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

FINDING OUR WAY THROUGH THE UNDERGROUND

Sunday, March 22 2009

The Underground tube system never fails!

Any destination is easily accessible, making the possibilities practically endless. Today, Mike Anderson, Ya-an Chan and myself trekked around Hyde Park all morning looking for sources for some stories. It was a beautiful Sunday morning in London. The sun shining with a nice breeze and people were out in bunches, but with little commotion in Speaker’s Corner. To say the least the park is huge and it’s easy to get a little lost.

It took me the better part of an hour to cruise one quarter of the park on my skateboard looking for a story while Mike and Ya-an scouted for people willing to talk about the nationalized health care system. They were more successful than I but it’s hard to say the morning was wasted because I was having so much fun.

I came across two inline skaters doing their thing in what, at first glance, looked like freestyle dancing. One cat, Samer Alhabash, 32, was a dreaded hair, semi hard-body with his shirt off who seemed like the rowdy type. He set up about 12 three-inch plastic cones and speedily criss-crossed in between them with backward spins, one-footed turns and ballerina-like pliers.

I took some pics and chatted with them long enough to find out that they were “freestyle slalom in-line skaters.” Apparently, according to Mr. tough guy, it’s been the craze the last five years or so but has yet to catch on in the states, aside from a small New York fetish. Sure enough, about a hundred yards away, there were another four or five sets of cones with another fifteen or so skaters. Samer (I love the name for some reason) took the cake, though.

After I met back up with Ya-an and Mike we made the journey to Big Ben, the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament, to take a group photo with the rest of the students on the trip. We also checked out a couple of hospitals for Ya-an’s story and a park to try and find some homeless folks for mine.

On a side note, Mike and I talked to a receptionist at one of the hospitals about health care. We asked about services for the homeless and she told us that everyone gets the same treatment regardless of their situation. She seemed surprised to hear that the homeless in the United States usually only get treatment when they are super ill. Mike and I pondered that for a little while we waited for Ya-an to do her thing. It is kind of crazy if you think about it. What a world, huh?

London is fantastic. I could easily live here.

John Ellis
Print Journalist

COINCIDENCES SAVED MY STORY

Coincidences are a wonderful thing, especially when things are looking grim while working on a story. I originally had two stories planned out for London. Neither of them panned out. So what did I do? I wandered the streets a bit just trying to figure out what to do after all of the twenty or so shop owners I talked to brushed me off when I asked for an interview. Then I ran into Christian Garrucho somehow and we decided to go grab a tapioca drink from somewhere.

We figured our best shot at finding a shop that sold them was in Chinatown so we headed in that direction. While walking we noticed a small group of people on the sidewalk wearing pink and accompanied by a guy in a pig costume. I talked to one of the gentlemen about what they were doing and it turned out that they were doing a bit of charity work.

Bingo!

A story with interesting visuals and an angle that ties into the economy just as I needed one. I felt like money. Two days later in Paris, Mike Anderson and I headed over to the Montemarte district to try and get a few interviews about young people traveling. After a few mishaps on the Metro, and our apparent inability to properly use a map, we finally found the hostel we’d been looking for.

I walked in, asked the receptionist if he spoke English, and it turns out he’s from Washington D.C. Easy! – But it gets better. He goes to speak to the manager to clear the interview with him, and while we’re waiting four or five girls walked by us pulling their luggage into the hostel. I asked them if they spoke English, and it turned out they were American.

But that wasn’t the best part. As we’re waiting for the girls to come back down, I heard a gentleman speaking to the receptionist with an American accent. I approached him for an interview and it turns out he’ll be attending San Jose State next semester. What are the odds of that?

It just goes to show you that with work and a little bit of persistence, sometimes things just fall into your lap … wait, that doesn’t really sound right.

Sometimes, you just get lucky.

Hang on a bit, let’s try that again.

Work hard, and it seems like things just magically fall into place.

