Caroline's Fall Break Trip to Greece (Athens, Santorini) and Italy (Rome, Venice, and Vatican City)

I like traveling alone but at the same time making new friends. I visited important tourist attractions in Greece and Italy and would like to discuss some interesting things there.
Greece has always been my dreamland. In Agora in Athens, where philosophers discussed democracy, I encountered four Greeks, who in sequence asked me questions about progress, Dorian Gray, time, etc.,  modeling scenes from Socrates' time! 
I made a good friend who also studied in France. Together we visited Melissinos Arts and the poet sandal maker, who handcrafts shoes for priestesses, stars, and the public. When customers come in, the shoe makers measure the customers' feet sizes and design shoes only for the buyers! We took a photo with the owner of this store, who studied at Parsons, the New School for Design in NYC.
I loved the colors of blue and white in Santorini: blue ocean, white houses, blue sky, white dresses in the wind. 
I visited the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, St. Angelo Castel, and the Spanish Steps in Rome. In Vatican City, St. Peter's basilica impressed me as I could listen to the religious music and enjoy the peaceful atmosphere in the cathedral. 
When I was in Venice, I saw children playing trick and treat for Halloween! How international was this American holiday! Under the blue sky, in the music played by a classical music orchestra, a couple danced a waltz. I was moved by their romance and love of music and dance.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kianna's and Tessla's Journey to Spain

Tessla and I went to Spain for our fall break, and we decided to go to Barcelona and Madrid. We went to Barcelona first and the first thing we did was go to the Sagrada Familia. Despite the fact that it has been under construction for over 10 years, it still looks beautiful.

After the Sagrada Familia, we walked down to the Arc del Triomf, which was built to resemble the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. It even had a park that you could walk down just like the Champs-Elysées.

 

         Here I am blowing bubbles in the Park de Sant Joan!

     

The day ended with a visit to the Monjuntic Fountain. It is a must see if you plan to go to Barcelona, and it was my favorite part of Barcelona.  

On our trip to Barcelona, we happened to run into these lovely F&M ladies at Park Guell! What were the odds? And it was such a nice day outside!  Check out the background.

               We could not go to Spain without showing our love to our S.I.S.T.E.R.S back at home!

The sunset was so nice, and there was a view of Barcelona from Park Guell.

To end another good day in Barcelona, we went to the Torre Agbar. I also got to show off some of my artist moves. 

Our journey to Barcelona ended on my birthday with a trip to the aquarium. 

I found Nemo and Dory. "Fish are friends, not food!"

We had a nice snack on the dock overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

In Madrid we went on a free walking tour, and got to stand in the center of Spain, since Madrid is the capital and in the middle of Spain. We were also told that it was good luck to stand on the 0 km, because standing on it means you will come back to Madrid some day.

This is the famous strawberry tree, but strawberries do not grow on trees. The fruit they call a strawberry is really called "Arbutus unedo". I got to try one and it was ripe. It had the texture of a peach, but had a lot of seeds like a raspberry or pomegranate. It only grows in the Mediterranean area and Ireland.

This work of art is located on the side of a hotel.  It is made up of over 4,200 CDs.

We also got the chance to go into the Royal Palace of Madrid.  It has 3,418 rooms, but we only got to see 32 of them. They claim it's the largest palace in Europe.

We also spent a day at a modern art museum, where there was an exhibit on World War II.

We went to the Egyptian Temples in Madrid.

We watched street performers roller skating in the Puerta del Sol, the main plaza in Madrid. One of the performers had an Franklin & Marshall shirt on, so I needed to get a picture with her!

Coca-Colonization?

As we enter the second half of our F&M in Paris program, we begin our study of the second half of the twentieth century and early twenty-first century.  This week we are discussing the Fourth Republic and its transition to the Fifth Republic with the return of Charles de Gaulle to power.  For our examination of early postwar Franco-American relations, we read Richard Kuisel's account of the French resistance to Coca-Cola in the late 1940s and early 1950s.  Although other Europeans alleged Coke was dangerous and some countries temporarily banned it, l'affaire de Coca-Cola was most prolonged in France, where governmental opposition to Coke, grounded in fears of American political, economic, and cultural dominance, led the American Ambassador to France to protest to Prime Minister Georges Bidault.  Ultimately, the path was cleared for the sale of le Coca in France, where it was (and still is) advertised widely, even if French consumption lagged behind that of other Europeans well into the 1980s.

Coca-Cola Advertisements in 1950s France

As Kianna discovered during her Fall Break travels in Spain, Coke is still the target of European boycotts!

2014 Nobel Prize in Literature

As our fall break ends, we look forward to gathering again as a full group and exchanging tales and pictures of travel and adventure.  We'll also share recommendations for pleasure reading based on the books that accompanied us on our travels.  The best-selling book in France this week comes from Patrick Modiano, winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature.  Modiano, whose oeuvre is not that well known in the English-speaking world, was saluted by the Nobel Prize committee "for the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation."  Modiano's work has special resonance for us, as we spent several weeks studying the German occupation of France and Vichy collaboration during the Second World War. Modiano's father's history, as recounted in Clémence Boulouque's article below, is understandably controversial.  Interestingly, it resonates with Annette Muller's father's dealings with Israëlovitch, as documented in our reading by Richard D.E. Burton ("Operation Spring Breeze: Rue des Rosiers, Vel' d'Hiv', Drancy (July-August 1942)," in Blood in the City: Violence and Revelation in Paris, 1789-1945).  

Patrick Modiano, winner of 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature

Clémence Boulouque, "Nobel Prize Winner Patrick Modiano Summons the Shadow-World of Postwar French Jewry," at http://tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/186307/modiano-nobel.