My Summer in London

Topher Bostick

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I'm Topher and I go to the University of Southern Mississippi! I'm currently majoring in Photojournalism and Graphic Design. In my spare time...that is when I have it...I like to take pictures, read, listen to music and watch movies! In London I want to do the basic Tower of London, London Eye...BUT what I really want to go to the O2 and see the King Tutankhamun exhibit as well as several photography galleries. I'm really excited to go to Italy on the mini break...do i really need to go anywhere else???

At the PCC Tue 11 July

The class at the Press Complaints Commission.

Clowning around before the work begins...

Brittany, Amanda, Kate and Nate clown around before the introductory walking tour. Note how jet-lagged they look!

Some of Our Class with Robert Edwards

Robert Edwards CBE is Fleet Street's senior editor. During his long and distinguished career he has edited The Daily Express, The People, and The Sunday Mirror for a record 13 years, before becoming Deputy Chairman of Mirror Group Newspapers. His talk drew on his experience of working on national daily newspapers from 1955–1985 – the last 30 years of the old-style Fleet Street – and his encounters with some of the world's most famous media barons.

Our first class portrait.....awwww!

Here we pause outside the British Library for our first class portrait. aren't we cute? The picture was taken just as we emerged from a lecture on Fleet Street during the time of the newspaper barons

England's World Cup hopes end in tears

London came to a standstill for the World Cup semifinal on Saturday. Across central London Brits crowded into pubs (and lined up outside them) to watch a heartbreaking loss to Portugal. I had had high hopes that England would pull off a win and our class would experience football fever.

We're getting ready for ya

I'm passing along a picture of our dorm. We arrived Saturday, and the place is pretty much all ready for you guys. We're having something of a heat wave, although by Mississippi standards the heat isn't that bad. Highs are in the high 80s or so, but I'm hoping it'll break by the time you folks arrive.

Some of our itinerary for this summer...

Most of our class visits and lectures are organized. Here's some of what we have going on:
--Wednesday, 12 July: Tour of LBC Radio, an all-news station in London. You might want to listen online to the station at http://www.lbc.co.uk/
--Thursday, 13 July: Visit to the Advertising Standards Authority, regulator of all U.K. advertising. http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/
--Wednesday, 19 July: Visit to Napier University journalism program. This is part of our three-night journey to Scotland. http://www.napier.ac.uk/sca/welcome.html
--Thursday, 20 July: Visit to BBC Scotland in Glasgow. http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/
--Monday, 24 July: Talk from internationally known journalist John Owen.
--Tuesday, 25 July: Visit to Oxford University Press, Oxford. http://www.oup.co.uk/
--Wednesday, 26 July: Guided tour of Parliament. http://www.parliament.uk/

Other visits/lectures:
--Sara Lyall, London bureau chief, New York Times
--Visits to hear editors of London newspapers at the British Library
--Visit to South London Press, the largest regional newspaper chain in London.
--Visit to international PR agency Newslink.
--Talks from PR professional Joslyn Tinker.
--Speaker from the National Union of Journlaists.
--Thames riverboat trip to Greenwich.

Good news! Please note:
You will have a four-day weekend your first full weekend in London. No class Friday July 14 and Monday July 17. Feel free to travel those days, but don't plan on leaving before 10 p.m. Thursday July 13, and you must be back in London by Monday night July 17th at the absolute latest. Remember, the cardinal rule of British Studies is that you cannot miss class. Missing a class drops your grade by one letter.

What to wear in London

I get a lot of questions about appropriate dress for London. What should I wear on field trips? I've been thinking about this a lot lately (London is on my mind), so I've come up with a system for you to help you pack.

There will be three categories of dress in London.

Category I: Student casual. Blue jeans, shorts, almost anything goes as long as it's not too sloppy. Sloppy would be anything like cut-off jeans.

Category II: Business casual. No shorts or jeans or tennis shoes. This is a step up from ordinary student dress. Slacks and a shirt/blouse will fit the bill here. Comfortable shoes. Dressy flip-flips are fine for women.

Category III: Church/business dress: Ties for men, dressy attire for women. What you would wear to church for confirmation or to accept an award for Student of the Century.

In the past, students, particularly the women in the class, have complained that they brought too many dressy clothes and suggested I post more info about what clothes to bring. So, here we go!

-- Most of our lectures/visits will be Category I and II. Most of the time, when we have lecturers in the classroom (three or four times) and take informal field trips to museums [two or three times], we'll dress Category I: Student casual.
-- Most visits to media institutions and other visits will be Category II: Business casual.
-- You will need Category III clothing only a couple of times, for our visit to Parliament [where such attire is required] and to our visit to St. Paul's, if you choose to go. [You ought to. It's an incredible experience. And your mama would be so proud.]

So, when packing what you need to wear for class, pack mostly Category II clothes. We'll do a lot of Category II stuff. You also need a good many of Category I (for our informal times) and just an outfit or two of Category III (for the formal). In all cases make sure your shoes are comfortable and appropriate for walking, as we'll be doing a lot of that.

Generally, though, pack as few clothes as you can get away with. You can use the laundromat and recycle stuff; no one will notice.

St. Paul's Cathedral as seen from the Thames River near our dorm. I'll lead a group to St. Paul's for church the first Sunday we're in London.

The view of the London Eye from the Westminster Bridge. Our dorm is a 8- or 10-minute walk from the Eye and a 10- or 12-minute walk from Westminster.