Harvey Rañola
Multimedia Editor
Broadcast Journalism

WILD GOOSE CHASE IN LEICESTER SQUARE

I know there’s constant rejection in journalism whether it is in employment or story ideas, etc. But, today was filled with more rejection than I anticipated and made me realize how much harder the task at hand will be.

Being the worst and most directionally-challenged person at home in the United States, I knew finding my way in a foreign country was going to be damn near impossible. That wasn’t a surprise. But, when we are on a time limit to get our things done, not knowing where to go made me reach a higher level of frustration than normal.

Carlos A. Moreno, the photographer, two reporters Heather Nacht and Heather Driscoll and I could not figure out which tube to take to get from Westminster to South Kensington and from there to Leicester Square. After about half an hour, we figured it out and were on our way.

Right away, Carlos and I knew we had to get to business and find the restaurants for our story based on how restaurants are being affected by the economy.

The first restaurant we decided to use for our story declined any interview. Okay, that was one. Onto the next. The next one was another bust and by the third bust, I grew nervous. What restaurant would allow us to do both interviews and photos?

The fourth restaurant, a pub-grub kind of place, was a success at last. But, after some interviews and pictures, they seemed ready to get us out of there. I stepped out and waited for Carlos. Just a short while later he came out and let me know that they had asked him to leave. I wondered why it was such a big deal that he take some pictures but apparently it is a big deal in London because that was the primary hesitation for a lot of restaurant employees and managers.

It was either we were rejected for both interviews and photos at some places or just photos.

We received more rejection than approvals but we managed to score a handful of interviews and Carlos was able to get some photos. We also did some “man on the street”-type interviews asking people about their take on food and the economy but many declined to speak and/or have their photo taken.

After about four hours of walking and countless instances of being turned away, we were exhausted. But, I was happy that we came away with something.

Now I have also learned that doing this entire running around in high-heeled boots is probably not the wisest idea. So, tomorrow for round two of the chase in Leicester Square, I’ll definitely be wearing my sneakers.

Samantha Rivera
Magazine Journalism

A FACE IN THE CROWD

London is a great city of public transportation. A tourist like me could go anywhere with a map in my hand, and it felt nice (for me, at least) to walk among London people as if I were one of them.

When I was younger, my family used to travel with tourist groups and I hated it. We left the hotel, got onto the bus, drove to the first tourist hot spot, got off the bus to take photos, got back to the bus … you know the rest. I saw the places, but I won’t remember them for a long time because I was sleeping on the bus and got off the bus with my eyes half-opened.

Now when I travel to a different country, I always try to absorb the lifestyle and fashion. It’s not like I don’t want people to see me as “another tourist who’s taking random photos,” but more like I want to get a sense of what it’s like to live here, even if it’s just one percent.

What I like about this trip is that, not only do I get to visit the places I’ve only seen on calendars and screens, but I also get to be closer to everyday London folks.

I’m the one with the worst navigation skills among my family and friends, and that worried many people around me prior to the trip. Today I did have to walk a few more steps because I missed a block or exited the wrong direction. But at the end of the day, after I finished two back-to-back interviews at London School of Economics, I found myself in a crowded train, walking the same direction and wearing professional-looking attire like everyone else in the Tube station.

I felt like I was one of them.

Ya-an Chan
Copy Editor
Magazine Journalism

Photograph: Outside of London Stock Exchange Group near St. Paul’s Cathedral on Monday, March 23, 2009.

FIVE-FOLD REJECTION

Today was my day to complete my story. I left the hotel early to talk to an agency and get some information about the real estate market.

The receptionist let me know that the sales manager was not available at that office but that she could try another office for me. And with that, she got on the phone with the sales manager of the Pimlico office. Henry, the office manager, asked to speak with me. After a brief conversation he agreed to talk about the market and how it has been affected by the economy. He jotted down my number and told me he would call me back with a time I could come in to his office to have our conversation.

