HELLO! Surprise! I've moved to New York City! Tomorrow marks one week here and I could not be more happy! I'm so excited for everything that is yet to come!
I am interning with Flagpole swim here in Brooklyn and working on trying to find either another internship or a job job because ya girl needs some kind of money. I'll be editing videos weekly, some for me, some for The Sorry Girls in addition to taking an online class. Ya girl's doing the most!
This is a short sweet post but be sure to check out the vlog below to see my adventure getting here!
MORE SOON! XO!
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 14th 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?
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
Good Morning lovelies! I hope everyone's week has been treating them well so far! I feel like it just started, and yet it is already Wednesday, time is flying by! I will be back in Savannah in no time, that is so crazy to me! I am really looking forward to this year and getting back into the swing of things.
Since going to Hong Kong, it's been forever and a day since I've been at my SCAD home base having a routine and what not. I have a tough quarter set up for me when I get back though, that's for sure. Four classes (we are only supposed to take three), all on the same day, back to back to back to back... Oh man... But! I'm excited! Living in my first ever apartment! With my best friends! In one of my favorite cities! What could be better than that?
In other news, I LOVE this dress. I got it the other day from Goodwill, on National Thrifting Day actually! And ya know what? I made a video all about it too! Watch it!
Huge thanks, as always to my blogger bff Stephanie for taking these photos of me in a greenhouse! I've always wanted to shoot in a greenhouse, so when she suggested it I was SOLD! Don't you just love these photos? Where should I shoot next? xo, O
