When I decided to go to college away from home, I knew it would be an expense. My parents were very supportive of the dream and helped me get there. So, I moved to Orlando to pursue my dreams of being an actress with a theatre degree. Eventually, I declared a music minor, and then I decided to get a second major because I didn’t want my backup career to be teaching. I declared entertainment management, a program exclusive to UCF’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management, which is the number one hospitality school in the world.
I do not regret that decision, or the fact that it will cost me extra money to get both of my degrees, but I know that I am lucky because getting two degrees during your undergrad can be quite costly.
Over the years, I made many of my dreams come true in college, but there was still one thing I had yet to do that I felt needed to be done for me to be sure of my career: I wanted to see some aspect of the world before I graduated. Maybe the wanderlust comes with the fact that my dad is an immigrant, or that my mom was a ski-bum in Montana when she was my age, but I was not allowed to leave the U.S. until I was eighteen, due to disagreements between my very divorced parents. So I never got that trip abroad, or the experience that comes with seeing different cultures and learning about them. Considering that I’m half European on my mother’s side, I was itching to see Europe, particularly France.
Through Rosen, I began working with my advisors to find a study abroad program that would benefit me the most. I discovered the American Pavilion’s program, where 200 US students were sent to the legendary Cannes Film Festival, and I instantly knew that I needed to go. So, I applied, interviewed, was accepted on Halloween, and began making preparations to go on the trip in May of 2025.
Now, the internship aspect was unpaid, and my placement was to be determined when I got to France, so I worked from November to March to make the money I needed, which was around five grand. I used a little bit of my student loans to cover some fees, but the majority of the money I had for my two weeks was money I had made. I even ended up in the emergency room at one point because I overworked myself, and it turns out I am very allergic to caffeine.
My parents were as supportive as parents who aren’t paying for their child to go abroad can be: they helped me by getting me my flight and answering as many questions about travelling as I could ask, and the rest of my family pitched in too, by explaining currency rules and helping me get euros for Christmas, or explaining that Discover credit cards don’t work in Europe.
The flight there was one of the longest ones of my life: I’ve never been on a plane for more than five hours and I honestly don’t know how people do it! It’s quite draining. I got to meet other interns on my way there, and then, when I stepped out of the airport and saw France for the first time, I felt it in my stomach and my soul that the next two weeks were going to be an experience I would remember for the rest of my life.
UCF sent five students to the festival this year, two of whom became my roommates and friends over the weeks. Although we had different internship placements and backgrounds, we all had the same enjoyment of film, and we hoped for our time there to be fun, educational, and worth the money we spent.
I was lucky enough to be selected by Gersh Talent Agency as one of their three interns, and I was very impressed with myself and the other two student interns that I met, who happened to be from different colleges.
That being said, my bosses were quite flexible and gave me the freedom to experience the festival to the fullest.
While I was exploring, I tried different foods and was stunned by how much better tasting everything was there. And, to top it all off, I wasn’t getting sick from what I was eating. Favorite food? Rose and violet gelato. Life-changing.
As a student at the American Pavilion, my festival badge came with access to all of the ticketed screenings in the Marche, midnight premieres, free bus rides to and from my residence to the festival, and the entirety of the International Village, which is where every country that brings cinema to the festival has a headquarters.
I will say that the most exclusive screening I got into was the Fast and Furious screening with the original cast, and I was quite close to the screen. So close, in fact, that Vin Diesel and the original cast were only like two rows behind me. Also, walking my first red carpet as an actress was a moment so surreal that I don’t think I will ever forget it. Being able to walk it reminded me that someday it would be me, and I would get to walk it with purpose, being seen by people who appreciate my work and God-given talent. Not now, but someday.
I attended some interesting panels too: Diego Luna came to the American Pavilion to talk about the feature film that he directed, ‘Ashes,’ and Tilda Swinton was a featured speaker at the festival this year as well. The American Pavilion also had student-exclusive round tables, with one of the guest speakers being Mary Beth Barone, who stars in Overcompensating alongside Benito Skinner.
The craziest thing I did? Sing karaoke in a French bar. Or go to the Raindance Villa Party. That, to me, felt like a fever dream. I had met another actress in line the day prior, and she suggested that I go, and I ended up inviting one of the other interns. I felt like I had imposter syndrome because what do you mean, I’m just a student in a room full of wildly successful people? That night was one that I (and my feet) will never forget. The view from the Villa was also insanely gorgeous, and I met so many interesting people with insane careers.
I actually met so many people over the course of the two weeks that I couldn’t fully keep count, but I valued meeting every one of them because I learned about jobs I didn’t even know existed.
I even had enough time to take a side quest trip to Monte Carlo in Monaco with some of the other interns because it was only a train ride away. We got to see the F1 track for the Monaco Grand Prix and hike up to a touristy spot on top of the nearby mountain.
Getting home was the longest travel day of my life: my flight connected into the UK (which you can’t enter without an ETA visa, so I had to pay for that), and getting through to my flight took forever, and I mean forever. The plus side of my connecting in the UK was that I was passing through London, a city that has been on my bucket list for a while now due to the draw it has on the industry and just the history of it in general. Some day I will go back, mark my words, maybe even for Raindance! Who knows?
I am grateful for this experience because I learned so much about myself and the rest of the world, something that I feel needed to happen before I graduated from college. I met so many people, tried a bunch of new things, and while I didn’t get to do everything that I wanted to do, hopefully my career will bring me back there one day. I can graduate in peace now knowing that the rest of the world is still out there, and I’m ready to experience more of it soon, perhaps sooner than I think.