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AIFS

Europe08: An ode to the Barcelona transportation system

13 July 2008

"Well I've never been to Spain, but I kind of like the music…"
There. I've said it. Gotten it out of my system. (For those who don't recognize the quote or cultural reference, it's the lyrics from a song covered by the band Three Dog Night in the 1970s.)
Today I arrived in Barcelona. The airport terminal, [...]

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Europe08: In which Gordon Ramsay enters my life in tangible form

12 July 2008

Image via Wikipedia
I am a huge fan of Scottish chef Gordon Ramsay and any of his televisions shows. I have a friend who calls them the "Morse Code Shows" because BBC America "bleeps" just about every other?..-. .-. .. -.-. -.- .. -. –.?word out of Ramsay's mouth.
What do I like about Ramsay?

He has an [...]

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Europe08: What one semester of high school French will get you in Paris

9 July 2008

When I was about 12 years old and starting 7th grade, I signed up to begin to study a foreign language — Beginning French. Or so I thought.
Due to a registration error, the school also signed me up for Beginning Latin class. So for my first semester, I was studying foreign language for the first [...]

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Europe08: Watching television and finding BBC's "Tribal Wives"

9 July 2008

At home in the States, I often watch TV channels such as BBC America that help to give me different perspective on news and culture outside my own country. So when I get the opportunity to be abroad, I really enjoying watching television in the countries that I'm visiting to help give me insights into [...]

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Europe08: How to ruin your tastebuds by going abroad (French version)

7 July 2008

Food, glorious food! Every culture, every town, every household has its own specialities that are not to be missed. How we experience and learn to enjoy what we eat while we're abroad can ruin our tastebuds forever.
And I mean that in a positive way. That is, you can ruin your tastebuds by educating your palate.
Every [...]

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Europe08: The desire for consistency — or why people want a Coke

6 July 2008

Paris has been quieter than I expected. Perhaps everyone is off to the country in much the same way that Minnesotans headed in droves for their cabins in the Northwoods over the 4th of July.
Yesterday evening, my stomach was talking to me.?I found a little brasserie near my hotel to eat dinner. Just a place [...]

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Europe08: Language and religion – Respectful bridges

5 July 2008

My hotel is not far from the location of both the Bastille and the Seine River. So this afternoon, I went out to experience a Saturday afternoon walking through parts of Paris.
I walked along the Seine, the river that basically defines Paris, towards??le de la Cit?, an?island?where the city began in the Middle Ages. The [...]

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Europe08: Arriving in Paris – A multi-cultural experience

5 July 2008

Paris greeted me with green fields appearing out of the drizzly yet vaguely romantic weather upon arrival at CDG airport this morning. And immediately, I was drawn into the cross-cultural experience that typifies landing at an international airport.

The French airline flight attendant who assured me that he doesn't eat airline food, so he couldn't make [...]

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