Cannes Film Festival/ Exploration

Sorry it's taken a little while to write this post. As you can imagine I've been busy settling into my new job and making new friends. Also the weather has been pants so I have not been able to go out much to explore.   However, since last Tuesday evening the Cannes Film Festival has been running (hence the bad weather). I had planned an amazing trip to gorge myself on the glitz and glamour of the festival but also to hop on a boat to the Ile St Marguerite which is about 20mins from Cannes.

My day began with thinking I had work, but no one turned up in the office by 10am. I was extremely confused by this, even though I know they're normally late, but usually someone is there earlier. But no, then I remembered that it was a bank holiday and last time that meant no one was in. So, i packed my bags and upped to Cannes for the day... But by the time I had caught the shuttle to the tram, bought some lunch, caught the train it was almost 1pm! 40 minutes later I arrived in sunny Cannes. Not quite what I was expecting. Not the instant glamour, just another normal city train station with normal city streets. Until I reached the Boulevard de Croisette.... This is where things changed! So many people everywhere. Many dressed in smart suits, the smell of expensive aftershave lingering in the air. Then there were the ordinary Joe Bloggs mingling in trying to glimpse someone famous.

Sadly no, I did not see anyone famous when I walked past the red carpet on leading up to the Palais des Festivales. I quickly gathered the information I needed from the Office de Tourisme cleverly located inbetween two red carpets and headed in the direction of the old port. The main aim of my day really was to visit Ile St Marguerite.

This is one of the Lerins islands which are located just off the coast of Cannes, this island in particular is most famous for it's fort, Fort Royal. Incarcerated within this fort during the 17thC was the original Man in the Iron mask. Now the film with Leonardo di Caprio does this island no justice! It's beautiful at only 3km in width. Easily to walk in an afternoon.... Unless like me with a bad ankle that's strapped up, causing me to determinedly hobble most of the way!

The second I stepped onto the island, I noticed and eery calm. There was almost no noise save for that of the water and the few tourists that had decided to escape the hustle and bustle of Cannes. My first stop was the Fort, albeit a bit smaller than I expected, it too had an eery presence that no doubt was due to it's turbulent history. During the 16thC the island was owned by monks who then passed it onto the Duke of Chevreuse, who began building the fort. However the island was soon captured by the Spanish and it took 2 years for the French to win it back. But before this the island and its smaller sister island were both raided over the years by Saracens. So, walking through the battlements imagining the bloodshed that had occurred over this small patch of land made me feel, hmmm, I'm not too sure. Potentially insignificant I think.

It took a good 2 hours to walk the island but then this was in gale force wind! It was beautiful covered in eucalyptus and pines with pathways all over the place, and I hardly met another soul walking around. it felt like I had been transported to the island in The Voyage of the Dawntreader (A Narnia book for you non geeks out there).

Anyhow, after a good couple of hours a meandered back to the ferry port, bought a muffin and made my way back to mainland. I decided to walk further along the Promenade de Croisette and this time there were men in Tuxes and women in glamorous dresses in the hustle and bustle, obviously making their way to some exclusive screening or some such. I walked past numerous designer boutiques, Chanel, Gucci, Prada and the list goes on. The only problem was the sheer volume of people. I was being pushed off the pavement barged past and all sorts. But all in all, I got a true feeling of the glamour and glitz with the numerous sports cars going past, the chauffeured vehicles, the diamonds, the security in the shop doorways. However, I never saw a famous person much to my dismay, but I was not so crass as to hang out with screaming crowds until I saw one. I was just hoping to glimpse someone. But hey ho that's the way it goes!

 And this little fella, Paul, I named him/her by Dragon Point, with a bother or sister cat. Very friendly and walked with me for a bit. I could have quite easily brought them both back :)

I'm Back!!!!

I do apologise for my absence! It has been over a year and I have partaken in another ski season in that time. Same place, but different chalet and job. I decided to give cheffing a go. NOT as easy as I had thought it would be but I tackled through it. But a word of warning, I advise in choosing a different resort and not just a different job. It becomes so nostalgic and comparisons will always be made.

