Foreign Office Travel

Italian is one of the most widespread languages in the world, and speaking it can give you a tremendous sense of accomplishment, an edge in your career, and even a stronger bond with your ancestors if you are of Italian descent. There are many ways you can learn Italian, including textbooks, tapes, CDs, software, group classes or private lessons, but there are also ways you can begin or continue your studies of the Italian language entirely for FREE!

1. Online: Online, you can join an active community of people who are learning the Italian language just like you. One site is Impariamo - http://www.impariamo.com - which in Italian means “let’s learn”. Impariamo is a forum where you can meet people from around the world who are learning Italian and share tips to improve your Italian language skills. It is also a great starting point for finding new tools that will help you develop your Italian skills - all for FREE! Impariamo also has a feature called Quiz of the Week, where you can have a new Italian language quiz delivered to your e-mail in-box each and every week. In addition to Impariamo, you can also find other online communities at Yahoo! Groups - http://groups.yahoo.com - or at MSN Groups - http://groups.msn.com. Simply type in “learn Italian” in the search box on either of these sites and you will find many groups that may appeal to you to join - again, for FREE!

2. Offline: Offline, you can join a group in your geographic area whose members share your interest in learning the Italian language through a free online service called Meetup - http://italian.meetup.com. Meetup helps people find others who share similar interests, and form lasting, local community groups that regularly meet face-to-face. All ages and levels of proficiency are welcome to these group meetings! You can sign up to participate in any one of nearly 300 Italian language Meetup groups. Practicing your Italian among friends will help you improve your language skills significantly.

Learning Italian allows you to immerse yourself in a rich and diverse culture, and this can open entirely new avenues of self-exploration and personal growth. Whether you want to the Italian language for personal or professional reasons, you can make new friends, have new experiences, and open yourself to a new and beautiful culture. Buon divertimento!

Mindy Prian is the Site Administrator of http://www.impariamo.com, a warm, welcoming community of people from all over the world who interact with one another to improve their Italian language skills.

Tags: europe, international, italian, italy, language, learn italian, speak italian, study abroad, traveleurope, international, italian, italy, language, learn italian, speak italian, study abroad, travel

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The history of St. Patrick’s Day, which started out as a Holy Day for the Irish Catholics in the 10th or 11th century, goes all the way back to the late 3rd century when a small boy was born in Roman England by the name of Maewyn.

Maewyn and his family lived in a small town where his father was a soldier in the army, and a member of the town government. Some accounts say that Maewyn was an agnostic and some say that his family was Christian, but weren’t very strong in their faith. Either way, it doesn’t really matter because it was what happened later in his life that gained him his notoriety.

When Maewyn was only 16, there was a raid on his village from Ireland, in the Irish Sea. They captured Maewyn and many of the villagers, and took them back to Ireland as servants and slaves for the local Irish.

It was here in captivity that it is reported that Maewyn accepted God, and began to talk to him. In fact, legend has it that he often spoke to God in prayer up to one hundred times a day. And Maewyn was under the authority of a Celtic family, so he learned the Celtic language and how to speak it fluently. Six years later, when he was 22, Maewyn escaped from his servitude, and ran to France. There he joined a monastery and under the direction of the Bishop of France, he studied the Bible. It was this Bishop who gave him the name Patrick. Legend has it that while Patrick was here in the monastery, he heard angels calling him back to Ireland.

After spending 12 years in the study of theology and Catholic Laws, he departed and went to Ireland to preach to a heathen nation. He spent 30 years in evangelistic and missionary work across the land. He won many converts over, healed people, and it was even said that he raised some people from the dead. Everywhere he went he announced God, and he built many schools and churches to help promote the Catholic religion. Legend has it that angels followed him everywhere, and even told him where and how to go.

After 30 years of missionary work, he died on March 17th. This is the day that has gone down in history as St. Patrick’s Day, for the patron saint of Ireland.

