(esp for business majors) Hi All, While waiting for dd to do her AP exam yesterday, I read this article on the bulletin board of the Neuchatel Junior College (a high school that serves mostly Canadians but some Americans for their 12th grade abroad, in Neuchatel, Switzerland). (I realize this school is for the really wealthy as I just looked at their tuition fees - gasp!! But the article is about college itself) The article (A Changed Focus for Study Abroad) discusses the importance of getting not just studying, but also internship/work experience, abroad, during college.... Admittedly, it is more important for some professions than others... Joan

(esp for business majors) Hi All - I thought this might interest some who are heading in a more international direction - to be thinking about this already - or even for high school possibly if you are 'very' wealthy. While waiting for dd to do her AP exam yesterday, I read this article on the bulletin board of the Neuchatel Junior College (a high school that serves mostly Canadians but some Americans for their 12th grade abroad, in Neuchatel, Switzerland). (I realize this school is for the really wealthy as I just looked at their tuition fees - gasp!! But the article is about college itself. And there are cheaper study high school abroad programs it seems - though don't have experience with them myself.) The article (A Changed Focus for Study Abroad)discusses the importance of getting not just studying, but also internship/work experience, abroad, during college.... Admittedly, it is more important for some professions than others... Joan

and other cultural differences that you notice in travels or living expatriatically (ok, that word is not in my dictionary. I invented it - I think - intending to mean 'as an expatriate':001_smile:).. It took me a long time to realize that calling my children loudly just isn't done here.... Now even my children will say sometimes - you're talking too loudly mom... And I notice foreigners because they call their children out loud. Somehow it seems like people know where their children are and their children know when they are supposed to come back without calling. There are also 'eye' signals...so that all is done without attracting any attention. Then cats - calling 'viens chat, chat, chat' (trying to call - here kitty, kitty) just doesn't work...I asked someone how they call a cat that is not theirs...First she looked at me funny as if it wasn't even done...then she could say - you say 'Minou'... So I'm wondering about other cultural experiences that have been a surprise to people - whether it is how people call their children or don't, call animals, or other things that took a long time to realize and thought it might lead to some interesting understandings.... Joan

It was thinking about Cleo's comments about joining a group (in the Calling cats and kids thread), and then how greetings are different over here and actually how different 'eye contact' is.... it seems like people talk a lot more with their eyes... but I'm still in the process of learning how to verbalize what it is really that I'm noticing and so thought if I put it out for discussion maybe people will have other observations that can help me understand... So here are some questions... When you are meeting a friend (of the same sex) - how much do you look in their eyes when saying hello? Do you try to see from their expression how they really are doing? I remember how shy I was at looking people deeply in the eyes the first years here - part of the whole 'kissing thing' discomfort, etc...but now I'm thinking there are other aspects that go beyond the kissing or hand-shaking.... And then I've noticed that some European young people will do which is what in our (American) culture might be called 'staring' completely openly but not in a bad way if you know what I mean. There is a kind of openness and freedom that I just don't remember in the US or maybe I've been away too long??? But it's also not really done by the young French so much either... This is communication that goes beyond language - and can cut across many cultures - but some cultures might misread the eye contact in other cultures if you know what I mean... Anyway - here's hoping that someone else has some observations! Joan

I'm interested in how people in different cultures/ countries greet and say goodbye and thought this would be the best place to ask this kind of thing... My interest was piqued on attending a family reunion while back in the US, which was pretty large, where there was not a systematic effort on the part of some of my nieces and nephews to greet everyone...I realized that I'd gotten habituated to life here where people either "kiss" (on the cheeks) or shake hands, and usually to everyone in the group. Even where my son is doing an internship (landscaping company), when an employee comes up to the group of guys standing there, he will greet and shake everyone's hand... Yet I myself slid into my old "American" (maybe this is a wrong assumption on my part as it really has been ages since I've lived in the US) habits when I attended another reunion a few days later... Most people were already there...if they were talking I didn't bother introducing myself (to some distant relatives I'd never met before) but afterwards I was kicking myself for such discourtesy. For years I found this "kissing" everyone when you arrive and there's a group of people sooooo difficult and overdone...but now I do appreciate this relationship building effort.. About goodbyes... I was talking to my father and his Spanish (second) wife and they said that Americans expect you to see yourself out of the house, whereas in Spain, you walk the person to the door and you spend an hour saying goodbye! Ok, we do walk people to the door here, but don't spend an hour... Anyway, I'm quite interested in these differences and want to know better what people do in different countries or cultures to help me be more aware...It took my dad's comment about seeing the guests out to see myself when I had just waved goodbye from the couch or something. It can be so hard to see one's own habits. Hopeful for a response, Joan

Which ten poems should every classicaly educated child have memorized?

I know I do. I was in chorus from 5th-12th grades and I still asked my dd's first piano teacher, "How many keys in an octave?" I also took Latin. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I was mortified. I should have known. I should have figured it out by the word "octave." But I didn't know and I didn't think about it before I asked. It is one of the more cringe-worthy moments in my life.