Anyway I have decided to resume this blog, as I have continued my French adventures! Through some rather cheeky networking on a popular social network site I managed to find out about a marketing internship with a hostel in Nice, Provence-Alps-Cotes-d'Azur. So after a brief stop in Cornwall to drop off my winter gear and buy some lovely new summer clothes (as let's face it the UK doesn't really do summer) I was jetting off into the sunrise to start a new job in France. 

I arrived in a flurry, expecting instant glamour everywhere I looked. It is definitely a naive view that I had about the city. It was just like any other European city I had visited. The journey from the airport meant a bus ride and a transfer onto a tram. Now I don't like admitting it but I am a country bumpkin, I have never seen a modern tram in my life! A trip to San Francisco introduced me to the old school trams that can be lethal. However, these trams look more like trains and are very smooth and I have already decided that the UK should start making them widespread. My dreams of glamour dissolved after my first full day in the city. It was a day for me to explore and get my bearing. Strolling at a good pace down the Promenade des Anglais minding my own business and an small middle aged man walking in the opposite direction said "Hello" and I gave a nervous smile but just carried on walking, picking up the pace as any smart single female in a foreign city would do. He proceeded to turn around and catch up with me and try and make conversation. Now I was always taught at school not to talk to strangers but it just seems so rude sometimes! In this case I should have just ignored him. And I was being obviously evasive to his attentions. My plan had been head to the Chateau on the hill, however, I did not want this lil Italian man to follow me the whole way. So I had to take a detour to the sister hostel in the town to get rid of him. Along the way he was constantly trying to holding my hand, stroke my arm, etc. Then it turned into asking me to have a coffee or a drink with him. It was a horrific invasion of my personal space! Fortunately I arrived safely at the hostel with no harm and the lil man left. Afterwards, I was speaking to the girls in the hostel and they said this was normal behaviour, it even happens if you're on the beach alone, and even if you're in a group of girls. Now, I was in such a blur at home I never really thought about these kind of things that happen in big tourist cities, especially to single females, and moreover in broad daylight! 

Now that was just a brief introduction to my first day in Nice, do not be put off by my one negative experience. I will update with a new entry soon with good things :) 

  

Back to the real world

One thing that my employer liked to tell us during training and through out the season was that working there was not the real world. Sounds funny when you put it like that, it's hardly as if we were in a fantasy world? Turns out as soon as you are back you realise, it dawns upon you like a ton of bricks. It really is not the real world. You don't have to worry about bills, petrol prices, taxes, etc. important things. You slip into a world with very little real life responsibility, and the responsibility that you do has over trivial things becomes very important.

I've been home just over a week now, and the dream of powder, mountains and demi peche seem to have slipped away. In their place, are the worries of finding a semi decent paying job, where I'm going to find the money for filling up my car and most importantly, how am I going to curb my spending habit. After 18 weeks of nearly having a 100 euros cash in hand tips, it's going to be difficult getting used to having no money at all!

Little Things

I apologise profusely for my lack of updates on here. it seems that I have been exceptionally lazy these last few weeks as the end of season quickly approaches.  Things have been drastically changing right before my eyes, in the sense of relationships within the resort as well as resort workers.

Gavin left and to be honest I haven't really been the same since. Gary our manager said to me today that he worries about me because i'm not all bubbly and happy and i'm very solemn. Personally i do not think i am a bubbly happy person anyway, but i have been exceptionally solemn these past couple of weeks. After Gavin left I kinda sidled back to Alex, however my debaucheries elsewhere has led to the demise of our friendship i think. We used to have some great conversations and go skiing and watch dvds etc. now, i am ignored when in the same company and don't do any of those things anymore. It is kind of sad really I feel that i have not only lost one friend but another.

