February 14, 2013 It’s Valentine’s Day today, and though I’m no fan of the over the top commercialization of love, I’m still a romantic at heart. I couldn’t let this day go by without delving a little deeper into its history and origins and finding out how the rest of the world celebrates. It is […]
history
Sounds Like…Geisha!
January 31, 2013 I grew up in Los Angeles, where the oldest standing building, the Sanchez Adobe, reportedly dates back to the early 1790’s. Therefore I am astonished on a daily basis, by the structures I see here in Bremen, Germany. Some of the oldest date back to the 11th century—really. Their Gothic and Renaissance […]
20 lessons to learn from Finland
January 10, 2013 Finland’s education reforms which were implemented 40 years ago have helped place its school system at the top in all the global rankings for education systems. Despite the differences between Finland and the U.S., it continues to surpass other countries with similar size and demography. Here is a list of 20 facts […]
20 facts about Burkina Faso
January 03, 2013 Jambo! That’s hello in the Mòoré dialect. We here at ACEI wish you a very Happy New Year and hope that you had a nice holiday break. We’d like to start 2013 with a blog focusing on the landlocked West African nation of Burkina Faso. We have to give thanks to our […]
George Whitman, Shakespeare & Co., and what I learned from living in Paris
December 29, 2011 George Whitman died recently at the ripe old age of 98. He took over the famous Left Bank bookstore, Shakespeare & Co., after the original owner, Sylvia Beach, left it at the onset of World War II. She ran it as a publishing company that famously published James Joyce’s revolutionary novel […]