Archive for November, 2007
The rise of study abroad programs
In what can only be a good sign for the future of education in this country, recent years have seen a significant increase in the number of American university students who participate in a study abroad program. According to an article in the International Herald Tribune: There is a consensus today, much like the one about science [...]
Dreams and culture
Are the nighttime dreams that we have influenced by the culture in which we live? That seems to be the intriguing suggestion in this recent article about dreams. Nightmare content also shifts over time and across cultures. A young man in 21st-century America might not mind the occasional bawdy dream, but for St. Augustine, the fourth-century [...]
Female leaders for South America
Now that Argentina has followed Chile in electing a woman president, some observers are wondering if this portends a new era of female political power in South America. Here in the land of machismo, where leaders were long supposed to conform to the standard of the strong-armed military man in epaulettes, a rising wave of [...]
Angkor Wat in the rain
The temples of Angkor in northern Cambodia, and particularly Angkor Wat, are one of the more spectacular sights in the world. Stephen Brookes and his wife recently visited the temples, but they bucked conventional wisdom by journeying to Cambodia in the middle of the monsoon season. Brookes wrote about the experience for the Washington Post. We’d [...]
Brunch goes Korean
There was a fun article a few days ago in the NY Times about how the American tradition of brunch has made its way to South Korea, menu items and all. When she returned to Seoul in 2000 after 10 years in New York City, Park Su-ji introduced her fellow South Koreans to an exotic [...]
Two Laps Around the World
2007 has been a big year. I recently wrote about the birth of my first child. Now, I’m here with news about a different type of birth – that of my first book. Two Laps Around the World: Tales and Insights from a Life Sabbatical is now on the market. The book is about the experiences that [...]
A risk-taking university for Saudi Arabia
There is an interesting educational effort underway in Saudi Arabia, where King Abdullah is putting his monarchy’s money and influence behind a new university that could change the way students learn in that famously conservative society. The International Herald Tribune reports: On a marshy peninsula 50 miles from this Red Sea port, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia [...]
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Bob Riel is a writer and a traveler. Go here to read more about Bob, his work and the Travels in the Riel World blog.
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My travel memoir - Two Laps Around the World: Tales and Insights from a Life Sabbatical - is about two round-the-world journeys with my wife.
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