Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Happy Belated Homecoming: A Summary

Full disclosure: I've been back in America for a little over a week now.
And it's nice to be home.

The last week in Lacoste was dense with work, but excellent because it was work I was excited to do. My Writing About Place class went on our last field trips around the Luberon valley, to vineyards and abbeys.


At the end of our last day of class on Thursday, the nine of us students went with our professor to Le Garage, a restaurant in the neighboring village Lumière. We had a real French dinner with local red wine.


I had some extra café to help me stay up all night to finish my brooches for Vernissage. Almost all of them were made with antique French ribbon.


On Friday and Saturday, we had Vernissage, the student art exhibition where we showed work we'd produced during the quarter in Lacoste. This was my gallery space (I got da prime spot) where I sold prints of my échantillon-pairing photographs and brooches. It was a successful exhibition, and now some of my photographs are hanging in French homes and my brooches are pinned to French sweaters.


 My Writing About Place class put together an art installation for Vernissage in one of the caves. The concept was a walk-in travel journal, so we put up mementos and writing excerpts and pictures.


In this class installation, I included a summary I originally wrote about The Abbey Bookshop, but which I've found serves as an apt summary of my time in France: It's overwhelming, but in the way the view from the top of a mountain at sunrise is overwhelming. And like at sunrise, there's coffee to drink.

Provençal Aubrey

Sunday and Monday were devoted to packing and spending some last moments with friends in Provence. I traveled all day Tuesday. Miraculously, we made our flights out of Marseille and Paris even after some authentic French bureaucracy at check-in, which took a little over an hour. I saw Sacré-Coeur and the Eiffel Tower from the airplane window, though, so I said goodbye to France with love and gratitude. We did miss our flight out of Atlanta because Homeland Security's Agriculture beagle sniffed out an apple and an orange in my mom's bag, but it was adorable, so no hard feelings. Plus, we were in America and could actually talk to the airport staff past the level of three-year-olds. I got home and was reunited with my dog and the comfiest bed in the world early Wednesday morning, and later enjoyed my first meal back in the States covered in Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce.

And now for some stats n' facts about the transition from France to America:

Best souvenir from France: Antique passements (ribbon, basically)
Most worthwhile activities in France: Making friends, being outside, drinking coffee and eating croissants
Approximate number of chocolate croissants eaten: 100

First thought upon returning to America: I can understand what they're saying!
Second thought upon returning to America: This coffee is watery.


Thursday, November 10, 2011

Rubanesque's Grand Opening


Ruth's Etsy shop, Rubanesque, is now open!

I was the lucky photographer for Ruth's beautiful handmade jewelry. Her shop is full of one-of-a-kind cuffs fashioned from antique French ribbon from her grandfather's archives. They'll make perfect Christmas presents. Or perfect Welcome Home From A Semester in France presents...

Visit the shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Rubanesque

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Yesterday's Highlight

Twice!
Cats and dogs aren't rare in France (in fact, the dogs tend to go wherever their owners go, and without leashes). I usually don't have the courage to ask in French to pet a dog, but I did yesterday.
Queen Victoria, an antique shop owner's dog in Isle sur la Sorgue. Not pictured: she rested her head on my leg for a little while, and I melted.
This dog belongs to a Lacoste local, who says his name is Hot Shit.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Vaucluse Makes Me Happy

And the autumn colors everywhere.
I didn't have my camera with me Wednesday morning, a mistake for which I have suffered, but here are some edited phone pictures. My Business and Professional Writing class explored the town a bit, since luckily the wind and rain had let up for a while that morning, then we sat down in a café and ordered coffee. You know, class as usual.


Vaucluse has a historic paper mill where you can buy handmade paper. I got a few things to make brooches, but the selection here is unexceptional and generally overpriced. I prefer Paper Arts back home in Dallas, a hole-in-the-wall store I was introduced to this summer. :]




Friday, November 4, 2011

Halloween á Lacoste

La Provence said, "We can't find a better way to celebrate Halloween than to spend it with the American students of SCAD Lacoste."
Last Saturday, 500 people traveled to Lacoste from surrounding villages for an afternoon of Halloween festivities. Since the French don't really celebrate Halloween, Lacoste's forty-year history of having American art students has made it the Halloween capital of southern France. This year, visitors enjoyed pumpkin-carving, face painting, crafts, haunted houses and lots of bon bons.

Skeletor Goes to France: The Skeleton's Fourth Annual Appearance. Shout outs to Lexie, who made the rib cage and pelvis stencils back in the day.

some of the costumed SCAD students
Decoration around the Pfriem Gallery.
Monster Box, where I spent most of the afternoon stumbling over French phrases and handing out candy.

Some Scaddie Costumes

Anna
Brandon (He was a gnome, though several French children thought he was "Papá Noel.")
Betsy
Myra
Eric
Victoria
Emory and Ashley
le me, without my shirt tucked in :/
Colleen
Jon and Marissa
Tom Fischer, our photography professor. He's dressed as a "little rascal." Notice the handmade, giant slingshot there in his back pocket.
Tina
Malee
Taylor
Jessica
David
Kait
Kat
Ashley
Alyse
Tina
Clearly this is not a SCAD student, but look how cute he is!
Karen
Maddie
Edie
Mary
Nicole and Ben
Courtney

Above photos by Maddie, Malee and mostly Alyse (Alyse's photography)