St. Patrick’s Day today has grown into much more than just a Holy Day for Catholics. Strict Catholics around the world though do remember St. Patrick, usually in an early Mass on March 17th. But everyone joins in as a celebration of St. Patrick’s Day and becomes Irish for the day. It has now become a celebration of spring with parades special Irish meals, green tinted drinks and beer, etc. “The wearing of the green” and the Leprechaun have come about over the years to be Good Luck and prosperity to all and everything green typically represents the turning to spring - green is the color of life.

So, with one day to be Irish, take advantage, and have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day.

Niall Cinneide loves to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. He publishes views, information and St Patricks Day News at St Patricks Information.

This article may be reprinted in full so long as the resource box and the live links are included intact. All rights reserved. Copyright http://www.St-Patricks.info

Tags: belfast, dublin, holidays, ireland, st patricks day, st pats, travelbelfast, dublin, holidays, ireland, st patricks day, st pats, travel

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A good credit reward card can contribute to your retirement account, offer gas rebates, score theme-park or vacation tickets or take thousands off the
price of your next auto purchase. Rewards at hotels, airlines, and retailers bring more to the possibilities but, adds to the confusion. Here are some tips to find the best reward programs for you to increase your buying power.

Who should apply for reward cards?

It used to be that if you pay off your balance each month, reward cards
are definitely worth considering. But now, many have come out with very
competitive interest rates below 10 percent, so if your credit is good
enough to qualify, you need not necessarily discount a rewards card, unless
it hinders you from paying down your balance in any way.

Invest some time to maximize payoff

Anyone who wants to get the best deal must patiently compare offers,
then manage them consistently afterwards. Scrutinize spending to give maximum
rebate value for the dollar.

Calculate your spending to make the rewards worthwhile

If you charge $3,000 a year on a card that costs $45 annually, for
example, it will take over 6 years to earn a free airline ticket with most
cards. In that time, you will have paid $270 in fees — enough to buy a
discounted air ticket on your own.

Flyer miles

Frequent-flier miles were the first comers of the rebate credit
cards. They typically value at 1% to 2% rebate or one mile per dollar spent,
so choose the ones that offer the highest return.

Some airline cards have a “use it or lose it” policy, as do many travel or hotel rewards. If it will take you a long time
to earn your reward, you will want to make sure it will be there for you.
American Express, for example, has programs that never expire and provides
miles that, can be used on a number of different airlines. If you travel
different airlines but need a Visa or MasterCard (accepted by more merchants),
you can choose a bank-issued “travel awards” card.

About auto rewards

Car rewards tend to be the most generous in terms of what percentage
rebate you earn but has its limitations. For example, if you earn 5% toward
the purchase of a vehicle, but only on select vehicles. You can always exchange to another card rebate program after you have reached
the maximum reward to keep the discounts and continue to charge more.

Gas rewards

With ever increasing gas prices, you can augment earnings by also applying
for gas reward cards. Cardholders can earn higher rates on all gasoline
purchases.

Entertain yourself

Many theme-parks and attractions; such as, Disney and Universal, have
credit cards that give you points toward tickets, movies and other great
stuff.

Get cold hard cash

The easiest way to accumulate true savings is by taking advantage of
no-fee cash-back cards. To get the most benefit, choose a card that gives
you at least a full 1% back on all purchases. Also choose a card that comes
with retail card benefits where rates increase 5% to 10% when spending
at participating merchants and retailers.

For a complete comparison list of the tremendous amount incentive
reward card offers to choose from, visit SpyFind’s
Credit Rewards Center to find the ones right for you.

James Banks serves as valuable team contributor to the SpyFind Information Network. Areas of expertise include both credit and financial advice. To view more related material, vist SpyFind’s Credit Center,
http://www.spyfind.com/credit.html

Tags: american express reward, best Credit Card Rewards Programs, earn rewards, reward, rewards, travel rewardsamerican express reward, best Credit Card Rewards Programs, earn rewards, reward, rewards, travel rewards

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