So as a result, i met a lovely French man on a night out and have been on a few dates. He is a snowboarder, who works for skiset and is very gentlemanly. It make a nice change from the English seasonnaires who basically want to use as many girls as possible. I on the other hand am using my new friend for French lessons and for a snowboarding companion as my relations with the girl in the company i board with have diminished and i have become a bit of a loner. (What's new there!)

Anyway, on a possibly lighter note, it is my birthday tomorrow. I think that is as light as it gets really. The night before I hoped I would have some romantic evening or at least a cosy one cuddled up in bed with someone watching a good dvd. But no. I am here writing for you guys, which is not so bad, and I have a dvd all lined up. Crazy, Stupid Love, with Ryan Gosling in, who happens to be my future husband.

Enough prattling on. This really is nothing to do with a ski season unfortunately, it's just me unloading onto the world as per norm. I shall attempt to write an entry tomorrow with some pics so that you can see how my day went. :) Ciao for now xxx

General Chit Chat!

Sorry for not having done an update for a while, things have been hectic really. There's a bit of goss to write about and a bit of general stuff as well.

So, first things first, i'm not sure if i have already written this but my ski host and chef are now an official item, this has been an awkward transition. I'm sure one can imagine that when you work with two other people in such an intense close environment, it can be very third wheel like. This was how i have been feeling recently, and on Tuesday i decided i couldn't hack it and wanted to work in a different chalet for the night. However, this did not happen, our new manager Gary, aka Silver Fox, said that the guests in his chalet were way too demanding and that next week i'll be in his chalet. But as he could not offer me the respite i wanted, he offered to let me join him on the minibus journey to La Plagne to drop Stuart back (a temp chef). this was an alright journey apart from the fact I'd had, at most, 4 hours sleep the night before because I'd been out clubbing. We shall talk about what happened then in a minute.
La Plagne was nice, it was interesting to see how a chalet hotel runs in comparison to a chalet and also to meet the other chalet hosts. On the way back (a rather awkward drive) we stopped at Carrefour in Moutiers and i bought some socks. Now this to the common person may not be an important thing, but up here socks get lost within about 10 seconds of coming off your feet. I came out with about 7 pairs, and only have like 3 pairs left. And socks are not cheap, i bought two packs of 3 and it came to something like 8 or 9 euros. So they had better be good quality.

Within the chalet, things seem to have settled down a bit, i think i may have been getting a bit highly strung and freaked out by working with a couple. I'm not the best person at dealing with these things. But it is nice to have the room to myself now and then.

That now kind of leads on to my Tuesday night out. So my personal life, in terms of relationships does not get written about just because, it's personal you know. I have become close friends with a certain chef from a different company, but things aren't going so well for him at the moment, he found out he's going to become a dad and he doesn't want to be but it's too late and it's his ex girlfriend. He'd been a bit funny with me for the past several days and i got a bee in my bonnet about it and wasn't very happy. Anyway, there was a bit of a party over at the accommodation where he works and so i went on over hung out and got rather drunken. There were a couple of different companies there, and it was really nice to all socialise together. My chef guy hardly spoke more than 5 words to me. So i hung out with his friends and got drunk. We didn't leave for the club until about 1.30am and somehow, oh wait the guys sledged down to the club and we got the minibus. Either way, i met a new friend, and spent the whole night chatting to him, he wouldn't tell me his name, or age or where he came from, as he thought it was entertaining for me to have to guess. Rather more frustrating if you ask me. Anyways, we spent the whole night chatting, i don't even think i spoke to anyone else really. It was pretty antisocial of me i suppose. But basically he's a snowboarder, was manager of 3 chalets before the dodgy company he worked for fired him and several of the employees for no reason. Unfortunately he's going home next week, but we had an interesting conv about beluga whales, him being a unicorn catcher and that he caught the Loch Ness monster. Very random i know, and i haven't the foggiest memory of how it came about. Either way he came home with me. But oh yeah i forgot to point out a very important detail in this, he told me in the club that he has a thing going on with one of his past guests, and apparently she is waiting for him back in England....... Yes not impressed i know. Because i thought we were pretty much perfect combo.

