LACOSTE TRAVEL JOURNAL

LACOSTE TRAVEL JOURNAL

Thursday, May 23, 2019

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LACOSTE WEEK TWO

LACOSTE WEEK TWO

Monday, May 6, 2019

I HAVE BEEN SO BUSY! This tab has been opened on my computer to post this for WEEKS now! But I am finally getting to it! We are now on week SIX! But here are some of my favorite photos and the highlights from week two! Everything is flying by here, which is wild, I want to be able to hold on to every moment, but it's fleeting! Anyway, here's week two...

Kicked off the week with a trip to Nîmes where we did some sightseeing of ancient Roman structures like the arena and some other monuments! Nîmes was the first city we had been to since coming to Lacoste, so it was a nice change of pace from our slow hilltop village.

And don't worry, we made sure to eat lots and lots of gelato... of course!

That afternoon we ventured to the Pont du Gard, which is a now retired Roman Aqueduct! It was GIANT! Very cool to see in real life and towering above us knowing that it was once used, wild!

In addition, we actually did some cliff jumping into the FREEZING water below! It was something like 45 degree water... Most definitely got the wind knocked out of me, and my body may or may not have gone into some kind of shock, BUT when would I ever get the chance to do that again? I will never forget that moment :-)

That Saturday my friends and I took another little afternoon trip to Bonnieux. Again, ate lots of gelato, and took tons of cute photos! What more could you need?! Lacoste although small, is surrounded by a bunch of other similarly wonderful hilltop towns just waiting for us to explore them! Bonnieux is just a walk away through the cherry blossom fields! MAGIC!

On Monday, my drawing class and I went on a field trip to Fontain del Vacluse which just, WOW. Talk about magic! This place is literally picked up out of a fairytale dream world. It's unreal how beautiful it is. It was also such a treat getting to go early in the morning before the tourists got there. It felt like we had the town all to ourselves to really experience the mystical waterfalls in all their untouched beauty.

The next two days I went to Roussillon twice! Once in my drawing class, and then again in my fibers class! Another unreal world, Roussillon is what it would look like if there were life on Mars but in the Grand Canyon, and in France. Ya know?? I was able to get pigment that was actually mined and made there, straight from the rocks! So cool to paint on sight with the local materials.

Ended the week out with another Friday school trip! We went to a few places, starting with the Sénanque Abbey which is near Gordes. This is a beautiful monastery where actually seven monks still live and work! The place was lovely and cold! So cold, can you imagine sleeping on a stone floor in the dead of winter with no source of heat? No thank you!

In the photo above on the right, that field is actually typically lavish with lavender! But we'd have to give or take a month or so for it to be in bloom. Part of the work the monks do is grow the lavender and sell it.

Next we headed to Avignon where we explored through The Papal Palace! Something that was so amazing about this visit was the technology that was incorporated to create an interactive and immersive experience. We were able to use the iPad to see what the rooms used to look like back in the 14^th century. Every room was so decadent, so highly decorated, and absolutely beautiful! It was such a treat being able to have the audio tour in addition to the visuals, I wish I could have been there when it was in it’s height of luxury! So cool!

After that, I snuck in with the photo kids and went on their excursion to a SUPER cool museum. I don't remember the name of it, but it was pretty nifty. Full of neon, contemporary art, photography, sculpture, and every cooooool photoworthy artsy thing under the sun. Loved it! So glad I tagged along.

Avignon was such a cool city, it's actually a college town, so there was a lot going on. I could see myself spending more time there for sure. Some people actually stayed there that weekend before we headed off to Paris.

There is just never enough time here! I already want to do everything all over again! I have four vlogs to edit and post literally this week so wish me luck! I will be flooding you with content so soon! Get excited!

Also, do you like photos to be shared like this? More of a collage way rather than just the individual photos, what do you think?

See you soon!
Xo, O

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LACOSTE WEEK ONE

LACOSTE WEEK ONE

Thursday, April 11, 2019

Hello! Can you believe it? Week one, DONE! And if we're being honest here, so is week two, I'm a bit behind in my posting! Nonetheless I'm HERE and ready to share with you some shots and my vlog from week one living here in Lacoste, France!

Overall, this experience so far as been surreal, the fact that I get to wake up with the sunrise, in a place so calm, so pristine, each day fresh, ready to be explored, it's magical. Everyday I am doing something new and exciting here, I don't know how I got so lucky! All I can say is that I am endlessly grateful for it all. More on that in another post coming soon...

I'll be doing a full room tour towards the end of the quarter, but this is a little snippet of what it looks like. Real stone walls, real finger paintings, real evidence of me overpacking too many scarves I really didn't need... it's all here.

Every corner of the village is a glistening fairy land. No kidding, it's ancient stone overgrown with flowers everywhere and constantly tickled with sunlight. It's so wonderful it's like I have to use words like "glistening fairy land" and "tickled," there's simply no other way to describe it.

We arrived to Lacoste Friday afternoon and basically just spent the rest of the day getting to know everyone and settling in.

The next morning all 107 (give or take, it's something like that) of us hopped onto some busses and went to the markets of Apt. Booths everywhere with things from hand woven textiles to cheesy postcards, to wacky instruments for sale and fresh baked pastries and tiny cheeses on bread on a silver sample tray, Apt had it all. Most definitely want to go back.

Next on the list was a picnic lunch at the Pont Julien, an old ancient Roman bridge built in 3BC! Sitting with strangers on staggered rocks in the spotty stream we made new friends while eating caprese paninis. No complaints there, obviously.

