It’s hard to believe that another week has passed in London. This week was packed with site visits, and while interesting and insightful, they were also pretty exhausting. However, at the end of the week we had our first free-weekend so it was nice to be able to relax and venture out into London on our own.
I am extremely extremely fortunate that I have the flat-mate that I do! We truly are birds of a feather and are constantly being surprised at the random things we have in common…we both love writing, history and old-fashioned movies. We like all of the same foods–even both have an allergy to peanuts and tree-nuts! We wandered into a record store the other day and realized that we both have record players, love the Eagles and have their album….As Erin said, we wouldn’t be able to have nearly as many amazing experiences without each other. For instance, on Sunday I wanted to go to the British Museum to see the Ancient Egypt exhibit, and she wanted to go to the Imperial War Museum. Though we could have split up and done our own thing, we went to both for each other and discovered we were fascinated by the other person’s museum of choice. It’s really really nice to have someone who loves to wander down random streets with you, sing along to 60’s music, who doesn’t get all irritated when things get confusing and we get lost, and notices/appreciates the same beautiful details in life that you do. Anyway, back to the beginning of my week…
We got back from Paris on Monday night and immediately began visiting PR firms/Ad agencies/news organizations the next day. We visited Sky News and Ketchum PR that day. Sky News was pertinent for me because it is a big broadcasting company here. They have this huge studio room there that is completely green, where they film their newscast. Everything on set is somehow digitally projected onto the green space–I don’t fully understand the technology of it, but it is an extremely resourceful way to produce a news show–no switching the set around, or changing the background–it is all done digitally!
Ketchum was a modern and interesting Public Relations firm. Although I’m not an ad major, and not planning on going into any of that, it is still all very insightful for me. Though this may not sound like much, visiting two different top-notch companies in one day can be a little draining, so it’s nice that at the end of the day we are set free for dinner. That night, Erin and I went to this place called La Bardigiana, right next to our metro stop. We have been there several times so far, and I think the waiters are beginning to recognize us. We both ordered salmon and wine. After dinner we walked across the street to a little coffee shop, got Americanos and split a belgian chocolate brownie. It was the perfect dinner and so nice to un-wind after a long day of using my brain a lot and wearing heels…
Throughout the course of the week we visited Bell Pottinger PR, the Guardian, CNN London, Bloomberg London and Al Jazeera English. I think that the most interesting visits were to Bloomberg London and Al Jazeera English (both on the same day).
I am just fascinated by the whole concept of Bloomberg’s terminal–basically a huge database that provides people with financial information. It has thousands of functions though, and the young man who gave us a tour of the office actually showed us the terminal and the wealth of the information it provides. What makes Bloomberg relevant to journalism is that it is the leader in financial news–its news department was started in 1990 because of the concept that news is what moves financial markets. It impacts people’s decision-making and therefore impacts their financial decisions. Bloomberg’s two goals are 1. to be the first and 2. to be the most accurate. I could see myself working there for a time period–it is such an important organization and it would be a different kind of news than I am used to.
Al Jazeera English was interesting because we had a speaker who disdained American media. He told us that we (American) students don’t ask enough questions, and are basically less than our fellow British and French counterparts. It was interesting to hear a much different perspective on American news…he had harsh views on our journalism. I like what Al Jazeera does as an organization because it seeks out the stories that aren’t told. It puts an emphasis on telling people’s stories that need to be heard, and aren’t heard by the public often enough. In the U.S. we are very focused on domestic news. I personally think it would benefit us to increase our focus on international news–it is no secret that many Americans are ignorant to problems elsewhere in the world, and I think that improving international news coverage would help resolve this issue, and increase our awareness.
Aside from the site visits, we actually had a solid amount of free time this week. One morning, the group went on a Street Art Walking Tour. We walked around the Shoreditch area, which is known for its graffiti and Street Art (a new concept to me) and learned about the artists and the meanings of the different works.
On the day that we visited Bloomberg/Al Jazeera, we took a lunch break at Borough market. This is an outdoor food market that is supposedly around 1000 years old. There were fresh fruit stands, bakery stands…it was really nice. I love farmer’s markets and outdoor food markets…if I had it my way, I would always buy all of my groceries there.
