and he kept changing his mind. Then halfway through we had to move all of the trash outside of dressing room 5 to somewhere else because the star was arriving and the trash couldn’t be outside of the dressing room. Once the trash duty was taken care of we then helped him arrange all of the dressing rooms and make sure everything looked in order, including the green room.

Once all of that was finished it was time for the people who needed to get ready first to go and get dressed. There were only a few of us but by the time we started to get ready the other AIFS students who hadn’t been working all day were arriving and they made the cabana even more crowded than it had originally been. Despite having to share two mirrors between ten girls we were ready by 4:40 and headed to the entrance where Alex told us to meet.

Hanna, Jennifer, Adrianna, Jamescia and I were in charge of registering guests as they arrived. This involved asking them for their IDs, checking them into the network and giving them a stamp and a card with their table number. The stamp was black and a lot of the guests didn’t care for them much, but we only had one lady absolutely refuse until Craig talked her into it.

The celebrities were all going through the fast lane, but I was able to see them as they walked up. You knew when a celebrity arrived because there were tons of people parked outside waiting to yell their names trying to get pictures and autographs. They were absolutely ridiculous. They literally screamed the stars names at the top of their lungs. One of the stars was Jude Law, and he is even more handsome in person! I didn’t think it was possible, but it may have been that the accent is more effective in person.

Once the registration was over, we headed to the tent for the auction. I was more amazed by the amount of money being spent than seeing celebrities in real life. I think I prefer for them to stay in the movie theaters and the t.v. screens. I did get to see Kirsten Dunst, Brooke Shields, Kanye West, Jude Law, Uma Thurman, Patrick Dempsey, Janet Jackson, Goldie Hawn, Courtney Love, Naomi Campbell and others, but they are just normal people who get a lot of attention and make good money so seeing them didn’t faze me much.

The money definitely fazed me though! The first item auctioned off was a Cartier watch that went for 145,000 euros! My jaw literally dropped watching the first round, but it just got worse from there! The most shocking of them all, in my opinion, was the tennis match with Prince Albert of Monaco that included lunch and a swimming lesson from his Olympic swimmer fiancé. Two people kept bidding on it and it had amounted to over 500,000, so Prince Albert offered to do it twice and the auctioneer sold two for 500,000 euros EACH! Meaning, the tennis match alone raised ONE MILLION EUROS for amfAR!

Halfway through the auction, I had to run a list to Liz, the after party coordinator who then had me run up to tell Heather that everyone needs a stamp to get into the after party. When I found Heather, she was freaking out to say the least. Apparently the shuttle from Cannes to Antibes hadn’t come in a half hour and there were 70 people waiting to be picked up. She didn’t have any stampers either, so I had to run to the garage where the extras were to get some. On my way back, an old French man was talking on his phone when he stopped me and told me I wasn’t allowed to walk in front of him. I was confused and thought he was just a crazy rich person who was going to make me wait for him to get off the phone or something before I walked past, but he smiled and laughed and said it’s because he already has a wife and I’m too pretty to go walking in front of him like that when he’s a married man. I just laughed and he said “I’m French, I’m just giving you a hard time! Go ahead!” and so I just said “Merci! Bonsoirée!” and continued on my way.

Once I was done helping Heather out I headed back to the tent for the end of the dinner. AmfAR ended up raising TEN MILLION for aids research through the “Cinema Against Aids” event which broke their previous record and is just amazing in general!

After the dinner it was time for the after party, and once we were done working, they said we could go so we were able to go in and check out the party before heading back to the collège. I hadn’t had dinner so I wasn’t that into the after party, but I enjoyed watching the rich people act kind of crazy and some of them were making fools of themselves, but it was funny to watch them all let loose. Courtney Love (who I forgot to mention got up and drunkenly sang a song at the dinner) was drunk before even getting to the after party and was carried into the party in basically a t-shirt and underwear.

I felt uncomfortable (you should have seen the dresses the ladies were wearing!) and it was late, so I didn’t stay too long. We took the shuttle back to Cannes and then had to make the thirty minute walk back to campus, so I didn’t get back to the room until 5am. It was a very long day/night, but it was worth it. I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to be a part of an event that helped raise so much money for a great cause. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, but I’ll never forget my time I spent volunteering with amfAR. They were also really nice and gave all of the volunteers gift bags, so even though I had to make and deliver a bunch of them I also got to keep one so I’m a happy camper!