Touring London... Jeff style

Touring London…Jeff style. May 31

This morning we all got up early, once again, and headed over to St. Paul’s cathedral for mass. It was a beautiful cathedral and mass was awesome! I’m so glad I went and experienced that.  That was one of the things I really wanted to do while I was in London. After mass we went back to our hotel to change and Jeff told us he was going to take Dani and I on a tour of London. We hopped on the train and went and saw Big Ben. I absolutely loved Big Ben it was around 4:00 so we all got to hear the bells from Big Ben. I took a ton of pictures! After that we saw parliament, and the London eye. We also saw Buckiem Palace! I was so excited to see the palace I have always wanted to see it! Jeff did an awesome job as a tour guide for Dani and I, he answered every question we had and he took us to all the right spots. Im glad I got my tourist stuff out of the way. 

High Tea at Harrods

High Tea at Harrods May 29

Yes darling… we had high tea at Harrods. This was such a great experience I loved every minuet of it! Dani, Courtney and I got up early this morning, just like every other morning. I feel like I never get to sleep in, which is a shame because I love sleeping in. Anyways, we got up and hopped on the train and headed over to the wonderful Harrods. It is an awesome place it has everything! Prada, Burberry, Gucci. You name it and they have it. As we walked into the store my mouth was drooling. I wanted everything in that store! We ended up going to the gift shop to get our parents some little souvenirs; I think my mom will enjoy the Harrods bag I got her. Are Teatime was at 3 30 and we were all so excited. We went up to the top floor and it was so beautiful. We were seated at an elegant table and there was a man playing the piano. A man came over and waited on us, every time our drink or sandwiches were empty they would come right away and refill them. The tea was very good and the scones were delicious. It was such a lovely afternoon!  I can’t wait to come back and do it again someday.  

First Day in London

First day in London May 28

We have arrived!! Im so excited to be in London! So it wasn’t that long of a bus ride, which was a nice change of pace. When we arrived in London we quickly put down our stuff in the hotel room. Let me say this is a gross hotel… once again. After we put our luggage down a bunch of us went to Primark. Primark is a lovely store; it has tons of cloths and shoes for little money. It was a mad house; there were so many people in the store. I have never seen a store so packed in my life.  After the store we went to a Mexican restaurant. The Mexican restaurant was good but im tired of eating Mexican food, we have had it so much lately.  After the Mexican food we went back to the hotel. Emily, Dackota, Dani, and I went to a Hookah bar. This was my first experience at a Hookah bar and I thought it was a lot of fun.  We met a lot of cool people at the Hookah bar we met French boys, Swedish boys, and English boys. Yeah it was fun J After the Hookah bar we walked back to our hotel and a group of people stopped us and asked if we wanted to go to a club with them. Surprisingly, we all went and had a blast. There was a huge line out the door to get into the club but Cameron (the guy we met) got us right in. He had connections. At 2 am we were all tired and headed back to the hotel. This was such a fun day! 

Liverpool

Liverpool May 23 2009

I found my favorite city in England…Liverpool! I can’t even begin to explain how much I love this city. It was so full of life and everyone was so nice and happy. It was a lot different from Grantham. Dani, Bivens and I got up early this morning and got on a train at 9. We arrived to Liverpool at noon and traveled through the city.  Dani and I were so excited to go to the Beatles museum. Justin just went for the ride. We arrived at the Beatles museum and it was awesome! It had all the memorabilia of the Beatles and it shared all their life stories. The museum was also interactive and Dani and I got to dress up like the Beatles and play interments. Justin took pictures of us while we were playing dress up. The Beatles museum took two hours to get through but it was totally worth it. After the tour we all wanted to go on a duck tour, but we didn’t have enough time because we had to catch the train back to Grantham. It’s a three-hour train ride. It was sad to leave Liverpool because it was such a nice city. On the train ride back Justin, Dani, and I played a game called “those cows are mine.” It’s a really fun game we also just talked and ate our dinner. We arrived to the manor 10:00 and we were exhausted. This truly was my favorite day! 