I didn’t waste any time.

My best friend Joe Proudman, a photography major, and I made our way down into the Underground and figured out how to get to the Westminster neighborhood where Henry’s office is located. It took us about 20 minutes to get there and about 50 minutes to find the place.

After about an hour and a half to two hours, we finally reached the real estate agency but still hadn’t received the phone call from Henry to set up an interview time. Oh well, looks like I’ll just have to come right on in!

Henry was polite. He shook my hand, apologized for not calling me back, and we engaged in a conversation of what the market is like today. He gave me a lot of good information and I thought for sure I had made a connection with him. I told him about my old days in real estate.

After about 15 minutes of discussing mortgages, rates and money down, I ever-so-sweetly asked if he would be kind enough to say all of this information on camera.

Right before my eyes Henry changed on me.

“Absolutely not. No. I won’t do it. No. Not even for 5 minutes. No. I’ve got too much to do and my boss isn’t here. No,” was something like what he said. I asked him again a couple of times in different ways and the answer was the same.

No.

Shucks. Why was that so hard? I thought for sure I was done! I walked into another real estate agency next door and asked to talk to the manager of the office. Only an agent was available. We briefly chit-chatted about the market. I also asked him if he would be on camera and he politely said, “No. I just can’t. No.”

And just like that, agency after agency declined to be on camera to talk about the market. Really guys? It’s just an assignment!

I called our media director Harvey Rañola and asked him what to do. And guess what? He had the same problem! I don’t understand why the English have such an issue about being on camera. Off camera, they are polite and eager to give lots of information. The minute you mention video camera they quickly turn cold and are no longer interested in continuing the conversation.
Luckily, I found someone kind enough to give me an interview. I ran into her around 1 p.m. and she told me to come back later around 5.

I showed up around 4:45 p.m. (didn’t want to be a second too late) and she agreed to do a short interview with me, on camera! Yes! After making sure that this interview was not going to be broadcasted and she wasn’t going to appear on YouTube anywhere, she spilled all her knowledge about the current market.

I got lucky. But what I still don’t understand is why the English are so “camera shy.” They are extremely helpful and informative, until you drop the “C” word, and then they turn off like a switch.
Who knows? But luckily I got my interview. This was definitely a learning experience that I will take with me. I am not good at rejection. And the first rejection from Henry hit me hard. But I sucked it up and got rejected another 5 times before I finally got my interview!

Alex Ruiz-Huidobro
Broadcast Journalism

SURREAL, BUT FAMILIAR

In anticipation for this trip to Europe, I did extensive research and tried to understand the cities I’d be visiting as much as possible. I lived and breathed Google Earth for weeks. I bought street maps and studied them like textbooks. I even checked out Craigslist international to see what interested the people I’d be interacting with on a daily basis — all the while procrastinating on important school papers and midterms (sorry professors back home).

To say the least, it paid off big time!

Every big city has a hectic heartbeat and when I got separated from my group at the busiest airport in the world I had to find my own way to the hotel. It took all of five minutes to figure it out. London’s intricate and self explanatory subway system, the Underground, or Tube, was a short walk from where I last saw my fellow students. I secured directions and a three-day pass quicker than I even realized.

After 22 stops, one transfer, and meeting three new friends, I arrived safely a block away from my hotel, though it took me 45 minutes to actually find the joint. London is a beautiful, unique city that is big enough to intimidate the savviest of travelers, but it’s also a place that feels somewhat close to home. Aside from the heavy English accents, royal family, century-old buildings and a genuine European glamour, London wouldn’t be a far cry from the wildly enormous cities of the United States.

I’m just starting my journey and I can already say that Londoners respect international tourists in a way that is not only supportive and helpful, but makes you feel comfortable and welcome. I couldn’t expect anything more and would love to stay longer than planned. I’ll be sorry to leave so soon.

John Ellis
Print Journalism