Pop Quiz #6, Answers

Here are the answers to yesterday's pop quiz. 

Question:  Can you identify the Paris building pictured below?

Answer:  The building pictured below is the original Sorbonne (Universite de Paris I) in  the Latin Quarter of Paris, as renovated in the late 1800s.  The Latin Quarter is so named because it is the historic academic area of Paris where the professors and students spoke Latin together.

Question:  Why is Marie-Chantal so delighted to be standing in front of the building?

Answer:  Marie-Chantal is delighted to be standing in front of the Sorbonne because it brings back fond memories of her Junior Year Abroad in Paris many, many years ago.  She recognized the building because she took a class in 18th Century French Literature there.  Although the Sorbonne's large entrances are now guarded and closed to visitors, Marie-Chantal recalled how the interior looked.  "You go in and there's a huge staircase.  You go up to the top and there's a mural on the wall.  On the right, a door leads into a large, old amphitheater-style classroom with wooden desks."  When she described it this way to our young tour guide, he replied with great enthusiasm.  "Yes, that's exactly how it is!  Even today!  And since you took a literature course, it had to be in this building because this is the place where literature is taught."

Question:  Why is Marie-Chantal Susan rubbing the foot of the statue pictured below?

Answer:  Marie-Chantal is rubbing the foot of Michel de Montaigne for good luck.   Montaigne is considered to be the father of essay-writing.  (And yes, Susan studied his essays in French when she was in college.)  Generations of university students have rubbed this statue's foot before taking their essay exams.  The bronze foot shines brightly from being rubbed so intently by so many good-luck-seekers over the decades.  (Susan wishes she had known about it when she was a student here ...)

Thanks for taking the pop quiz.  We hope you scored well.