Hot off the Iron

Response 3

Tourist and cameras have been around for many years, this article had many negative and positive points about tourism. I agreed with some of what Sontag said but for the most part I found myself disagreeing with him. I feel he was very negative towards tourist, what I retained from this article was he had some kind of problem with tourisms. Personally, I think tourism is a great thing, it gives people the chance to explore and capture moments from a different place. Although Sontag says some pretty ridiculous things about tourist he does explain the camera and the tourist relationship very well. For example when he states “The camera mediated reality for the tourist, it gives shape to his or her experience, and significantly, conveys the appearance of participation in the situation-having a camera transforms a person into something active, a voyeur.” This statement shows that tourist, in a way, are one with the camera. One point I strongly disagreed with was, when Sontag said “to photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them they can never have; it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed” (1977: 14) I believe that taking pictures of people, such as tourist do, is not violating the people. For example, while in Scotland I took pictures of people wearing kilts and they just put on a big smile and posed for the camera. They have a mirror they know what they look like, and by taking a picture of them shouldn’t change the knowledge of how they look.

Taking pictures is a part of everyone’s life, especially while on vacation. I take tons of pictures on vacation so I can look back and see where I have been and what I’ve done. When I’m on vacation I usually take pictures of scenery. I do this because there are many places in the world that don’t look like home, and these places mostly take my breath away. I like taking picture of breathtaking images while on vacation because I like to look back and remember how I felt when I was there. I also like taking pictures of me standing in front of signs, like boarders or landmarks. I mainly like taking these pictures so I can show them off to my friends and family. My pictures are very different from school to travel. While at school I tend to take more pictures of friends or going out at nights. I also take a lot of pictures of different events Zeta conducts. I don’t tend to take a lot of scenery pictures at school because I’m there all the time and I know how everything feels.

Many of my pictures that I take are put on facebook. I put them up on facebook to show my friends what I am doing and how much fun I am having. I also put them up because my mom recently just got a facebook and begs me to put pictures up. She says “I just want to see what my baby girl is doing.” Which I can understand, it’s a great way to keep in touch with someone and see how they are doing. I also like to put my pictures in frames and put them around my room. By doing so, it gives me a sense of things I have done or things I have accomplished in my life.

In conclusion, cameras and pictures are used for many different reasons. Tourist, vacation, or just to be silly and fun. Without photos people couldn’t look back and remember how they felt. A picture is worth a thousand words, and a thousand memories.

Cambridge

Cambridge May 20 2009

Today was so much fun! A bunch of us went to Cambridge and went punting. It was awesome our tour guide was really good. He was so funny and he told us a lot about the different colleges and what made them famous. He also told us some pretty funny stories about him and his friends at school. The river was so clear and a bunch of ducks approached the boat with no fear. My favorite part of the boat ride was when these 4 little boys threw candy to us. After the punting the tour guide told us about a beer festival that was going on down the road. We were all feeling adventures so we went and checked it out. It was so cool there was a huge tent with tons of different beer barrels. I got my beer and had some food and sat in the lawn. It was really fun because I love people watching and just relaxing. After the beer fest we all hopped on the 9:00 train and got home at 11:00. It was such a fun day

Response 2

Many media outlets change pictures and articles to make things more attractive to the human eye. However, the changing and “editing” of photos may cause more harm then good.” Since media is changing their photos so much people will not believe what they put on the page. Magazines and newspapers creditability is decreasing when they lie and put false bodies on faces. For example in the article “NPPA calls Newsweek’s Martha Stewart Cover “A Major Ethical Breach”, the cover was of Martha Stewarts face but a models body. The article also states “Many don’t believe what they read. And when they can’t believe what they see, either, in the visuals that are intended to invite their reading, they’ll vote with their feet. They’ll turn away- and not just form Newsweek. They’ll be turned off to publications that care about visual and written integrity. That’s what makes this case so tragic.” Changing the content of a photograph also gives people a false idea of what people look like or what they stand for. They could slap anyone’s face on to a body, for example in class we saw a guy in a bunny suit. He would have never posed like that but that picture gave him a bad name and possible a bad reputation for a while.

