the world's got me dizzy again

And so, my friends, my European adventure has drawn to a close. The last week has been so hectic, I haven't even had a chance to write anything. Suffice it to say that I am ready to go home, both in the literal sense -- bags are packed and waiting outside my bedroom door -- and in the spiritual sense. Yesterday, on the train back to Lyon from Milan, I nearly burst into tears when writing goodbye letters to my host family. I don't think I fully realize yet how much this year abroad has changed me or will affect my future, but I know that a certain chapter in my life has now ended. What is beyond is uncertain and fully of possibility, and I am both terrified and excited at the prospect.

last saturday

Things I'm going to miss about Lyon: my host brother, Ferréol! Sure, he can be pretty vicious to his sisters, but I'm also told that's just how siblings act? Anyway, he is probably the coolest member of this family, if I'm going to play favorites. Not to mention that he's super nice, while at the same time being one of those popular kids at school (you can just tell that kind of thing, you know?). This morning when we crossed paths in the kitchen, he said that he really liked me without my glasses, and that I looked pretty without them! And it's not that I have a crush on him or anything, or that he does on me -- he's just not shy about saying things like that and it doesn't make anything awkward. He says what he thinks, and gives great compliments!

Things I'm excited to get back to in America: reliable plumbing! And, as an extension of that, a higher level of general hygiene. Here in the house, it's not unlikely that the faucet tap will stop running hot water, or that the toilet wont flush down your paper. I've already written about the ghastly state of public toilets here in France (and I don't mean ones in parks that are gross pretty much everywhere in the world, but places like school and movie theaters!). So one of the first things I'm going to do when I get home is take a long, hot bath in my very own tub -- and be sure that I won't clog up the drain!

ponchos: so hot right now

I had an incredibly lazy day yesterday, meaning too lazy to even post about my two fabulous days at Roland Garros. This also means that I was too lazy to upload the photos to my computer, meaning I can't share with you my awesome shots of James Blake serving up a storm on the terre battue under the setting Parisian sun. Hopefully, my wordy description is enough for you to conjure up the image for yourself.

While the doors to the complex open at 11am, I didn't think it would be necessary to arrive early on Monday since a)it's a work day b)it was the second day of the tournament. But I had forgotten that a)French people don't really have issues with skipping work b)tickets for this thing are pretty hard to come by, even for the second day of the tournament. So I ended up waiting in line for about an hour to get inside the gates, and by that time, matches had already started. I was like a giddy little girl running around from court to court, even under the blazing 90 degree sun. The epoustouflant weather on Monday was the complete opposite of what we got on Tuesday: rain and a two hour delay. But by the afternoon, the skies cleared enough to get all the tennis in for the day, in spite of the crazy wind.

Now, this might be a product of my intense homesickness and growing American patriotism, but the US Open is simply a far better tournament than Roland Garros. For one thing, the lines to get a seat on the annex courts were longer than those for center court, which remained practically empty for the whole day -- even with Nadal and Federer playing back to back! Secondly, since when do the number 1 and number 2 ranked players in the world play on the same day so early on in the tournament, let alone back to back! I kept thinking to myself that if I was a center court ticket holder for the day after and didn't get to see either of these two fine players, I would feel pretty shafted.

willie nelson and lyon do not make a good match

Just wanted to blog quickly about the concert at Grrnd Zero that I went to tonight -- It'll probably be my last, and I will be sad to leave it. Both the intimate Gerland venue and the impressive Gorge de Loup space have given me many tender memories of French hipsters and their lack of taste in music.

Tonight, this horrendous country-esque band was the headliner, and you could tell that people in the room didn't quite know how to react. This might have been the first time ever that any country act has performed in France, as far as I could tell. Not to mention that, like most country music, it was horrendous. Strangely, the internet claims they are from Brooklyn by way of Athens, Georgia, but I honestly don't understand how that is possible.

Thankfully, the night started off will with Portland experiment/noise duo AU, which I found easier to swallow than most noise groups. There was even one song requiring audience participation during which we were all encouraged to scream. The French hipsters didn't quite know what to do with that either.

en conclusion...

Just got finished with my final exam at Lyon 3. In true French university fashion, the people at Relations Internationales were not expecting me and my classmate this morning, and it took nearly half an hour for them to find our exams and get us underway. I am so happy to be done with the school system here and will very much be looking forward to going back to real school in the fall.

From the beginning, I always said that I wasn't coming to Europe for the classroom education. In many ways, it's disheartening to see how badly higher education operates and is organized in a country with so many wonderful cultural and historical resources. As much as I want to stay objective, it seems impossible to me for anyone to make a case for the French system over the American system.

In other news, I finally visited the Institut Lumière yesterday. It is housed in the villa once inhabited by Louis and Auguste Lumière, the brothers who invented the first motion picture camera. Turns out that Thomas Edison had a better marketing strategy and his machine, the kinetoscope, ended up being the market standard, but Lumière remains an important name in film history. The museum is surprisingly well-curated with interesting and informative exhibitions on the history of motion pictures and the famille Lumière.

The photo above is from the most beautiful room in the villa, the Salon d'Hiver. All of the Art Nouveau interiors of the house were gorgeous!

i went to cannes, and all i got was this lousy sunburn...

...and a freaking life-defining weekend! It is not possible to put into words how phenomenal my weekend at the Cannes film festival was. The glitz and glamor, the red carpet premieres, the film professionals scurrying from screening to screening -- it all came to life right before my eyes. I was on a high for practically the entire weekend, keeping my spirits up even after a damp day on Friday and running out of battery right in the middle of the Montée des Marches!

Putting aside the fact that Giovanni Ribisi waved to me, and that I saw living legend Jerry Lewis on the red carpet, and that Martin Scorcese was mere feet away from me, one of the biggest highlights was exchanging a few words with Mark Duplass and Joshua Leonard, the main actors in Lynn Shelton's "Humpday". I had seen a screening of the movie, which is part of the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs (Director's Fortnight) section of the festival, the previous evening -- and when they appeared in front of me at the Taking Woodstock gala screening on Saturday night asking a guard for directions to the entrance, I couldn't let the opportunity slip by. I complemented them on the film, and Duplass (best known as one of the key players in the mumblecore movement) thanked me before rushing off to the screening.

As I said many times over the course of the weekend, I want the next time I go to Cannes to be for real. Up until last summer, I had been working up towards this year abroad in France. And now that this chapter in my life is coming to a close, I am ready to start working towards my next goal: being a professional in the film industry, and making it to the Cannes Film Festival as a participant, not just an observer.

a lifetime's worth of dreams come true

With all the fake studying I've been doing for my non-exams this week, it has only truly hit me in the last 24 hours that I will be spending my weekend at the Cannes Film Festival. I cannot remember the last time I was this excited about anything. Even before coming to France, embarking on a year abroad that I have been planning for five full years, there was a fair bit of anxiety and fear accompanying my anticipation. But this is truly an all-around win-win situation, and it is times like these that assure me that working in the film industry, as cheesy as it might sound, is what I am meant to do.

As I took a last look at the program for the weekend, I got a little ahead of myself thinking I had found a loophole in the strict accreditation system that prevents non-industry insiders from attending the so-called 'day after' screenings of in-competition films (I hadn't). I am, however, going to try for some tickets to screenings in the Director's Fortnight and keep my fingers crossed that the weather will hold up for public admission screenings on the beach at night. Could anything be more magical?

And regardless of weather I rub elbows with Hollywood elite or even catch a glimpse of the famous steps of the Palais this weekend, one of my life dreams is about to come true. How can I be expected to sleep on a night like this?!?