We met all the professors, made our way back to Lacoste and then had tours of the campus.
The rest of the day was spent doing more orientation type things. It was lots of fun, and got us all very excited about the quarter to come.

The next morning (Sunday) some friends and I, (Ethan, Sophie, Kate, DJ, and Liam) ventured out to Bonnieux, the other hilltop village across the valley. It was something like an 8 mile hike in total, but that's because apparently we went the totally wrong way... classic.

I quite enjoyed it though, and it made the view at the top of the mountain all the more rewarding, and oh man, made dinner taste SO good. We were all so hungry by the time we got back to campus. Lucky for us, the food is super good here!

After dinner, some more friends and I (I have a lot of friends okay, it's fine, I'm cool, I know) went up to The Chateau on top of Lacoste and in addition to that, found an abandoned house ready for rummaging, and the old theater and quarry. SO cool, ruins new and old, both abandoned.

Week one was a dream full of splendid sunsets, snuggly sheep, and sleepy sunrises (last pic is the view from my room at sunrise!!) 

I'll be posting about the ongoing fun that has been week two here soon, until then, enjoy my week one vlog! xo, O

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FLOATING THROUGH VENICE

FLOATING THROUGH VENICE

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Hello! Today it's a rainy day in Lacoste, so I thought I'd bring it back to sunny Venice! Venice was our last stop of our Italian adventure. Similarly to Florence, we had little to no time to spend here, I really do wish we had more time to explore each place, they're all so beautiful and different, they deserve it! Not just rushing from one tourist attraction to the next...

We arrived in Venice after a disaster of a train journey late at night on Tuesday, we had the full day Wednesday, and then Thursday morning we flew to Marseilles to meet up with the SCAD group to travel together to Lacoste on Friday. So in full, we really only had one day in Venice.

Not enough time. Never enough time.

As far as the train disaster goes, basically we unknowingly bought tickets to Venice for the wrong day, and were trying to leave from the wrong station. To set the scene for you, I spent some time crying on the cold sidewalk with all of our luggage, while Kate was on a hunt for wifi, fending off sketchy men in greasy pizzarias. Euros spinning down the drain after buying more and more and more train tickets we didn't need, it was a disaster.

But we made it. We somehow made it.

Flash forward to the next day, we kicked off our trip by spending the morning in Burano, the most colorful little lace making island.

Burano is as colorful as it is due to the fact that when fisherman would come home late at night, since all the houses looked so similar, they would get lost in the canals not be able to get home! The houses were permanently painted super bright colors to help the fishermen identify which house was theirs.

Now, it's a haven for instagrammers and bloggers alike, to feed their needs for not only getting caught in a web of tourism for photos but also aesthetics.

Only sort of kidding. I was actually so pleasantly surprised by how little people were there that day. Sure, it wasn't empty, but it wasn't the total tourist trap that Venice is.

We knew we had to try a cappuccino while there, and also the famous Burano S shaped cookies, only made in Burano. The first order we got the guy insisted on bringing it out to us at our table, a few minutes later, we were so pleasantly surprised by the beautiful coco dusted cappuccinos and whip cream dolloped cookie platter we received as seen above...

We enjoyed the cookies with whipped cream so much we had to order some more. Catching another waiter to put in our order... He was far less flirty... we received the plate of cookies below... HA! Clearly the second waiter didn't take to us as much as the first one did... lol

I made a big deal about not throwing this water bottle away. There weren't any recycling bins on Burano, so I just decided to hold on to it until we returned to the main island.

After going on and on about how we can't just throw it away to Kate, how we MUST recycle, I slipped up and accidentally dropped it into the water... So much for that.

The rest of the day was spent walking around Venice looking at all of the big attractions, starting with The Bridge of Sighs. So beautiful.

We went inside of Basillica Di Santa Maria which of course, was beautiful. And although the Piazza San Marco, where the Basillica was, was PACKED with people, getting into the actual church wasn't too bad, little to no lines.

We crossed the Rialto Bridge where we took a bunch of photos of strangers, and got strangers to take photos of us, the view was beautiful, but there were just SO many people everywhere. I truly don't know how Venice has not just sunk due to the weight of people... yikes.

We walked around for a while, got some pizza, sat in a café, got charged for sitting in a café, got lost walking down the tiny alleys and through the mazes of streets, it was fun. It was freezing.

That night I knew I couldn't leave Venice without riding in a gondola. It was such a pleasant experience. The lights of the buildings on to the water were so beautiful, it was quiet and so serene. Although way too expensive, I really enjoyed it, especially since I honestly don't see myself returning to Venice.

Unfortunately it was just so touristy, overpriced, and small to the point where I feel like I did all I needed to, and I really don't need to go back! Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, I just don't need to return any time soon.

The last thing I did before we made our way to the airport was watch the sunrise. I had been awake all night editing my Rome vlog, when I saw it begin to get light outside I grabbed my blanket and made a run to chase the sun.

I sat on some ledge on the edge of the water as I watched the sun rise over the island across the water waking up Venice. This moment will stick with me forever. I sat shivering, meditating, setting my intentions for the day and my next few months of travel. It's moments like this when I'm alone and get to take some time to myself that I really cherish. It was the perfect way to say goodbye to Italy and cap off our travels.

Overall, Italy was fantastic. The food was delicious, the art was stunning, and the sights were unbelievable. Even in the messiest of moments, I loved every second. I'm so grateful for my ability to travel, and cannot wait to see where I venture off to next!

Until then! xo, O

To stay up to date, be sure to follow along on my Instgram
Also on Kate's and my travel Instagram- more funny finsta type content
And my YouTube! 

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