I think newspapers should be edited a little. I feel there is no problem with a few touch ups to make a person look better. However, they should not go to such an extreme by making someone look like they lost 20 pounds. I also believe that touching something up can give people the wrong idea about certain events that have happened in the world. For example in the article “Pictures May Not Lie But Doctored Photos Change History” In the second picture “The Rome event” this showed the peace sign removed. They edited the protest to look more violent then it really was. By keeping the peace sign in, people might have had a better reaction to the protest. Instead it was just solely concentrated on violence.
I feel that a deceptive picture would be the picture that was shown in class of the Indian actress. Her whole body was different. This also gives the image to girls that everyone who is “pretty” is super thin with big boobs. This in fact puts more pressure on women, as well as, men to try and strive for looking like models. It gives a false sense that everyone is perfect. Another prime example of this is Kate Winslet. She even said that her legs in the picture were not that small. I think legit editing of a picture would be the editing of the last picture that was shown in class. The baseball picture was a prime example of perfect editing. The original picture had legs in the background but they were taking out because it was just distraction and unnecessary for the photo. Things that don’t belong or have meaning in the photo I feel can be edited or even taking out.

In conclusion the media has been editing photos for the many years. They have either helped the picture or made it worse. I feel that the media should be more careful when editing photos, because they could be leaving out the true meaning of the photo.

Response 1

Disturbing images have been around in journalism for many years. They help convey the truth about the world. Disturbing images vary from people to people. People have there own opinions and ideas on what disturbing images are. For example, I believe that a disturbing image is the picture we saw in class of
The baby buried. However, I feel that in the article “APME Survey: Readers Balance Compassion with Privacy When Considering Disturbing Images”, photo 4, flag-draped coffins is in my opinion not a disturbing picture.

These articles explained that it is important to have some type of disturbing photo to show what’s really going on in the world. I believe that it is important to have some type of disturbing image especially at a time of war. A picture says a thousand words. Pictures reach out to people emotionally unlike words. Pictures can expand your imagination, when people see a strong image they see and feel emotion instead of hearing about it. Images are way more powerful then words, seeing an image makes you feel apart of the story. In the article, As Ban lifts; Photos of Soldiers’ Coffins Increase Understanding through Visual Storytelling, the author says “Journalists have an obligation to report stories that help citizens in a democracy to be better informed so they can meaningfully participate in the civic process.” This statement provides truth, in order for people to want to change things, the need to see what’s really going on in the world. People should expose disturbing images to convey the magnitude of a world problem. Tony Overman explains this very well by saying “People need to know what kind of evil and vile events are taking place in the world in order to help stop it.” People need to see images to change them to shake them to the core. When people get upset or disturbed by these images they will want to help and to change the world for the better.

I fully agree with Rayl’s statement: “Not being able to face reality is a major problem in our society today”. This statement shows that people can be naive and caught up in there own lives with out realising what’s really happening in the world. Hearing about wounded and dying Americans while at war is one thing but seeing it brings people to reality. In the article “APME Survey: Readers Balance Compassion with Privacy When Considering Disturbing Images”, photo 3, Wounded American soldier, this picture brought many people back to reality and realised that it is war time and soldiers do die. What also made this photo so surreal is the soldier had a wedding ring on his finger. This made people realize that he was not just a casualty, but a man who had a family.

I think news organizations should censor some of there images, especially for younger audiences that might be watching. I think they could still convey disturbing images online in stories but not on the television. If they are up online they can be more protected from children and people still have the chance to see what’s going on in the world.

In conclusion I feel that the world needs journalist to portray their disturbing images. This will not only show people what’s going on in the world but it will give people a chance to help out.

Bivand's Pool Game

St. Andrews scotland May 16

Oh man what a day! We got on a train this morning and headed to St. Andrews to meet Danis friend Mari. St. Andrews was a very cold place but it was pretty and small. They had huge mountains and a pretty beach. I also looked at the golf course and bought my dad some golf balls and a hat because he loves to play golf. He was so jelouse that I was there and he wasnt. After we met Mari and she showed us around the place we went out for a drink. We had Mojitos they we so good!! After we had our happy hour we went to a Thai resturant, it was so good! It was such a big relief to have good food, I was getting tired of the manor food. After, we played pub golf. We played 9 holes, which means we had 9 drinks. Let me just say it was a lot of fun! Maria was a nice girl and she showed us off to her friends and her life style. She is very brave to stay in Scotland instead of the united states. I dont think I could stand the food in Scotland. This was a very fun experience and I would do it again.

