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?!?

crumbutt

I'm feeling pretty crappy after getting my third rejection email for a summer internship. This one stings even worse because I even interviewed for it -- so even though I was qualified enough to merit a one-on-one talk with the boss, I'm not good enough at talking to people to make them want to share office space with me for 3 months. Super.

To make myself feel better, I'm buying train tickets to Milan. This is a long-awaited trip, and what's more, my Aquilana friend will be there too. My exclusive sources (aka other exchange students) tell me that there's not much to see in the city of Milan, as it is the business/fashion capital of the country and everything exciting happens behind closed doors. As a result, I'm going to dedicate my only full day in Italy to a day trip to Lake Como (assuming the weather cooperates) and go fishing for dashing Hollywood royals (aka George Clooney). I figure chances are good the lake's most famous resident will be in residence, seeing as I'll be there only 3 weeks after the Cannes film festival, and George will probably need a rest after all of that craziness.

Speaking of crazy, I myself am going to the Cannes film festival in exactly one week! It's hard to get excited about it because I have 3 exams between me and my train to Nice, but it is truly one of my dreams come true to go. According to those who have attended before, it is virtually impossible to see anyone important without accreditation (which I don't have). But being in that atmosphere will still be incredibly exciting, and spending 4 days in the south of France is really nothing to complain about.

learning in moderation

Things I am excited to return to in America: Classes that are about more than just dictation. Straight from my professors mouth, "Exams are an opportunity for you to memorize the course." Seriously? Not a single original thought in 9 months in the French university system! I cannot wait to get back to an education where thinking for yourself is encouraged, even if it means stepping outside of an outline in three parts. I look forward to interesting debates with my peers and with my professors where you can disagree and not necessarily be wrong. I've said it many times before, but it's worth saying again - I will never take my education for granted after this experience.

Things I will miss about Lyon: Guys who know how to dress. Case in point - the guy sitting next to me in the library today. It's not about being flashy or trendy, but being classic. A nice pair of jeans, coupled with a gray pullover sweater and smart glasses, and you are made. While I do miss going outside in my sweats every once in awhile, it's a small price to pay for a more style-conscious male population. And I don't want to make it sound like every French man knows clothes (there are certainly those who dress in ways too horrible to describe), the proportion of well-dressed, well-coiffed men is certainly higher in France than it will ever be back home.

leggo of my balisto!

A really strange thing happened to me on the way home from class today. As I was walking through Guillotière, Lyon's version of the 10th arrondissement/the South Bronx, a South Asian girl who was about 8 years old started walking next to me. I could tell she was trying to talk to me, but I was listening to my iPod and knew she was probably begging, so I kept walking. But after half a block, I took out my headphones, and she asked for something I couldn't understand in broken French. The only word I could understand was "chocolat", referring to the delicious Balisto bar I had in hand.

Balisto and I have formed a very close bond in the 3 months we've known each other. We were introduced on my Lufthansa flight to Berlin back in February, and we've been inseparable ever since. Now, while I dearly love the green and white wrapper varieties, the orange has a special place in my heart. I've had a hard time finding it here in France, but when I passed by Schlecker today to pick up a new bottle of hair conditioner, I saw it on the bottom shelf of the candy isle. I don't need to tell you how excited I was.

Now, back to my story. Needless to say, I wasn't very enthused by the idea of giving this little girl any part of my Balisto bar. It was the hour for goûter, and all I wanted was to enjoy the chocolate-covered cereal bar in peace. As I raised my headphone to my ear, the girl shook my arm, and when I still didn't stop, planted her feet directly in my path, forcing me to circle around her. Finally, she let me go, but it was certainly one of the more bizarre experiences I've had here in Lyon. That'll teach me to eat Balisto's in plain sight.

lazy sunday

It's been quite awhile since my last post, and I'm not going to try and recap what (little) has happened since then. I did spend last weekend in rain-soaked Paris with a friend of mine whom I met in L'Aquila last summer, but since then it's been pretty smooth/boring sailing.

I have started a homeward-bound countdown, and as of today, I only have 33 days left here in Lyon. While I know that I will miss it here when I leave, it's hard to appreciate every moment when all I can think about is how happy I will be to get home.

In order to remedy this, I'm going to start a list of things that I will miss about Lyon. But I don't want to create some sort of false, preemptive nostalgia, so I'll accompany it with a list of things I'm looking forward to about going home.

Things I will miss about Lyon:
The Quai Saint-Antoine market. Sure, America has finally caught on to the whole farmer's market/buy local/organic produce movement, but we will never do it quite as well as the French. This is the most beautiful, bustling, colorful market I have ever seen in my life, and it is right around the corner from my building. On Sunday mornings, the delicious smell of roasted chickens floats through the air above the Saône. Grocers hawking their wares shout "Allez! Allez!" into the crowded walkway between the two ailes of food stalls.

Things I'm excited to return to in America:
Television! As my cinema teacher has repeatedly told us, French television is horrendous. From the beginning, the television system in this country never made it possible to create entertaining shows. And, like many other things in France, television completely lacks structure (there is no such thing as seasons! how is that possible?). So, I am very excited to get back to February sweeps, mid-season replacements, and prime time television when I touch down stateside.