So Far in London

Unfortunately, for the beginning of my trip, I didn't have access to Internet. As I have Internet now, I will review my time spent in London so far.

On the first day of our study abroad trip, May 19, we arrived in London and carried our luggage approximately one and a half miles up over eight flights of stairs. We moved into our flats in the Clerkenwell area of London.

As an introduction to the city, we participated in a London sight-seeing tour - yes, it was on one of those double-decker red buses! Around every corner was a famous building, pub or landmark. As an American and food lover, I enjoyed seeing some of Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver's restaurants, as well as pubs at which Charles Dickens used to write and the area in which Oliver Twist was originally filmed.Seeing the iconic landmarks like Big Ben, Westminister Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, Parliament and Buckingham Palace made it realistic that I was actually in London.

On the second day, we went on a cruise of the Thames River that dropped our group off in Greenwich, an area of London that is apart from the main city. It was there that we went to the Royal Observatory and the Maritime Museum.

Greenwich, first of all, is absolutely beautiful; the buildings are well-kept and the area is clean with vast landscaping and greenery everywhere. At the top of one of the hills there is the Royal Observatory, home of the Prime Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time used by the military, meteorologists and pilots. It is definitely cool to have stood in two hemispheres at one moment.

Afterward, we went to the Maritime Museum where we saw Horatio Nelson's uniform. The segment of the museum devoted to Columbus and travel to the new world was interesting to see because it is what I spent so much time studying it in history classes.

For lunch, we went to our first pub, Trafalgar Pub, where I had fish and chips for the first time. I enjoyed the meal, but would not eat it habitually. My verdict on food in London is that it is weird and unappealing (which is why I have eaten lots of sandwiches since, especially after having experienced the amazing, rich food in France).

At the pub, we met a group filming a British mockumentary (comedic documentary). We followed them to their set at Greenwich University, where scenes from the recent Sherlock Holmes movie were filmed. As some of our group members are broadcast majors, like me, we were very intrigued by their operations while filming.

Later that day we met with John Owen who has worked as a journalist for different news organizations, most recently Aljazeera (google it). He spoke to us, giving us an overview of British media. It was interesting to learn that television in Britain cannot be partial, no matter what; however, newspapers are allowed to be partial, and many take specific political stances, some even resembling tabloids.

That night, a small group of us girls ate at a restaurant called Med Kitchen and went shopping at the popular store H&M. We later enjoyed American Ben & Jerry's ice cream and toured the theater area where the Sex and the City 2 movie premiere is tomorrow evening.

On our third day before departing London for Paris, our group went to Wall Street Journal's London office where the Dow Jones wire service is. After, we went to St. Paul's Cathedral and ate at a nearby sandwich shop.

We also toured Sky News that day, the British television station that is a big competitor with the number one station, BBC, priding itself on being the first to cover breaking news. We watched as employees on the editorial side compiled news stories from the wire service, fed it to the anchors who reported it live, while control room technicians fed the show onto television.

That night we went to a BBC radio show taping called "The Museum of Curiosity" which was boring and controversial (in my opinion), but was still a learning experience because radio in Britain is very popular and intellectual. Television didn't catch on as quickly in the U.K. as it did in the U.S. because radio was more popular and seen as high-brow. Today, radio shows are still very successful, mainly the BBC programs, and include long interviews and in-depth conversations.

Today, we went to the office of CNN London, which was my favorite site visit because every person at the bureau was willing to open their office to our group and answer many questions. Surprisingly, they only have one studio and film from the most un-glamourous news desks. CNN London creates product for CNN International (CNN in the U.S. is based out of Atlanta) which extends broadcasts to Europe and Africa.

Our second site of the day was the Advertising Standards Authority. This institution regulates all advertisements in Britain. They are not part of the government, but were established by the government in 1962. They receive funding from a 0.1% levy on advertising. Their job is to make sure that ads are not offensive or harmful to British people. For every single complaint they receive from citizens about an ad, an investigation commences. They either decide whether the ad should remain or must be changed to fit their guidelines.

I am currently at my flat, preparing for another long day tomorrow. We are having a morning session with Dean Foote (the dean of my college, Gaylord College) to review for our upcoming test, heading to a site visit at Frank Public Relations, then attempting to attend the premiere of Sex and the City 2. Wish us luck!