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. 

My Summer in London blog

Hello MCJ499 class. This is our class blog. On it I will post all kinds of materials of interest to the class. Please check the blog when you can, and post questions/comments/whatever to me and your classmates.

When we get to London, I'll post material various material of interest here.

Post away!