Cannes

So in my last post I said I was sure the weather would cheer up soon. Wrong. It has rained every day since I returned from Paris, and today there looks to be some sun, but it’s still cold. Argh. But despite the crappy weather, I’ve managed to enjoy myself and savor my last few weeks in Aix. Yes, my last few weeks. I’m leaving in a week and a half and trying not to think about it too much. Unfortunately, all of my last days here will be filled with studying for exams, because I have three this coming week and four the week after that, and then I’m on a plane to Ireland, London, and then home.

I do manage to squeeze in some relaxation during all this studying, and spent all of yesterday at the Cannes Film Festival with my program. It was a much needed break, and spending the day pretending to be rich and famous, with our eyes peeled for the real rich and famous, was pretty fun.

Of course when we left Aix yesterday morning at 8 AM, the skies were sunny and clear, so I put on a cute sundress, hoping for a sunny day by the sea. And it was sunny. Most of the day. Actually just the part of the day that we spent inside watching films. We got to watch two films while we were there, both of them I wouldn’t have gone to of my own will, one of them I didn’t like, and the other I surprisingly enjoyed. The first film, called “Dreamland” was produced by an Australian, and that’s all I knew about it before we sat down in the luscious red velvet seats of the theater. The movie started off interesting enough. We soon discovered that it is about a man driving around the Nevada desert near Area 51, looking for UFOs or aliens, or his inner self, or the answers to life’s persistant questions. We never figured out what he was looking for, because he never talked. He just drove around in his Ford sitting by campfires, gazing up at the sky, and making patterns in the desert sand with his pee. Riveting, I know. As a work of art, the film was great, and the music and scenery, and other filmy stuff all put together was really effective, but watching something without a plot or dialogue for two hours, it gets a little boring you know?

The second film we watched, called “Bedeviled,” is what some would call a Korean drama/horror film. As a rule I don’t go to scary movies, but was forced to in the case. I actually liked it, though, since this movie had a real plot, and the first hour of it was really good drama (I cried). When the beaten housewife turned into a crazy killer, it got pretty gory, and even I, who doesn’t mind gore if it’s justified, had to cover my eyes a couple times. I won’t go into details, but it overall it was an impressive movie and I would maybe see it again. Also, I managed to understand everything by listening to Korean and reading French subtitles. Success!

After the films, we took our bus over to the seaside area and walked around looking for famous people, then lined up with the paparazzi by the red carpet. I’m pretty short, so I spent a lot of time on my tip-toes, craning my neck over people’s heads to take pictures, but I did glimpse Woody Allen and Naomi Watts, as well as Francois Mitterrand, the former French president. I probably saw some other famous people too, but I’m horrible at recognizing them. My friends claim they saw Alexis Bledel from Gilmore Girls, but as I said, I’m not so good with the recognition.

After playing paparazzi for a couple hours we explored some side streets of Cannes (which is a beautiful town even without the beautiful celebrities) and hung out down by the beach while the sun set. I even dipped my toes in the sea, surprised that it wasn’t really that cold.

S eeing famous people from my country made me miss the Americans I actually know, and this trip made me feel a little better about returning to the land of Hollywood, peanut butter, and oversized cars. I’m trying to do something “French” or just fun everyday I have left in Aix, because I’m really going to miss it. But I’m excited to go home too.