12 November, 2008
Oops! I saved this as a draft the first time! Thanks for pointing that out Dad!This entry regards the Rotary Seminar in Paris for "Inbound Scholars" October 9-12, 2008. Please check out the photobucket album posted earlier for photos!
12 October, 2008
I just got back from the Inbound Seminar held by Rotary International in Paris for all the scholars in France, Belgium, and Luxembourg which was a great time! I enjoyed meeting new friends and seeing some old ones two- two of the girls that I met at the outbound seminar in Austin last January, Kadyne and Heather, as well as another Japanese friend that I met in Brussels, Hajime, were there which was a nice surprise! The Rotarians of the two districts that encircle Paris were wonderful and treated us to a great seminar on how to better adapt to French (or for me, Luxembourgish) culture as and reminded us of our responsibilities as Scholars. We stayed at a youth hostel in the 5th arrondissement of Paris (otherwise known as the Latin quarter) and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to see a few of the less touristy areas of the city during my "hike" of sorts from the Gare de l'Est across the Seine, past the Centre Pompidou and the Notre Dame Cathedral, to our hostel. The beautiful thing about the TGV is that you can get to Paris from Luxembourg in two hours, which put me in Paris early enough to explore a little before check-in time at the hostel. We were asked to wear "traditional clothing" from our home country if possible to the introductory dinner the first night, so I took advantage of my cowboy boots and hat to the amusement of many. We all introduced ourselves on mic to the Parisian Rotarians who were kind enough to host us and the Japanese Scholars shared their talent in singing a famous folk song from Japan, Sakura. You can listen to the instrumental version here: http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=keF-KYKKYeI&feature=related
It was remarkable how many Scholars from this area are either Japanese or American- I'm not really sure how to explain this phenomenon, except that many of the Scholars from Japan are in Masters programs in the Arts, for which France is well known. With us were also a surgeon from India, Ping-Pong from Taiwan, and Francesca from Italy, which added a little diversity to the dynamic! I was especially excited to talk with Francesca who is working on here Masters on Developmental studies for French-speaking Africa and also was kind enough to give me a recipe for authentic Italian pasta sauce!
Saturday morning, we took a walking tour of the lesser-visited areas of Paris and competed in a scavenger hunt of sorts to discover more of the history and culture of Paris. During the tour, we discovered the Grandes Ecoles (the French analogue of Ivy League colleges), discussed the French Resistance during the German occupation during WWII, the best known "haute culture", and finished off with a typical picnic lunch of a "Paris-beurre" (baguette sandwich). My favorite part of the tour was learning that deer make a sound- the verb "brahmer" in French- maybe some of you out there who hunt can correct me, but up until now I thought deer were silent. We discussed how the existence of words like this reflect the values the people of the culture of the people who speak it. For instance, there is only one verb in Japanese for any sound that an animal can make- it would be like saying that a cat"meows", a dog "meows", a pig "meows"- there is no distinction at all between these sounds, which maybe reflects that animals are not as important to their culture. To better illustrate, the typical example is that the Eskimo language includes over 300 words for snow.
Other Saturday highlights were a boat tour on the Seine at sunset and a typical French dinner in a quaint restaurant that had been converted from a home. Sunday, we were invited individually to eat lunch at the home of a Rotarian, and I was grateful to have been invited to visit and dine with two very nice single Rotarians, Marie-Laure and Monsieur Largeaud.
During the weekend, I was especially happy to meet two Rotaract members from the Paris district who offered to get me in touch with the Rotaract in Luxembourg, which I had not heard of up until that point since Rotaract clubs in Europe are not typically attached to universities, like I had expected. Now when I reflect, it shouldn't have been surprising since it fits in well with the very different university culture in Europe- nowhere here will you find the analogue of an A&M/UT rivalry, intercollegiate sports teams, or the social life that revolves around a U.S. university. There are university towns, but the university itself usually serves an almost purely academic function, which isn't always a bad thing. The University of Luxembourg is a slight exception to the rule despite it's young age thanks to M. Carbon, the cultural director of the university and also one of my host Rotarians from Rotary Club Kiem, as their are many extracurricular programs organized by the university. I'm investigating the possibility of starting a Rotaract club attached to the university with the help of my host club.
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