An American in France

The film festival started about two weeks ago and (thankfully) ends today. It has just been a very busy and stressful time, lots of people everywhere, higher prices, etc. But these past two weeks are filled with memories that I will never, ever forget. The festival was definitely a great way to finish off the semester, though I am glad we have a week of “normal” Cannes before heading to the states on Saturday.

The opening film for the festival was Moonrise Kingdom, starring Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, and Bill Murray, among others. We waited near the Palais (where the red carpet is) before the film started to see the stars, but we were only able to see them from very far away. After wandering around, we were able to see them very close as they left the theater to go to the after party. I saw Eva Longoria, Diane Kruger, Berenice Bejo, Bill Murray, Alec Baldwin, Jessica Chastain, and others from not too far away! And Bruce Willis was literally 5 feet from me, said hello to us, and shook the hands of the young girls in front of me! So cool!

There were tons of stars in Cannes all week, and I was actually able to see one just walking on the street. Bonnie Wright, who played Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter series of movies, walked right by me on the street this week with her friends. My friend and I had to confim with each other that it was actually her!

I saw a total of 4 films during the festival. It was hard because a lot of them took place during class, or meal time, but I made some meal sacrifices to make sure I saw movies. You basically had to get there 2 hours in advance to secure a spot. And this wasn’t even for the fancy red carpet premieres- those you needed an invitation for! Some people got them through internships or by waiting in front of the theater for hours, but I in no way wanted to put on a fancy dress for 8 hours to maybe get into a movie! So I saw them at a smaller theater the day after they premiered with the badge I got through the college.

The first week I saw a French movie, De Rouille et D’Os (Rust and Bone in English), starring a Belgian actor who was quite good and Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose, Inception). It was a very moving film and I thought a lot afterwards. The movie was subtitled in English since it was in French, but I rarely looked at the subtitles, which I was proud of! I really hope that this film wins some awards tonight at the closing ceremonies!

The other 3 films I saw were American films. I liked 2 and disliked 1. I saw Lawless, which was a fairly violent film about bootlegging moonshine in the 1920s. I liked it, but didn’t think it necessarily fit at the festival. I know it will have success in the states though! Last night I saw Cosmopolis, which I nearly hated. It starred Robert Pattinson, whose mediocre Twilight acting carried through into his role as a billionaire riding around in a limo all day. My only favorite parts were when they talked about money markets and other economic topics. Today I woke up early to see Mud, which was a coming of age tale about two boys in the South. It was really good and the teenage boys who starred in it were great! They have long careers ahead of them in my opinion! I really hope at least one movie I saw wins some awards!

My 20th birthday was on Wednesday, but it was fairly low key since I spent the day volunteering for amFAR, an AIDS charity that holds a huge gala benefit dinner and auction during the festival each year. We helped set up on Wednesday all day, and then on Thursday, the night of the actual event, we all had jobs. I was in a group assigned to put wristbands on all the guests upon arrival, and then to auction spot once the event started inside. This got me relatively up close and personal with some famous people. I did not actually put the bracelets on any celebrities, but I saw them on line and at the dinner/auction: Alec Baldwin, Paris Hilton, Berenice Bejo (from The Artist) and her director husband, Diane Kruger and Joshua Jackson (new favorite celebrity couple, they were adorable at the dinner), Heidi Klum, Adrien Brody, Nina Dobrev from Vampire Diaries (she was such a diva and refused to wear the bracelet even though the French people had no idea who she was…I am not a fan haha), Kelly Rutherford from Gossip Girl, Chris Tucker, Gerard Butler, and others I’m probably forgetting. It was awesome to contribute to such a great cause and to see all the famous people! It was a long day and night, but worth it!

So my plans now that the festival is over? Well, last minute gift purchasing, cafe visiting, sun bathing. Oh, I guess class for 4 days, it’s holiday on Monday so we have the day off- it’s kind of like Memorial Day weekend here too! Wednesday my program is taking us out to a farewell dinner- 3 courses like usual. I’m pretty pumped because I’m trying foie gras (fatty goose or duck liver) as my appetizer. Should be interesting, I’ll keep y’all posted! On Friday, three friends and I are going to go out to dinner to the place my mom and I went to when she visited for our final French meal, again 3 courses. I’m pretty excited to finish out the semester with a tasty 3 course meal with friends!

