SATURDAY NIGHT IN SOHO

My first night in London was nothing less than what you would expect from a college student spending his spring break abroad.

I went out to the clubs looking for low cover charges, cheap drinks and good times with my fellow classmates.

We made our way to the Soho area of Central London, which happened to be a short walk from our hotel. I got a tip from a local that if you were looking for bars and clubs, that’s where you needed to go.

He was right.

Masses of young adults, who were probably on the same mission as I was, crowded the sidewalks of the bar lined streets. When we finally went into a club, parts of it were shoulder to shoulder and getting a beer at the bar took longer than it would have taken me to drink it.

So how bad is London feeling the economic crunch?

If last night was a slow night, in which less people flocked to the Soho area then I don’t want to see how congested it would get in on a normal night. Every bar I passed looked to be standing room only.

I don’t know if last night was just a fluke or if it is that area is consistently busy, but nonetheless, people were out spending money, never mind the crumbling world economy.

By the way, thanks to my gracious peers, I didn’t spend 1p at the bar.

By Joe Proudman
Assistant Photo Editor
Photography
My Blog.

FROM BIG BEN TO CHINATOWN

It is my second day here in London, and I have to say, I am probably in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I have never been in Europe, and everything is completely new to me.

I am definitely loving it here. The culmination of different cultures, the different types of food, all the new sites, everything!

Today, I helped Kim Nguyen, a broadcast journalism major, with her travel and tourist stories. We went from Chinatown to Big Ben in all one day. Chinatown, here, is not the like Chinatown in San Francisco. There were no oriental style buildings or signs of Chinese culture. In fact, we did not know that we were in Chinatown until we asked someone, and he replied,

"What are you talking about? You're standing in it!."

Kim and I did stumble upon a niche in the heart of Chinatown. This little square was surrounded by tall buildings housing Chinese buffet restaurants, Asian grocery stores, and gift shops. To enter the square, we had to walk underneath an Oriental arch similar to the red gates that stand out in the oceans of Japan.

After Kim shot the stories she needed, we met up with the rest of the group at Big Ben. Big Ben, is nothing like what I've seen in Peter Pan or in Hook. I never got to enter it, but it was still amazing from the outside looking up at it. The group took a photograph together, and I tried my hand at making a one-handed MySpace-like point-and-shoot shot with my DSLR, and failed, fantastically. But hey, it is still worth a keepsake with the 10 bad shots I took, so I'm not complaining.

Evening fell, and London is even more stunning. Every street is well lit with its signature globe streetlights. People are still bustling about. The city is still alive, even on a Sunday. I took a couple of shots of the scenery at night.

Finding free wireless Internet is nearly impossible here, so I'll have to keep this blog short (if it isn't long enough already).

Anyways, I gotta get back to work so I have more time to enjoy this already wonderful city.

Christian Garrucho

Photographer

Radio Television Film

My YouTube. My Flickr. My MySpace.

WELCOME TO LONDON

Hello readers,

We are the Global Media Initiative based at San Jose State University's School of Journalism and Mass Communications. Three years ago our organization was formed out of a desire to expose budding journalists to the opportunities and challenges of field reporting.

The first year, 50 SJSU students traveled to New York City for spring break and met with media outlets in the newspaper, magazine, photojournalism, advertising and PR industries. Several students made contacts at the various news organizations and from those contacts received internships and jobs.

The second year was an experiment in international multimedia production. Dubbed the "Multimedia Boot Camp," Mexico City was the destination and 15 students produced stories for the web and print. Audio, video and photography were required elements in each story. This was the beginning of our all-platform journalism obsession.

Planning London and Paris 2009 began last September. At one point, 50 students wanted to go on the trip. As departure drew closer, the total number of students was whittled down to 20 dedicated individuals. We have one week, two countries and endless opportunities.

Unlike the Mexico City trip, we have an overall lens through which all our stories will focus. The global economic crisis is effecting everything around us, so from immigration to the environment and from fashion to financial aid, we are covering it.

Megan Hamilton

Art Director

Magazine Journalism / Graphic Design
My LinkedIn. My Blog. My Portfolio.

PICKING UP THE OLD AND DISCOVERING THE NEW

Today was meaningful in terms of picking up the old and discovering the new. I started the day a little nervous because I haven’t done much reporting at the field since I became copy editor for Spartan Daily. There was a sense of unfamiliarity, however, I went away and started talking to people, getting some nice quotes and encountering some trouble.

On this trip, where the time frame is less than three full days, you can plan as much as you want ahead of time but you can’t expect everything to go your way. There’s always something happening. And that’s the world of journalism, where the unexpected can bring you either a new angle for your current story or something you’ve never thought of.

As Mike, John and I were walking around London for the whole day, we came across some parks thinking we could find homeless people for John’s story. However, it seems to me that parks may not be the home for many homeless people in London. I saw a few of them sleeping on the sidewalks, but not one in the parks.

Hyde Park on Baywater Road (which was beautiful, by the way) was like a heaven for people who enjoy outdoor activities or just want to have a good time with family and friends. Soho Square was much smaller than Hyde Park, but people sat with their friends in small groups across the lawns, spending their afternoons with coffee, talking and laughter. For both places there was positive vibe about the city, but homeless people were nowhere to be seen.

The strong contrast reminds me of St. James Park in downtown San Jose, where it’s nothing like a social venue to me. Perhaps we can’t expect to see homeless people sleeping on the benches at every park just because that’s what we see a lot in San Jose.

One more full day in London, and more has yet to unfold.

Ya-an Chan
Magazine Journalism
My Blog.