Word: frenchness
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...studied Spanish, French, and German. He played soccer and tennis, and he swam. During his year off, he studied to become a pastry chef while working at the local Whole Foods...
Although France relinquished the rotating presidency of the European Union with the New Year, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is showing no signs of surrendering diplomatic center stage. As Israel's offensive on Gaza continues, Sarkozy announced on Thursday that he will visit both Israel and the Palestinian capital of Ramallah on Jan. 5 in an effort to broker a halt to the violence. So far, there are few indications that Sarkozy's signature take-charge moves will produce a quick result. But Sarkozy will be hoping that his controversial resumption of relations with Syria last year will translate into diplomatic...
...addition to their more admirable accomplishments, the French are generally considered the world champions of public protesting. Whether it's transport workers striking against tightened pension regimes, fishermen outraged by high operating costs, students battling education reform or even lawyers picketing over court closures, it seems scarcely a week goes by without some section of France's population taking to the streets. Given that, it should come as little surprise that one boisterous French group is planning a protest rally on the evening of Dec. 31 - and demanding that the world refuse to shed 2008 to make...
...making a mockery of two particularly French traits: a penchant for protesting whatever navel special-interest groups happen to be gazing into, and the glorification of the chic, well-heeled soirée as an art form," says Marie-Gabriel, who in 2005 co-founded the Opposition Front to the New Year: National Organization Committee, devising the group's name exclusively so that its French acronym, Fonacon, would be homonymous with the phrase "telephone an a__hole." (Its year-end protest slogans are equally risible, including last year's motto, "It Was Better Right Now.") Fonacon and its futile protest...
...Marie-Gabriel says he saw similar potential in mocking the sparkling, de rigueur New Year's Eve festivities that many French admit to hating. "It started with me and another guy realizing most New Year's Eves in France are just really boring evenings people are forced into with others they neither know nor like," he recalls. "So we started holding anti-New Year protest parties for people wanting an alternative - and an excuse to demonstrate! Sure, 98% of France thinks we're losers, but the 2% who get it make it worthwhile...