Saturday and Sunday we had free. Erin and I designated one day to shopping, and one day to visiting museums. We also purchased tickets to see Jersey Boys at the Picadilly Theatre on Sunday evening. I really enjoyed the British museum…I liked the Louvre a little bit better but that might just be because it was my first time seeing Egyptian artifacts, so I was completely enamored. Nevertheless, it was extremely cool to see mummies for the first time, and we also got to see THE Rosetta stone. There was one mummy from the predynastic period that had been naturally preserved from the Egyptian sands. Part of the reason I am so fascinated by mummification is the extreme care and time the Egyptians would dedicate to preserving the bodies of important people and seeing that they made it to the afterlife. The entire process took 70 days–40 days for washing the body and 30 days for wrapping it and performing various rituals. I also got to see the mummified cats that they had there.
I thought I would enjoy the Imperial War museum because I really enjoy history, but it completely blew my expectations away. Each floor was designated to a different war. We spent nearly an hour on the first floor, just walking through the World War I exhibit. It began at the very beginning of the war and with video, artifact displays, maps and sound, told the story of the Great War. They even had a trench that you could walk through, and an entire exhibit telling the story of a family that lived through the War. We also visited the WWII floor but didn’t have quite as much time for it.
After the museums, we went to see Jersey Boys. I have seen many plays–Phantom of the Opera, Le Mis, Wicked, Legally Blonde, the Lion King… but I have not enjoyed a single sound-track better than that of Jersey Boys! The music just made me feel so happy…the story was also entertaining and captivating. Both Erin and I loved it, despite our far from ideal seats. We didn’t want the music to end, and were both so sad to leave. I would honestly pay to see it again while I’m here, but I’m not sure my parents would appreciate that and we actually just have one more night in London. We walked around the area after the play, singing the same song over and over again that we couldn’t get out of our heads: it was Who Loves You by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
We found a lovely little bar in the area with the most unique, exquisite cocktails (also 50% off for Happy Hour) to relax and talk after the play. There were butterflies decorating the walls and chandeliers faintly lighting the room.
We sipped on our drinks for a while, and then left to find a pub. We planned on having a cider and heading home, but didn’t really expect what the night had in store. There was a live band playing at O’Neils pub–Sean Jackson was his name, and he and his group were playing all sorts of classic American music. Eventually, more and more people began to arrive. We thought, this is odd for a Sunday night. So we asked the guy from Ireland that we were talking to–Is it typical for people here to go out on a Sunday night? His response–after he laughed really hard–was that Monday was a Bank Holiday! So most people didn’t have to work. As more and more people arrived at the pub, we began to meet many of them. By the end of the night, we had talked to people from Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Ireland, and Hong-kong.
Hong-kong was the most interesting story. While we were upstairs listening to the band, we saw a little old Asian man at the very front of the crowd fist-pumping and dancing to the music. I went up and started talking to him and learned that he was 80 years old, originally from Hong-kong, and had lived in London for 36 years. He was dancing more than any of the young people, so that was pretty impressive. His name was Sherman and he was quite the character! We ended up spending most of the night with him and introducing different people we met to him. He loved showing off photos of his grandkids…
The next day (yesterday) we attended a lovely memorial service for U.S. soldiers who had died in the second World War at the Cambridge cemetery.
We also got the chance to visit Cambridge, and go punting on the River Cam. Basically what this is, is you sit on a boat while a tour guide stands on the end of it and paddles you through the water. The river winds through Cambridge and you get to see the backs of all of the different colleges–it was very peaceful and beautiful. I absolutely loved the Cambridge University campus–it was like its own little town. The streets were all cobblestone and the buildings were incredible. I can’t imagine what it would be like to attend a school like that and be able to experience such beauty every day.
Only one more night here in London–crazy to think about. Tomorrow morning we check out and depart from our flats for Bristol and Cardiff..I can’t believe that this trip is almost over and Mackenzie arrives this weekend. I am glad that I don’t have to leave Europe this week because I would be very sad.