I made it to Monte Carlo for the International TV Festival leading up to the Golden Nymph Awards. Today was the gigantic back-to-back press day. I actually slept seven hours last night and survived today on very little food (vegan options are close to impossible here), but I think the drinks that flow here accounted for most of my calories, so we are good.
Here are the top five cool things and the top five not-so-cool things that happened today.
Cool:
1. Sustenance. A proper vegan meal has been acquired by yours truly (with a few modifications) at our hotel: panini with olive tapenade, avocado, tomato and fresh basil. French fries (er…pomme frites: whatever).
2. Celeb. Nathan Fillion (of Firefly fame) is here. That’s awesome. Jack Coleman (Noah Bennett from Heroes!!!) is here. That made me weep. Yes: Firefly and Heroes are two of the four shows I have watched in the past 10 years. Oh, and in case you are just tuning in and wondering why I like these shows, it’s because I am a real life genuine nerd.
3. Shopping. No, it’s not about Zara or Cartier or the casinos for me. It’s about the sports/soccer and Formula 1 stores I saw last night where I will be able to find my boys a great Monte Carlo souvenir.
4. Sorbet. Thank you, sorbet, for being made from only ice and not egg yolks or cream or milk like your gelato and yogurt cousins. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
5. Survival. I had a rough day (see not-so-cool list below), but I did it. After flying for 12 hours and sleeping only four, to getting here and hoping I could sleep the first night, to a day of press that would make a well-rested omnivore sweat, I did it. Not perfectly, not always gracefully, but I did it. Phew.
Not-so-cool:
1. Steamer. I brought an outlet adapter here so that I could plug in my laptop, my cellphone, and my portable clothing steamer that is needed to steam my dresses. I plugged in my steamer into the adapter. It heated up. It started making noise like it was ready to steam. Then it started violently sputtering boiling hot water all over the place.Then it stopped. For good. The plug blew out my steamer. No more steamer for me.
2. Sounds like… nothing French. “Mayim Bialik” (the name) sounds like no French name ever. Not even French Jews are named things like Mayim Bialik. My name was mangled by reporters and journalists today from every country present here: France, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Italy, Croatia; you name it, they can’t pronounce it. It’s not a huge problem, but it is a tad awkward when sitting next to my castmate Melissa (sounds adorable in a French accent) Rauch (sounds a bit unsettling but linguistically appropriate when pronounced like it is German, which originally it is!).
3. Sad eye. I have allergies. They are acting up. My right eye was constantly “weeping” all day. Every 30 seconds, it needs to be wiped. So the skin around my eye is very sore and tender. All the makeup is smeared in that area of my eye and face. It’s sad. It’s a sad eye.
4. Socializing. Socializing is hard for me. It drains me. I didn’t know that I was an introvert until I described to a mentor of mine a few years ago what it feels like when I go to social events. She said people who get drained and depleted from interacting and who get nervous before things and run the details over and over in their heads before, feel out of place during, and run the details over and over after, tend to fall under the category “introvert.” Oh. Well, that’s me.
5. Self-image. I am not a large woman, but here among the celebrities of Monte Carlo, I am. I don’t need to be told I’m beautiful and what matters is what’s inside and “the glory of the King’s daughter is on the inside” (yeah yeah). In my line of work, our outsides are constantly compared, paraded, and picked apart. It may not “really” matter but it’s a really challenging position to be in, especially when I keep to some standards of
tznius
(modesty). I know I don’t want to wear skimpy mini-dresses and strapless tops with my breasts hanging out (I don’t even want to imagine it much less do it), but when that’s the “standard,” you end up feeling out of place when you don’t come close to that. And I don’t. Wearing long sleeved shells under sleeveless dresses and knee-length skirts in this crowd makes me feel like I look as if I am ready for an Orthodox winter hike through the Alps. And it’s okay and I love my choices, but it’s also really hard.
Stay tuned for more Monte Carlo news, including how it goes when I try to relax at the beach tomorrow.
Read Mayim’s first post about her venture to Monte Carlo, her red carpet experience at the SAG Awards, and her foray into Hollywood movie premieres.
