Love at first sight

A woman passes by a fashion boutique on Champs Elysees. Photo Credit: Carlos A. Moreno

If I would have to sum up what I felt about my experience in Paris it would have to be love at first sight.

Inspiration flowed through my veins when I landed to Paris. It was all that I had envisioned and more. London has cosmopolitan down

...but Paris had charm and romance.

Everywhere you turned history and love filled the air. Pictures surrounded me effortlessly.

It was magical and exciting.

London was an interesting city but Paris had class and style - making the city a league of its own.

Parisian culture was both oddly adventurous and calm all at once. People expected you to be quite on public places but had no problem showing affection for each other on the streets.

The people, at least some of them, where friendly to me. I knew no French when I arrived, but after a few days in the mix of the streets and the Metro - I felt some of the language sip into my consciousness.

I had even gained an accent too. All without effort.

Maybe it was because I grew up with Latin roots. Possibly my fluent Spanish speaking abilities helped me in not feeling alienated by the culture and city's fast paced life style.

It definitely came in handy when I was conducting interviews and/or when I was getting around through the city.

One thing is for sure, it is a city that never sleeps. The food in Paris was the best I had tasted in a while.

Even a loaf of bread tasted more real. U.S. grocery stores have nothing on France.

It's amazing what a little traveling can make you realize. It allowed me to understand how others live, work and still manage to have time to play.

If only the U.S. was more like this.

If anything this trip to Paris confirmed to me my desire to venture on to distant and familiar lands and learn more about the people who inhabit them.

Paris struck me as a place I would like to visit again and maybe even live there one day myself.

Luckily, according to legend, I might have that chance to return to Paris, since I touched the star outside of Notre Dame on my first night in Paris.

So maybe my return will mean inspiration not just in waves but random as love at first sight.

Carlos A. Moreno
Photographer
Photojournalism

CELEBRATING IN SOHO

This photograph is one of many with no reasonable connection to the economy, but to let them walk past me would have been gruesome.

Jodie Vidal, 16 (right), leads her blindfolded classmate, Dyon Braithwaite, along Tottenham Court Road in London on March 21, 2009 in celebration of Braithwaite’s 16th birthday.

Mike Anderson
Photo Editor
Photojournalism

FREE-FLOWING ALCOHOL IN THE UK

Having just turned 20 this past month, I now understand why so many people continue to tell me that they consider their 20th year to be their “worst birthday.” Year 16 means a license and, therefore, a sense of freedom, while year 18 means the responsibilities of adulthood. According to my sister, year 20 simply means 365 more days until you can drink. The saying, “So close, yet so far away”, definitely comes to mind.

Luckily for me, this is not the case in London or Paris. Being one of the youngest members of the Global Media Initiative, the 18 and over legal drinking age enforced in these two countries is certainly an additional perk. I was aware of the lower drinking age before departing on our trip, yet I was still shocked at the extent of their leniency when it comes to the availability of alcohol.

My first surprise came during our ten-hour flight between SFO and Heathrow. When giving us the options of chicken or beef for our dinner meal, they also gave us the option of red or white wine. Now, I know alcohol on flights is not uncommon, but the fact that they offered it openly without checking IDs, seemed a little more lenient than most U.S. airlines.

My second, and biggest, surprise came when I decided to search for a late night snack on our first night staying at our hotel in London. Not only did I find a vending machine full of sweet and salty treats, but I also found a wide range of beverages. Right below the packs of Twix candy bars and chips, were a couple rows of canned beer, available for anyone to take!

I’m not much of a beer or wine girl myself, so I didn’t take advantage of these particular situations, but it has been a unique experience discovering how other countries view the consumption of alcohol. From vending machines full of beer to bars and clubs letting me in without even asking to see an ID, I have decided that the United Kingdom has a much more lenient policy when it comes to alcohol.

Katrina Kane
Photographer
Photojournalism

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
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