Classes have begun

The day started early today, waking up to a bleak and cloud covered valley. The clouds covered most of the hills and moutains around us, so it was creepy and silent in Lacoste this morning. Also the rain made all of the usually beautiful cobblestones slick and scary. At one point a cloud passed over Lacoste and we couldn't see into the valley. It was awesome! But it was a good morning becuase I got to go to class.

I started my Intro to Printmaking. And I am excited to get going with it. Our first assignment is a monotype print. (Don't really understand the method to it, but I do now it only make one print) My teacher is great! He knows a lot about the subject matter and he is really funny. It is going to be a whirlwind of 8 weeks. There are so many field trips and assignments and fun things going on in the village, I don't know how I am going to fit it all in...but I am going to try :)

After class, I had the afternoon to myself. I almost didn't know what to do with it!!! I am so used to being in Savannah, where there is always work to be done, gettting a free afternoon usually ment a nap or talking with friends. But I did do some homework, and I went for a walk. When I was walking I noticed something about Lacoste. It is so quiet here. There are no noisy cars, airplanes, music or college students. The cars barely fit through the narrow, sidewalk streets, so most people just park their cars at the bottom of the village and walk. And airplanes are non exsitant here. Most of the students are in class during the day and as it gets darker here, voice levels go down as well. It is so relaxing. I also have noticed every meal comes with a hard French bread and cheese. Very Very good cheese. Breakfast Lunch and Dinner! I am going to have to do some serious walking!!!:)

Along my walk I did discover something else, SNAILS!! Real life Snails in the middle of the paths and on the rock ledges. They were just minding their own buisness crawling around very very slow. I saw them becuase one had a particularly large and beautiful shell on its back. I bent down to pick it up and look at the shell, and I saw that something slimy was connected to it!! It was quite a funny revelation in the middle of the path up to the Chateau, I was just gald I decided to take my walk alone...hahaha

Unfortunately not a lot happened today becuase it was so rainy, but its a new day tomorrow. So from all of the snails and me in France... goodnight!! Or rather Good Afternoon!!

Another day

Well its offically day three in Lacoste. Today was really interesting. We had the day to ourselves, and after an interesting night, lets just say we started the day off in the late morning. After a hearty breakfast of crossaint and eggs it was time for some walking. My roommate Lauren and I and our new friend Nicole decided to walk down into the valley. I had heard some of my professors talking about a race track built by the locals, and I wanted to find that too. So we trecked down the hill into the valley. And almost every 10 mintues I had to stop and take a picture. It was a beautiful walk. The trees are all blooming white blosoms and it is so green here!! When we made it down to the bottom, we decided to turn around and treck back up the hill beause rain clouds were coming. We had wanted to go to the nieghboring village but there was no way we were going to make it without rain gear.

But during the long walk to the top, I did find my race track. But to my utter surprise, its not a race track for real cars...but for remote control cars!!:) This was the most interested thing I have seen in a long time!! It was a full blow dirt race track built with jumping ramps and turns. Grown men and boys were racing gas powered remote cars. They did flips and turns and would knock each other off the track...it was intense and so much fun to watch. I am going to post pictures of it as soon as I can! And hopefully they do it every sunday, becuase it was so much fun to watch

Finally we made it back to Lacoste, after about a 3 hour hike. But it was well worth the journey because of all the great things we got to see. I decided to take it easy and wander through Lacoste some more. The people are so nice and everyone you meet always acknowledges you with Bonjour.

So it was a much needed slow day. Tomorrow reality sets in becuase classes start. So more news on how that goes when I have some to tell. And I promise Pictures will be up soon! Until later..

My First Full Day

Okay...so here was my first day in France. IT was amazing. After sleeping for 10 hours, I got up early to the sun pouring into our room. I found out our room faces East. But it was a beautiful sunrise and warmed our room up, so I actually felt the need to get out of bed...LOL After a wonderful breakfast of nutella on a small waffle, a banana and ceral, I was ready for a day of exploring! wow did I go Exporling!!! The whole campus went to Apt a small Village about 15 minutes out of Lacoste. There was a open aire market, a art supplie store, a supermarket and a computer store. It was amazing. The open aire market had tons of merchanside to look at. From food, to plants, to soap and clothing. The Provence valley is famous for its Lavender, and you can smell it everywhere! I went around with my trusty naviagator and roomate Lauren. She is awesome, and we have a lot in commom, I have a feeling we will become good friends if she can put up with my annoying questions about French. She knows enough French to get around and talk to people...and I am still trying to learn how to say "hello" and "how much is this" and "do you speak English" But we had a good time roaming around Apt and listening to the people. The Languauge is so pretty here. I could literally just sit, watch people and listen to them talk, they sound so beautiful, even when I don't know what they are saying.
We also went into the supermarket to get some essentials. It was interesing becuase the don't supplie people with bags here. Instead you either bring your own bags or baskets or you buy an enviornmental friendly bag from there, and keep re-using it. It was a lot of fun looking for American type brands and seeing how their products change for French people. The only bad part is everything is in French....and I know my four years of Spanish is only going to help me so much...haha
After Apt, we made a stop at Pont Julian. It is a very old bridge that is no longer in use, but still perfectly standing It was beautiful! It is over 2000 years old!! Can you believe that. I actually touched a bridge that was made during the the Roman Empire?! And it was still all put together. I would have never thouhgt.
Then after lunch we had a tour of Lacoste given by a local villager named Finn. He was amazing and had all of the interesting stories and poems about the history of this place. The tour was very informative and we got to walk all the way up to the top of the hill to Chateau de Sade where the Marquis de Sade lived. The view was spactacular and the commentary along the way was helpful and insitful.
Dinner time!! We had a wonderful Bienvenue (welcoming) dinner. It was traditional food that included salad, soup, a cheese course and dessert. Delicious!! What a wonderful way to end the day! Well if you have made it this far you are a brave being. I didn't realize how much I had writen until now. But thanks for listening and I am sure when school actually starts, I won't be getting this detailed with my blogs, but for now it is fun writing and I hoped you have enjoyed! Until next time. Bonne journee!

More pictures coming soon! Here is the link
http://s302.photobucket.com/albums/nn109/sarapitz/lacoste/

Getting There

So I am going to make this short and sweet right now because I am going through some major jet lag right now...But I promise to go into more detail tomorrow or Sunday. I made it to Lacoste WOOT!! But it was a long two days of traveling by planes and bus. It is amazing though and already I have learned so much about French culture and I don't speak a word of French! Anwyays I am going to crash for like 12 hours and I will write again when I can coherently put together a sentence. But as for now I am safe in Lacoste and I cannot believe this place is real!