Paris   1930

When I had finished [my mission] I still had a little money left and with that together with some more that mother sent me, I decided to see as much of Europe as I could before returning home. I tried to get Rulon Christensen to go with me but he had plans to get home as soon as possible. So I set out alone. I traveled first to Monte Carlo where I stood by while an English lady lost 10,000 pounds, in about a half-hour. From there I went to Nice and to Cannes and on down the Cote D'Asure into Italy. I visited Milan, Venice, Florence, and Rome. I saw every art galery and museum in Milan, Venice, and Florence and then went on to Rome where I spent about a week. In Venice, I purchased a Venitian shawl to take home to Dorothy. When I left home the girls were wearing spanish or venitian shawls to dances and every missionary that went home took either his mother or his girl friend a shawl.

I bought what I thought was a very beautiful shawl and paid quite a price for it. In making the purchase I talked French, as I did in the hotels, restaurants, etc. The Italian people have the idea that every American is wealthy and make their charges accordingly.

I stayed in Rome about a week and visited all of the tourist attractions. I went through the Vatican, saw all of the Roman ruins, visited the catacombs, St Peters and all of the other churches and most of the museums in Rome. By the time I left I had just about my fill or art galeries and museums.

(MISSIONARY JOURNAL OF JOHN GRIFFIN - page 50)

I signed up for a course in "La Civilization Francaise" To get your diploma in the course you had to successfully complete four subjects. I had heard from some of the students attending the University that the courses were very stiff and the mortality high, so I figured that if I signed up for six subjects then I would have a margin of two and still get my diploma. This was a mistake. Schools in France are strictly for education. As far as I know they have no extra-curricular activities at all. It is all work and no play. The six courses I signed up for were French Philosophy, Ancient and Contemporary French History, Political Science, French. Literature, and Composition. In the French Composition class we had to ' hand in a theme every week and had term papers in several other classes. Needless to say I worked hard at my studies from early in the morning until late at night every day including Saturday. Sunday we went to Church and relaxed.

Our teachers were the very best. We had Professor Geinneberg who was the dean of the School of History at the University of Paris, as our teacher in Ancient French History. He was very interesting and one of the best teachers I have ever had. We also had the dean of the School of Education who taught us French Philosophy.

The teacher I enjoyed best of all though was the one we had in Political Science. He used to lecture while pacing up and down in front of the class. He would get so carried away with his subject that at times I am sure that he did not remember where he was. My hardest course was in French Composition. I use to really slave over those themes, and it was not until the end of the semester that I received high grades in them.

(PARIS JOURNAL OF JOHN GRIFFIN - page 1)

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