Well, true to form, time has sneaked up on me and I find myself having just finished my term here in Lacoste. Of course, I would have liked to have written more about everything. As it is, my few journal entries consist of me saying, “Wow, I really need to be better about journaling.” Gripping stuff, that.
Instead of trying to recap everything that I have seen and learned or trying to describe the places and people I’ve encountered, I will simply tell you about a few of my favorite parts of life here:
My favorite time of day: Meal time. The food we got was decent for cafeteria food, especially since there was bread and cheese at every meal, but it is not why I enjoyed this time so much. We had an hour for each meal and nothing else was scheduled during those times. When I’m in school, I generally eat while doing homework or rushing off to class, so it’s a treat to linger after a meal, sipping hot chocolate and chatting with friends. There may be a lot of butter in the croissants, but I’m convinced this is the healthiest way to eat.
My favorite part of being in France again: French! The pastries and the countryside are gorgeous, but being able to hear and speak French again is like being with an old friend. My grammar and vocabulary are much worse than when I lived in Nantes in 2006, but my experience learning Xhosa in South Africa has made me much bolder about speaking a foreign language. I grab at any opportunity to speak French despite the mistakes I frequently make.
My favorite local person: Giles, the chef at dinner. One of the most regular opportunities I had to speak French was with the chefs in the cafeteria. Giles, who has white hair, a red claymation face, a jovial grin and an occasional boozy odor, is incredibly friendly and genuinely wanted to make our evening meals enjoyable. One time, when I took my friend on an accidental four-hour hike to a town that was supposedly 45 minutes away, we got back after the dinner hour was over. Giles had pity on us and not only let us eat, but also brought out some ice creams for dessert!
My favorite flower: I have been partial to poppies for quite a while now, so I was glad that our time in Provence coincided with poppy season. I love how a flower that is so striking in color and elegant in shape grows so haphazardly across the landscape.
However, I must also mention the irises that began to bloom the last month of the term. When I was younger, I really didn’t like these flowers. I can’t say exactly why except that they made me rather nervous. My only guess is that there was a vague association with Ursula, the purple cephalopod-antagonist in Disney’s The Little Mermaid. The fact that they were popularized in art by Van Gogh -- a painter with one of the most anxious brush strokes I have seen -- probably didn’t help. For the first time, though, I have been noticing irises favorably. There is something graceful and yet slightly wild about them. They are bold in their color and yet also delicate in the way they catch the light.
My favorite field trip: While all of the places that we’ve gone have been gorgeous and interesting, I have to say the two that have left me most in awe were ones I went on in Paris. The first was to the Bibliotheque National, the national library of rare prints. I had another field trip that conflicted with this one, but I was told that this was an opportunity of a lifetime because most people aren’t allowed in and it was only through a connection someone somewhere had with someone else somewhere else. I now understand the buildup. We were ushered into a room that practically resonated with reverence and were shown a multitude of prints by many of our great heroes: Rembrandt, Hokusai, Picasso, Mary Cassatt, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Hiroshige, among others. We were allowed to flip through the books that housed the prints and we all left feeling as though we had been able to try on the Crown Jewels for a few hours.
The second was also with my printmaking class. We went to visit a couple who publish their own limited editions of artists’ books. The presentation itself wasn’t that stimulating, but at the end, the husband asked if we would like to meet a printmaker from the States who kept a studio nearby. The first thing I saw when we got in was a series of stones used for lithography which had images of Pinocchio on them.
Some of the stones Jim Dine is currently using for his ongoing Pinocchio series.
It turns out they were done by Jim Dine, a huge name in printmaking and in contemporary art in general. I’d seen a show of Dine’s Pinocchio prints when I was in a tiny town in France three years ago which I’ve been raving about ever since.
A print from a show I saw in Caen 3 years ago.
It turns out that this was the very studio where Dine comes to print for several months each year and that this printmaker had arranged the show I’d seen. At the risk of over-referencing Disney movies, it really is a small world, after all.
My favorite impressive story: About a month ago, the faculty and staff got together to have a barbecue on the side of the hill on a terrace overlooking the valley. Apparently, it was a pleasant enough evening and after good food and conversation everyone adjourned for the night. Three minutes later, the entire rock retaining wall which had stood for 700 years collapsed. All that could be seen protruding from the rubble was half a patio chair. The thought of all of our faculty and staff being at best simultaneously incapacitated prompted us all to think of what it would be like for 60 U.S. students to be in another country with absolutely no supervision or guidance. There was more than Lord of the Flies reference. In all seriousness, though, if each term is allotted one miracle, this was definitely it, and we were all struck with awe regarding our surroundings, both locational and human.
My favorite chore: Laundry. I’m rarely opposed to doing laundry, but in Lacoste, I looked forward to it each week. Though there are driers available, I always chose to hang it on the line outside my house because of the stunning view.
My favorite nook in Lacoste: This is a tie. I loved my tiny room. It was a great retreat spot and despite its size, I did lots of my work there.
However, I also loved the small patio in the library which overlooks the valley. The view stunned me throughout my time in Lacoste, perhaps because the rapidly advancing spring made it look a little different everyday.
My favorite new food: As you know, I have many opinions about dairy products and I have waxed eloquent about them on many occasions. Yogurt, however, tends to be the forgotten stepchild in my dairy menagerie. Not so here. My favorite new food was apple kiwi yogurt made with sheep milk. I understand this sounds revolting. It took me a few seconds after trying it to make sure I wasn’t revolted, but once I had decided that I liked it, there was no going back. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that it comes in smooth apple green ceramic pots that fit exactly in my hands.
My favorite new art technique: I will write more about my classes later, but one exciting development for me was discovering not only a method of fixing the mud paintings that I do so that they don’t smudge, but also of combining a mud painting with line work. With a bit of experimentation, I learned that if I covered the paintings with a thin layer of methyl cellulose, a mild adhesive printmakers use for some techniques, the mud would be much more permanently attached to the paper. Once this has dried, I transfer a printout of a line drawing on top of the mud with a certain kind of blender marker. I am really excited about the result.
So as you can see, this has been an exciting term for me with lots of great discoveries, chances to learn and things to see. More soon!
Have a good week,
Sarah/Mouse
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