Following the Equator

Group Leader Spotlight: Jeremy George

A few years ago, Jeremy George, a high school history teacher from Springfield, Missouri, had never traveled abroad. Then he found EF.

Since taking his first group abroad, Jeremy has traveled everywhere from Austria to Australia with EF Educational Tours. Next year, he will travel on tours to Amsterdam and Paris and France and Spain, and he is already planning a tour to England, Ireland and Wales in 2010.

Jeremy—pictured above with students in Australia (he's in the black-and-blue jacket to the right of the guy in the cool hat)—talked with us about the "irreplaceable experience" of travel, establishing a reputation for taking students on tour and his own dream tour of Italy:

Friday Fun Fact: Phoenix Park

Phoenix Park in Dublin is so expansive that it plays host to auto races, concerts and a herd of deer.

At 1,760 acres, Phoenix Park is the largest enclosed public park in Europe. Auto races in the park date back to 1903 and have been held regularly since 1950. Musical artists such as U2, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Kanye West have played in the park. And wild Fallow Deer have made their home in the park since the 17th century.

The park, which has been open to the people since 1745, also includes Áras an Uachtaráin—the official residence of the Irish president—and Deerfield—the official residence of the U.S. ambassador to Ireland.

Photo: infomatique via Flickr (CC license)

Freaky Fun Fact: Jack of the Lantern

There's an old Irish legend about a thief who avoids condemnation in hell by outwitting the devil. But being a thief, Jack wasn't heaven-bound either. So Jack wanders earth eternally with a lantern carved out of a turnip (an old Irish tradition) and lit with a single burning ember from hell. 

He was thus "Jack of the Lantern," and since at least 1837, we have the term "Jack-o'-lantern."

Happy Halloween!

Photo: sth via Flickr (CC license)

Literary London

Where are the best literary destinations in the world? You'll find them in Great Britain, at least according to one list.

World Hum tipped us off to a list of the world's best literary destinations, according to editors at the travel website TripAdvisor.

London—home to Dickens, Chaucer and Keats—edged out Shakespeare's Stratford for the top spot. Edinburgh, Scotland—home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and J.K. Rowling—placed third.

Three U.S. cities made the list: New York, Concord (Massachusetts) and San Francisco.

Friday Fun Fact: Neutral countries

Photo: ianlord via Flickr

Most people know that Switzerland is a neutral country, but may not realize that the Swiss are not alone in their neutrality. There are a total of eight neutral countries: Austria, Costa Rica, Finland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkmenistan.

Broadly, neutrality means not taking sides in armed conflict between warring countries, but it has a range of real-world manifestations: For instance, Switzerland and Sweden are famous for their large armies (and those armies, in turn, are famous for pocketknives and bicycles, respectively), while other countries keep very small fighting forces. Likewise, Ireland allows foreign military forces inside its borders—specifically, military aircraft can land at Shannon Airport—while other neutral countries don't.

Neutral countries in Europe (Austria, Sweden, Ireland and Finland, but not Switzerland) also find themselves in the conundrum of belonging to—and being bound by the policies of—the European Union, which is not neutral. 

Memories to last a lifetime

An educational tour leaves all kinds of lasting impressions. That was especially true for a  group of students from St. Joseph High School in Ironton, Ohio, who recently traveled with EF Educational Tours.

The Ironton Tribune last month wrote about the group's nine-day trip to Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland, asking them everything from their favorite place to visit, to their favorite food and their favorite transportation, to the differences in cultures.

Ich bin ein ... Amerikaner

The United States Census Bureau includes a section on the census that asks Americans to state their ancestry. In the 2000 census, 80 percent of respondents complied, dutifully stating their origins. The results are interesting and possibly unexpected.

The most commonly claimed ancestry in the United States is … German. Forty-two million Americans (or 15 percent) indicated that their roots were either German or part-German. The runner-up ancestry was Irish, with 11 percent. Third was African-American, at 9 percent (24.9 million people), which just barely edged out English, also 9 percent (24.5 million). Rounding out the top five was Mexican, at 7 percent.

Friday Fun Fact: St. Patrick's Day

Although it's now customary to wear green on St. Patrick's Day, the color used to be considered unlucky in Ireland. According to Irish Culture and Customs, Irish folklore holds that green was the favorite color of the Good People (the proper name for fairies), who were likely to steal people (especially children) who wore too much green.

Blue originally was the traditional color of St. Patrick's Day—the feast day of Ireland's patron saint—until the 19th century, when green became Ireland's national color. Today, in Ireland, people traditionally wear a sprig of shamrocks on their jackets or caps.