First day of "class
Today was our first day of "class". I put it in quotes because it's definitely not like a normal class I would take at sc...or any other school for that matter. The day started off at 8am...WAY too early for my taste (I don't even schedule 8am's during the school year...)! We met with two clients today (MORI and Jean Pierre Langellier...I will explain more in detail later) and listened to them speak to us about what they do in London.
The first speaker was a representative from MORI, a direct marketing and opinion research company based in the UK. His presentation outlined what the company does and then went into some of the results from their many opinion polls. We talked a lot about perceptions about the British media and how the British take in their news. All this was very interesting to me...because for the most part it was totally opposite from the American news market. In America, it seems to me that the trusted news sources are usually print sources like the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal or the Washinton Post. Many Americans are skeptical about the political and social biases of many television news stations (ex: fox) and therefore are less likely to trust their news. However, it is totally the opposite in the UK. For the British, television news is the trusted news media and most people here rely on stations like the BBC for their news. The newspapers on the other hand are openly slanted and most focus more on the entertainment news (they're called tabloids and most really are very similar to American tabloids). Sorry to bore with the details, but we're supposed to be thinking about differences and similarities between the UK and the US for our final so I guess I'm using the blog to prep.
Anyway after the first speaker we had a break for lunch so a bunch of us went to a local cafe for sandwiches and then used the remaining hour to wander around the British Museum (which was right across the street from our meeting venue). Since I had been there yesterday, I took the time to go into places I didn't get to because the place is HUGE. I could definitely spend an entire day wandering around there. In the middle of the enormous "great hall" is the Reading Room, which was one of my favorite parts of the museum. It's a huge circular room filled from top to bottom with old, classic books. Originally, the entire room was a library and that you needed a membership to and only the most prestigious authors were granted one. The members could browse the library's huge collection and add their own personal books to the room if they wanted to. Anyway the room was amazing and I loved looking at all the cool books (I know I'm a complete nerd...)
After lunch we headed back to the classroom for our second presentation. This time we heard from Jean Pierre Langellier, the British correspondent for France's "Le Monde" newspaper. Although I definitely had trouble hearing through the thick French accent, Jean Pierre was a really neat guy who has had an incredible career reporting all over the world. He has been a correspondent in many different countries in Asia, Africa and now Europe. He talked to us a lot about what he has been doing with his life and then a bit about what the goals of Le Monde are (I won't bore you with the details).
So by 4 o'clock we were done with the academic part of our day and free to do what we wanted so I went to Harrods for some shopping :-) I absolutely love Harrods and its countless rooms filled with overpriced novelties. Trying to keep with my budget, I didn't buy anything there...but I did treat myself to some jewlery from a store down the street! One of the girls I was with decided she wanted sunglasses and so she bought some from the Armani store which was kind of exciting. Haha.
After shopping we ate dinner at this cool Indian restaurant that came highly recommended. The food was great but it was definitely extremely expensive so now I think I have to cook for myself for the rest of the trip. Haha no but I guess I do need to look out for ridiculously priced curry. Anyway I just realized how long this blog is so I will definitely stop writing now. Tomorrow is another 8am day when we go to the Daily Mirror (a British tabloid) and then...high tea at the Ritz! Yay!
The first speaker was a representative from MORI, a direct marketing and opinion research company based in the UK. His presentation outlined what the company does and then went into some of the results from their many opinion polls. We talked a lot about perceptions about the British media and how the British take in their news. All this was very interesting to me...because for the most part it was totally opposite from the American news market. In America, it seems to me that the trusted news sources are usually print sources like the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal or the Washinton Post. Many Americans are skeptical about the political and social biases of many television news stations (ex: fox) and therefore are less likely to trust their news. However, it is totally the opposite in the UK. For the British, television news is the trusted news media and most people here rely on stations like the BBC for their news. The newspapers on the other hand are openly slanted and most focus more on the entertainment news (they're called tabloids and most really are very similar to American tabloids). Sorry to bore with the details, but we're supposed to be thinking about differences and similarities between the UK and the US for our final so I guess I'm using the blog to prep.
Anyway after the first speaker we had a break for lunch so a bunch of us went to a local cafe for sandwiches and then used the remaining hour to wander around the British Museum (which was right across the street from our meeting venue). Since I had been there yesterday, I took the time to go into places I didn't get to because the place is HUGE. I could definitely spend an entire day wandering around there. In the middle of the enormous "great hall" is the Reading Room, which was one of my favorite parts of the museum. It's a huge circular room filled from top to bottom with old, classic books. Originally, the entire room was a library and that you needed a membership to and only the most prestigious authors were granted one. The members could browse the library's huge collection and add their own personal books to the room if they wanted to. Anyway the room was amazing and I loved looking at all the cool books (I know I'm a complete nerd...)
After lunch we headed back to the classroom for our second presentation. This time we heard from Jean Pierre Langellier, the British correspondent for France's "Le Monde" newspaper. Although I definitely had trouble hearing through the thick French accent, Jean Pierre was a really neat guy who has had an incredible career reporting all over the world. He has been a correspondent in many different countries in Asia, Africa and now Europe. He talked to us a lot about what he has been doing with his life and then a bit about what the goals of Le Monde are (I won't bore you with the details).
So by 4 o'clock we were done with the academic part of our day and free to do what we wanted so I went to Harrods for some shopping :-) I absolutely love Harrods and its countless rooms filled with overpriced novelties. Trying to keep with my budget, I didn't buy anything there...but I did treat myself to some jewlery from a store down the street! One of the girls I was with decided she wanted sunglasses and so she bought some from the Armani store which was kind of exciting. Haha.
After shopping we ate dinner at this cool Indian restaurant that came highly recommended. The food was great but it was definitely extremely expensive so now I think I have to cook for myself for the rest of the trip. Haha no but I guess I do need to look out for ridiculously priced curry. Anyway I just realized how long this blog is so I will definitely stop writing now. Tomorrow is another 8am day when we go to the Daily Mirror (a British tabloid) and then...high tea at the Ritz! Yay!
posted by Carly at 2:57 PM
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