I can’t believe it’s almost over, time flies! Here’s to my last 6 days in France!

Monday was such a great day, definitely an awesome way to spend our last full day in Munich.

My friend and I woke up and had breakfast at the hostel for the last time (I really miss that panini press here in Cannes). We then decided to just wander through the city to Marienplatz, a big public square area with shops, restaurants, and the glockenspiel. We walked and it did not wind up being very far at all. When we got there we saw a huge crowd standing in front of a building, staring up at the clock. Eventually we realized that this was the famous glockenspiel and it was about to “perform”. We saw the moving parts of the clock and all the bells and music. We didn’t stay for the whole time, but it was very coincidental that we arrived right when it happened!

We spent the rest of the morning/early afternoon walking through the streets surrounding Marienplatz. We went into quite a few shops (including H&M, been there in 4 different countries now). It was actually difficult to find souvenir shops in Munich, which contrasts with basically every other city I’ve been too! We found Hofgarten which is a small garden with fountains, trees, a gazebo, etc. It was beautiful and I was glad we stumbled upon this touch of nature in the city! We also found a big market area with lots of tents and vendors selling flowers, cheese, meats, fruits, and vegetables (oh, and beer too, obviously). We spent probably an hour wandering through, looking at all the goods! Eventually we made our way to a cafe for a pastry and cappuccino before we made our final gift shop purchases.

We had agreed to meet our friends for a beer tour at 2, so we headed to the train station to find them. They took us back to Marienplatz since (apparently) that is where most of the beer houses are located. Our first stop was a restaurant serving Paulaner beer. I had a Dunkel weissbeer, which is a darker wheat beer. Considering I didn’t think I liked dark beer, it was really good. We got some pretzels to share as a snack to go with the beer, and they did not disappoint (neither did the mustard).

Our next stop was Schneider Weisse beer house. We were all hungry and had not had lunch yet, so we got bigger meals here. The beer I had was called Unser Aventinus, also a darker weiss beer. To eat I had potato pancakes with apple sauce for dipping (though I also dipped mine in the mustard that came with my friend’s meal). I tried another friend’s veal lung- interesting to say the least. But mine was delicious! The beer was pretty strong alcohol wise, so I took it easy(er) at our next stop. This might have been my favorite location that we went to though, the ambiance was awesome, long wooden tables and the like!

We then headed to Hofbrauhaus, probably the most famous of the beer houses. We sat outside in the beer garden which was very beautiful and peaceful. Like I said, I took it easier here and had a radler (Sprite plus beer), no food. It was great to enjoy the atmosphere, and the radler was delicious.

Next we decided to take a break (or so we thought) and go to a store that sells traditional Bavarian lederhosen and dirndls. Our one friend had bought one earlier in the day here and wanted to take us to show us around. The man who owned the store was hysterical and had the funniest, most styled mustache I have ever seen. He really liked talking to us and brought out three bottles of sparkling wine for the five of us to drink, no pressure whatsoever to purchase anything. Some of the guys tried on lederhosen while the rest of us talked and laughed. It was a really good time!

We left the store and met up with our friend’s cousin and some of her friends to get some dinner. The first place we went to did not end up working out, so we took the subway a few minutes away to another area. Some of the group wanted to go for Indian food, but my one friend and I wanted to eat German food on our last night in Germany, especially since Indian food is easy to find in the states. Therefore we went on our own to Hofbraukeller, a “branch” if you will, of Hofbrauhaus. We had a very nice dinner. To drink, I had cola weizen, which is Coca-cola mixed with dark wheat beer. It was beyond delicious and I also want to try making it at home. For dinner, I went for classic Bavarian food and got wiener schnitzel, which is pan fried breaded veal. It came with German potato salad (I hate potato salad in the states but am obsessed with the German version) and cranberry jam (I think it was cranberry). This meal was also a contender for best thing I ate in Munich, it felt so German and tasted freaking delicious. The combination of all the aspects of the plate was amazing and I could’ve eaten it forever.