I'm getting pretty tired so i may finish this entry tomorrow. :) Night! x

Gossip

Ok so this post is not really about snowboarding or anything to do with skiing really. But it's something that has been bugging me for a little while. I live with two other members of staff, my chef Ollie and my ski host Rachel. So Rachel has a boyfriend and Ollie is single.

I bet you can guess where this is going really. It's really rather an awkward situation. The two spend all their spare time together, one is touchy feely, and they never socialize with the other members of the team. Most nights i go to bed and Rachel does not arrive until about 1am or 2am which wakes me up.

Does this mean that i can freely bring guys back to my place? Or do i technically still share a room? It's a real eggshell area. Especially as i cannot stand people who cheat on their partners. I know that if the role was reversed Rachel would be highly sensitive and extremely upset by it. I feel like a consipartor to the cheating by not telling her boyfriend, but obviously it really is not my place to say anything.

Any thoughts or comments upon this situation would be appreciated :)

Typical Seasonaire Things

Sorry for not posting for a while, it has been rather manic. This week we have three Indian families, totaling 18 people, 12 children, 13 vegetarians, some who however eat chicken. It's a total nightmare. They asked me this evening to contact my manager and get the company to buy some hairdryers for the chalet. I mean really?! This is not a hotel! Bloomin' ridiculous. I did actually want to cry earlier their requests were just that frustrating, especially whilst i was trying to set up for dinner and they kept interrupting.

Anyway enough of my rant! I have decided to write about a few typical seasonaire things. I know it's a bit of a non specific topic, but here we go.

- The first couple of weeks, for our chalet at least, it was very common to finish service and then go to the pub and drink demi peche or grand peche. This drink is beer with peach syrup. I personally never ever drink beer under normal circumstances, however, a half pint of Amstel with peche is possibly the most refreshing drink after a hard afternoon boarding or stressful dinner service. And at 2euros for a demi its a right bargain for us seasonaires!

- Burn out. This happens after the first couple of weeks of jamming in boarding, skiing, work, late nights, drink and early mornings. You do not realise how much of a trance you are in until you look back and see that you actually resembled a zombie. At one point this season i was actually turning a lovely shade of grey due to burning the candle at both ends.

- Ski/Board related purchases. These tend to happen towards the middle/end of the season, when tips and wages have been saved in order to purchase such items. For example, i have recently purchased a Roxy Ollie Pop snowboard with gold bindings for a very reasonable rate. A friend had a lesson with an ESF instructor, and it happened that his sister competes fro France and is given boards all the time and i managed to wangle a board that is RRP at £400 without bindings for 250 euros with bindings. Nataleon one of our chefs has recently acquired a new pair of skis, and Tina a chalet host has treated herself to some ski boots. The purchase of ski related items is just a natural part of being a seasonaire. Jack one of our chefs splashed out on a pair of park gloves for 150 euros or something about that price.

- Pulling holiday makers. This is a slightly more shameful topic that i shall briefly touch upon. It happens. We all get drunk and chat to many random people and as the vast majority of people in the pubs and club are holidaymakers its an easy thing to happen. Also there is that feeling of anonymity that makes it feel more exciting, you're likely to never meet this person again. For example, i met a rather lovely Irish investment banker from London who must have been about 6ft8 because my head did not even reach his shoulders, it was mental. It is fantastic who you can meet on a night out here and the temptation to take advantage of it just happens.

-Horrible hands. The less pleasant side of working in the snowy mountains. Whether you're chef or chalet host or ski host, we all have pretty minging hands. This is due to chemicals, dry air, tons of washing up and (for chefs mostly) accidental slip ups with the knives.

Well i hope that this was informative! It's time for me to get some sleep, we have early breakfasts all week. I am sure you can imagine the joy i experienced when the guests asked for this! Goodnight folks :)