Journal de Provence vol. 1

Bonjour. I will be using this space to share my thoughts and experiences in the coming weeks-recently I decided to accompany some of my good friends and classmates to a 3 week study abroad excursion based out of a small medieval village in the south of France known as Lacoste, most well-known as the residency of the infamous Marquis de Sade.

I have been here for about a week and covered a lot of ground already, with a still-packed itinerary in the coming days. This is not my first time travelling outside my home country of the USA, but it is my first time in Europe, and prior to this, I had very little knowledge of French language, culture, traditions, and history.

Once my classmates and professor had arrived, we split off and began settling into our dorms. All of the guys and I are housed in a building known as Maison Brun, a lovely medieval house repurposed into a dormitory. The 2-story house has a great view of the village's soccer field with the majestic Luberon mountain range looming over, other hamlets such as Bonnieux twinkling along it's many ridges in the distance. Tate, Kele, Liam, Joe, Ricardo, Jeremy, Seth and I have been making great use of the two terraces in the house, gathering here often with our other classmates-there are 14 of us in total.

What a whirlwind it has been. We started on a dreary and drizzly morning touring Lacoste and navigating it's mazelike cobblestone paths up to the Chateau, a castle inhabited by de Sade himself while hoping to evade Parisian authorities, followed by a steep descent through vineyards, cherry and olive orchards into Maison Basse, a complex of buildings repurposed into student facilities nestled into a picturesque valley. Many nooks in between house quaint vignettes and quiet details that allude to the centuries these structures have weathered.

I am taken by the sheer beauty of all of the places we have visited and the deep history they hold, nothing like my hometown in Kentucky or even the historic city of Savannah where I've been living the past few years. Seeing bustling streets and city centers thousands of years old enveloped by breathtaking rivers, valleys, mountains, and pastoral farmland often blanketed in dramatic fog and rare peeks of warm sunlight evokes deep and indescribable emotion.

And the bread! The buttery and flakey croissants and crunchy and soft baguettes accompanying each meal- je l'aime.

I will start by sharing some work made here in Lacoste and will hopefully create posts chronicling each of our outings as a class as long as I can find a spare moment, most of them so far are spent with great company at Café de Sade, the only independently owned restaurant in the village (and the only bar).

Stay tuned-

Merci beaucoup et a bientôt,

Jacob