GREATER THAN EXPECTATIONS

Wednesday, 25 2009

There is an odd confidence that comes when you are thrust into a foreign environment and successfully navigate around without too much trouble. On the one hand you’re expecting to get lost a few times. On the other hand, these transport systems are pretty self-explanatory so you feel kind of dumb if you do get lost. In London, the Tube made things easy. In Paris, the Metro gets you where you want to go.

I was reluctant to go with the rest of the students to Radio France because I thought it would be more touristy than real experience. I am so glad it was mandatory because, so far, it was the highlight of my trip. To see newsrooms in action working with media from all over the world was very inspirational for me. I would love to work somewhere like that in the future. Definitely a dream job!

Kim Nguyen and I covered a lot of territory today. We didn’t see too many monuments on the way but we did experience some authentically Parisian locations. We checked out Asian communities in a few different spots and saw some strong working-class neighborhoods, which I think is just as important to experience as anything else, if not more so. We ended up in the Latin Quarter where Kim’s original source was. The area has two universities and it’s bustling with students. I’m not sure what I was expecting but it was interesting to see how similar students are in different countries.

All in all, it was a long day that yielded more conformations for tomorrow that any actual story content, which feels a little wasteful, and the focus for the story is going to be one restaurant rather than comparing nightmares to success stories, which I wanted. If everything pans out like expected, though, it should be a good story.

John Ellis
Print Journalism

CALLING CARDS AND CALL GIRLS

I think the hardest thing in Paris as any one would assume is the language barrier. For one trying to find a café with internet connection is hard enough. I went to a couple of places that I would consider 'convenience stores.'

The first one I went into they didn’t speak English so they didn’t understand when I was asking for directions and when I was asking them for a calling card.

The third store I went into was run by an Asian family who spoke what sounded like French. Lucky for me, one of them spoke a little English because he had family living in the United States so he was able to help me get a calling card that I could use to call home. It took me awhile to understand him because of the accent but he was a big help.


Later in the day I made it to the Montmartre district of Paris. I went and saw the Moulin Rouge and on the same strip there were tons of sex shops and strip clubs. There were guys standing outside the strip clubs trying to get people to come in all while making gestures at women walking by. I am not sure what they were saying because it was in French, but it sounded like they were, I guess one would say, 'getting fresh' with them.

Liz Mitchell
Public Relations

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

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