Experiential Paper: Adventures in Cannes

                                    Experiential Paper: Adventures in Cannes

            Since the day Dr. Reichert spoke to my ADPR3100 class, I have been counting down the days until the Cannes Study Abroad Program. After persuading my dad to let me go and figuring out how I would pay for this trip, I couldn’t help but obsess about my summer plans in France. I had no idea what to expect, I just knew that the south of France was absolutely beautiful. Luckily, I had a friend that went on the previous years program and she could fill me in on the program. Every time I asked her a new question, she would go on and on about the program giving me pointers here and there. I remember her telling me about The Carlton and The Palais, but at that time, these names had no significance to me.  She gave me great advice and helped me feel prepared for this amazing adventure. One thing I do distinctly remember her telling me was to buy your train tickets to Cannes everyday to avoid the fines.

            When I first got to Juan Les Pin, a few of the girls I met said that there friends that went last year never bought the train tickets to Cannes and they never got caught. Hearing these words made me reconsider actually buying the train tickets. It wasn’t that they were expensive because they were only 3.60 euros two way, but money does add up. My thought process was I could either pay the train ticket fee daily, or save that money to buy a nice dinner on the beach one night. Although tempting, I decided it wasn’t worth risking getting caught and having to pay the 35 euro fine.

            When the festival began, I quickly realized I was one of the few people that actually bought their train ticket everyday. When I would ask my friends if they bought a ticket, the universal response was always “No, I didn’t have time, ops.” Everyday, I would get on the train expecting someone on train security to check my ticket, but they never did. By the end of the week, I was annoyed that I had been paying for my ticket because it had never been checked.

            On Saturday, I rode the train to Cannes for the last time. I contemplated not paying, but chickened out and paid for a one-way ticket; hoping I would stay out after the closing ceremony.  However, my plans changed and Lindsay, Conley and I decided to take the last train back to Juan Les Pin to meet Meghan for dinner. We were about to miss the last train, so instead of paying for the train ticket, we just ran onto the train. As the train started, I noticed a man dressed in the train security outfit walk toward our group of girls. I freaked out and told Lauren (she paid for her ticket) that I was going to the restroom; basically to hide. Conley, Lindsay and I all walked very fast in the opposite direction as the man. However, Conley wasn’t fast enough and the man asked her to get her ticket out and get her “groups” tickets as well. Conley told the man she would go get her ticket and ran away! At this point, I was basically running in the opposite direction searching for a bathroom to hide in. I went up stairs, then downstairs, then upstairs then downstairs as I traveled through the train. Lindsay and I kept saying, “ stay away from me, go somewhere else!” because we didn’t want him to catch us, however Conley, Lindsay and I kept running into each other. We were running as if someone was trying to kill us! Eventually, we all ran into each other and decided we had to get off at the first stop. As we were impatiently waiting for the train to make its first stop, Lindsay and I kept looking at each other scared out of our minds that we were going to get caught. Thank goodness, the train made its first stop and we sprinted out of the train into the streets. After we caught our breath, we realized we were going to have to walk from Gulf Juan to Juan Les Lin in our wedges and cocktail dresses. As we were walking, I received a text from Lauren that said,” Heads up, the man is waiting outside the restroom for you.” I read this text to Conley and Lindsay and we all laughed. What would have happened if I actually hid in the restroom? Our walk only took about 45 minutes, but it was great because we got a chance to reflect on our entire week as well as our crazy train experience. The moral of the story is PAY FOR YOUR             TRAIN TICKET!