The Mile

Love Lives on..... 2nd photo story

The Climb

Paris!!

Paris weekend may 8

Paris, Ooh la la! This morning was Crazy! We got up at 7:30 a little later then we had anticipated. Dani and I slept down in the common room last night because we were scared. The ghost sighting is becoming an exhausting epidemic. Dani and I ran up to our room got our bags and headed out the door with Courtney and Emily. Our spirits were high as we stepped into the van and headed to Grandthem. We exchanged money while in town and had a nice cup of coffee and a muffin. We then took a little walk to the train station and received our ticket stamp and boarded our first train. Little did we know, we would be boarding plenty of trains. As we made our way to kings cross-station we were confused on how to get our connection train. Well it turns out nothing is as simple as it seems. We had to board a under ground metro to get to the next train that would head to the airport. We finally got to our right train and were relieved. It was 12:00 and our plane left at 4:00 so we felt like we had plenty of time. The man on the train told us we had to see terminal 5 because it had food and it was really nice. We had time so we figured we would, even though our terminal was 4. We went terminal 5 and it was nothing special, it just looked like a regular terminal. We did however find a great pub. I had my first experience with fish and chips. It was good but really greasy. I feel like most of the food in England consists of carbs, I miss my salads. Our waitress was really slow but she was nice. We ended the lunch at 2:00 and we were getting a little nervous. We asked a bunch of people how to get to terminal 4 but they all said different things. We hopped on a bus and proceeded to terminal 4 it was already 2:50. We ran up and asked a Delta airline person how to get to Air France. She asked what time left and we told her 4:00. She then told us that it was in terminal 4 and we were going to miss out flight. My Body felt numb right when she said that. We frantically ran down the sidewalk, the bus to terminal 2 pulled away and I wanted to cry! Panicked, I went up tot a man and asked him what to do. He pointed to the train and suggested we take the train. We sprinted to the train and made it just in time. The ticket man asked us if we were ok and we explained the problem. It was now 3:15 and we had not even checked in. The ticket man told us we were fine and a Stewarts for that flight was on the train. She smiled at us and said; “don’t worry girls I will help you out, im working on that flight.” She was truly a god sent. She helped us check in and get to our terminal. We settled on the plane and everyone was talking French, it was cool, but confusing. We landed and hopped on the metro to our hotel. It was so nice to arrive at the hotel and settle down, we were moving all day. We were all tired and cranky. After I showered we left our hotel and got some food and wine. The wine was really good! We met French boys and they loved us. It was so much fun! We went back to the hotel and passed out. This day felt like the longest day of my life, but it was so worth it!

Omg its a GHOST!

First Night May 5, 2009

Oh my god! Dani just saw a ghost in my bed! Now im scared. So this is what happened, Dani went to bed early, she passed out at 8:00 because she loves sleeping and because we were traveling all day. I was sleeping in my bed and then I heard someone screaming my name. I turned on the light and I looked over to Dani and she looked terrified. Her eyes were wide and she was clinging on to a pillow. I asked her what was wrong and she proceeded to tell me that she just saw a ghost. She was shaking and told me that the ghost was crawling out of my sheets. It was so freaky! I have a feeling I won’t be able to sleep for a couple of days.

Hello England!

The First day May 5 2009

The airplane ride was so long! Thank god I slept for most of the ride. When we arrived to the airport I was so tired. We all had to drag our heavy luggage to the bus. Leaving the airport was a cool experience because it was my first glimpse of England. Everything is so green and healthy looking. I quickly fell asleep as we headed to Harlaxton. Dr. Fenner came over the load speaker and told us we were arriving soon. I looked out the window and saw a beautiful castle it was the manor. It looked like something out of a movie. That’s when I regained my second wind and I was ready to explore. It was beautiful inside; my favorite parts of the manor are the ballroom and the staircase. They both like something out of beauty and the beast. This is a wonderful place and I can’t wait to spend my time here!