After dinner we headed back to the hostel to pack up. Our flight left the next day in the afternoon, so we checked out of the hostel in the morning and left our luggage there until it was time to head to the airport. To say I loved Munich would be a vast understatement; I really hope to make it back someday soon!

Our third day in Munich was a completely different kind of experience than the first two. We took the train outside of Munich to the town of Dachau, where a Nazi concentration camp existed during World War II. To say it was a sobering experience would be an understatement.

We got to sleep in a bit this day since we had no real reason to rush. We had breakfast at the hostel once again, and then followed directions from the hostel to take the S-bahn (suburban train) to Dachau. It was a fairly scenic trip once we left the city. It took around 45 minutes, and then we took a public bus to the site of the actual camp. We chose to get the audio guides for 3 euro so that we would know everything we were looking at as well as the history of the camp.

My friends and I all went our separate directions as we went through the camp site and museum. It is definitely a place to experience alone for awhile, with your own thoughts and feelings, and so that you can move at your own pace. It was a cloudy, rainy day, which perfectly fit the mood of the camp. I cannot fathom visiting here on a sunny day, the rain was entirely appropriate. Looking back, I do not know exactly how it felt to be there. It was overwhelming in the sense that I could not believe the immensity of it, the immensity of what was done. It certainly put my own life in perspective and made me realize how lucky I am to live in a place where something like this would never happen. And of course it was depressing and sad, knowing that people stood where I was standing, and they had no say in the matter. As I walked through the gas chamber building, I was extremely spooked, and that was the closest I got to losing it emotionally. 

As one of my friends put it, this is a place that you need to experience. It certainly isn’t a happy place or a typical vacation destination, but if you’re in the vicinity of a camp, you should go. It’s part of the history of the area and it is something that we believe everyone should see in their life to remember what happened and to make sure that it never, ever happens again. I did not take pictures at the camp, partly for this reason. I know that the images of what I saw will never leave my brain.

After two hours, my one friend and I had had sufficient time to spend at the site, however our other friends took a bit (aka much) longer, so we waited for around an hour for them to be done. We then took the train back to the city to prep for dinner and our evening plan- the Munich opera!

For dinner we decided to get ourselves in the area of the opera and then choose a place. My one friend and I insisted on German food (why would we eat anything else). After quite a bit of wandering we found a place that looked fancy, but had very reasonable prices. It happened to be next to one of the beer houses we visited the next day! To drink, I had a radler (photo already posted), which is a combination of beer and either lemonade or Sprite. It is super tasty and by far my favorite way to drink beer! The restaurant served Augustiner beer (one of the main breweries in Munich) and I liked it a lot. For my meal I had curry wurst (sausage). I was going out on a limb with trying this, as I wasn’t exactly sure what it would be, and I do not regret my choice one bit. It was an extremely flavorful sausage (well 2 sausages) with some curry powder on top served with homemade ketchup (it was kind of spicy and oh so good) and fries. No surprise, I devoured every bite. I basically called everything I ate in Germany my “new favorite food”, but I actually think curry wurst takes the cake. I had never heard of this before and I am so glad I tried it. I hope that I can find it somewhere in the states, though I know it won’t compare!

After dinner we walked to the opera. We had pre-ordered tickets for a reasonable price, and it was everyone’s first opera, so we were excited. However we were dismayed to find out that our “seats” were actually standing room sections. We thought we’d have nosebleeds no doubt, but we thought we’d have chairs! The show was in Italian, with a screen above the stage with a German translation. It was interesting to watch and certainly culturally stimulating, but standing for an hour and forty five minutes after walking around Dachau all day was not fun by any stretch of the imagination. Oh, and the hour and forty five minutes was the first act. Therefore we left at intermission, there was no way our feet would’ve survived much longer.

We got back to the hostel and my one friend and I decided to put that free drink coupon to use. The hostel served Hofbrauhaus beer and we each enjoyed our tiny glass of it. We only intended on staying for the drink, but the hostel bar was hopping so we decided to get radlers (we became obsessed quickly) and enjoy the company! We met some funny drunken British guys, talked to an American who was studying in Poland, among other characters. It was such a good time and it made me really appreciate what a nice hostel we were staying at! We turned in late, but the next day was the one we had been waiting for- beer house hopping!