- published: 10 Jun 2013
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A souvenir (from French, for a remembrance or memory),memento, keepsake or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. The term souvenir brings to mind the mass-produced kitsch that is the main commodity of souvenir and gift shops in many tourist traps around the world. But a souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler. The object itself has no real significance other than the psychological connection the possessor has with the object as a symbol of past experience. Without the owner's input, the object's meaning is invisible and cannot be articulated.
The tourism industry designates tourism souvenirs as commemorative merchandise associated with a location, often including geographic information and usually produced in a manner that promotes souvenir collecting. Throughout the world, souvenir trade is an important part of the tourism industry serving a dual role, first to help improve the local economy, and second to allow visitors to take with them a memento of their visit, ultimately to encourage an opportunity for a return visit, or to promote the locale to other tourists as a form of word-of-mouth marketing. Perhaps the most collected souvenirs by tourists are photographs as a medium to document specific events and places for future reference.
Nolwenn Leroy, (born 28 September 1982 in Saint-Renan, Finistère, Brittany), is a French singer and songwriter, discovered by the French television reality show Star Academy. She is best known for her two Number One singles "Cassé" and "Nolwenn Ohwo!".
Leroy's parents left Saint-Renan, with her, when she was four years old. After living in Paris, Lille, and Guingamp, her mother Murielle Leroy and her younger sister settled with Leroy's grandparents in Saint-Yorre. Her mother had been divorced from her father, professional footballer Jean-Luc Le Magueresse, in 1993.
She studied at the "Collège des Célestins" in Vichy. When Leroy was eleven, her music teacher noticed her musical talents and encouraged her to learn the violin. At the age of thirteen she won "Les écoles du désert", a contest sponsored by the Cora supermarket chain, consequently travelling with a humanitarian mission from Gao to Timbuktu, Mali; she later claimed this had a profound influence on her.
In July 1998, she was awarded a scholarship by the Vichy Rotary Club to travel to Cincinnati, Ohio, as an exchange student. While there, she also attended the Performing Arts School. Returning to France, and speaking fluent English, she began classical singing classes at the Vichy music conservatory. From 2001 she studied law at the University of Clermont-Ferrand, for a potential alternative career to music.