Portobello Road

Portobello Road

About a week or two ago Professor Spotts brought all of us on a trip to a place in Notting Hill, London called Portobello Road. Portobello Road is a road that has stores and shops up and down the street and on Saturdays the road is partly shut down and vendors take over the streets. There has been a market on this street since around 1870. This is a great location because this street becomes crowded with a great number of people from all different places.

It was a great experience to visit such a place since I never seen anything like Portobello Road before in my life. There are a wide range of products are sold at Portobello Road. Portobello road is commonly known for their antique shops and vendors. This can appeal to an older generations and people. There are also very many vendors that sell all types of fruits and produce and you can find plenty of food stations. I especially took advantage the food while I was there since I think it was better than the food served at school. There are several places where you can find London souvenirs being sold. Other products a customer can find are jewelry, clothes, shoes, and much more. You can find almost anything at Portobello Road. This related very closely to what we were studying in marketing.

I think by visiting Portobello road made me more aware of other cultures. You could tell that there were many different types of people in attendance that had very different backgrounds that you got to see in action. The actual vendors and owners of the shop were from different cultures. When I went up to a vendor, I made an effort to have a conversation with them and it was nice to see how sometimes their product related to their background. For example, at a sausage food station the people working had German background.

Portobello road is a great place to see many different cultures in action. Most of the vendors are very friendly and open to talk. I took advantage of this and therefore I think I can see the differences in cultures more easily. I would recommend any going to London to check out this neat road.

 

Weekend in Wales

            Last weekend I took part in the school trip to Wales. It was by far the best weekend I have had since coming here. We left Friday afternoon and it took us six hours to get to Preseli Venture in Pembrokeshire, Wales. We spent the night hanging out in the lodge meeting new people. I went to be fairly early because I wanted to be rested for the morning. In the morning I had breakfast, then went to the building where the supplies were. In order to be prepared for coasteering I had to put on a winter wet suit, socks, a life vest, sliding shorts, and a helmet. We drove about 20 minutes away to the ocean and hiked for 10 minutes before we arrived to where we would be climbing down. Once we reached as far as we could go we jumped in the water. It was cold at first, but the wet suit kicked into action and did its job keeping me warm. We swam all along the coast, climbing on rock and even going into a cave. The highest rock I jumped from was around 20 feet high. It was quiet the adrenaline rush.

            That afternoon I went for an awesome 7-mile hike. The views were amazing. There were so many cool cliffs and caves and neat rock formations to see. We even saw tons of cows and sheep. After the long, tiring hike we went back for dinner and hung out by the fire for a little while. The next morning I did the same routine except this time I was surfing instead. I had never been surfing before and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to stand up and ride the waves. We got to the beach and the instructors taught us how to catch waves. After catching a few I decided to try and stand up and on my first try I rode a wave. It was such a great feeling and I kept on doing it for the rest of the time. Preseli Venture was such an amazing place and I have so many great memories from that weekend.

The Football Way of Life

     Before leaving for London there was one thing that I knew I had to do before going back home.  This one thing that I wanted to do was to see a professional football game.  As fate would have it, I accidentally came across a match while surfing the internet and the match surprisingly wasn't sold out.  When I was looking further into purchasing tickets I found that they were actually priced fairly cheap.  It all worked out well and I had two reserved seats for a professional football match!  The match was England V.S. San Marino in a World Cup qualifying match.  The match was to be held at the legendary Wembley Stadium.  I had previously known that Football wasn't just a sport in the United Kingdom, but it was something that people lived and breathed for.
     As Mike and I arrived at the stadium we were in total shock at the amount of people walking towards the gate and also by the size of the stadium itself.  After we picked up the tickets from the window, we made our way up to the seats to soak up the entire experience before the game actually started.  As we sat in the seats and watched the other fans pack into the stadium I began to see that football definitely wasn't just a sport.  Friends, families, and strangers cheered and chanted in unison for one football team. It didn't matter what their nationalities were or what their beliefs were because the second England scored a goal Wembley Stadium erupted with cheers of satisfaction and joy!  Because football is in some ways a religion in the United Kingdom I thought it would be the best place to immerse myself in the London Culture.  Being around 85,000 thousand other people from so many different places opened my eyes to the impact that the sport of football has had on the world.

Wales Adventure Weekend

This weekend (10/12/12- 10/14/12) I attended the Wales Adventure Weekend trip through Richmond University’s Student Affairs. I signed up on recommendation from past participants and my own desire to participate in the described activities. After a day of traveling on Friday, my first activity was surfing early Saturday morning. I have always wanted to learn how to surf and was beyond excited. The waves and views made me feel as though I was part of a Discovery Channel special. Learning how to surf in Wales is definitely something I will never forget. My next activity was coasteering. This involved climbing, jumping, and swimming along the beautiful coastline. The only way we were able to have a successful and enjoyable experience was to use teamwork and trust each other. Teamwork and trust are also very important in the workplace. They get tasks done the right way in a timely fashion. Even though I barely knew the names of the people in my group, we moved as one in perfect harmony helping each other navigate through the rough water and slipper jagged rocks. Trust is something that takes a long time to be created, but sometimes is necessary to be established on the spot. Trust holds value in the workplace. It can be the difference between getting a raise and getting fired. If employees don’t trust each other to complete their part of a project, the entire process will slow down causing conflict and failure to reach a set deadline. Jumping off cliffs into the ocean and free climbing the coast also involves taking risks. Deciding which rock to grab and where to jump have a high risk of serious or life threatening injury. Making a risky business decision can result in heavy sales losses and lowered customer satisfaction. Making a risky business decision can also pay off. For example, a large successful company might buy a smaller failing company and make it profitable. Stock investments are risky too. They can bring about heavy losses or large gains. In a multicultural global society I may be working with people thousands of miles away. My experience in Wales has gotten me to accept people different than me. This will make it easy to work with others all over the world.

London Markets

Since being in London I have had the opportunity to explore some of the different markets. About a week ago I went to Camden Market and this past weekend our marketing class went to Portobello Market. Both markets were different but interesting in their own way.

Camden Market is actually the fourth most popular tourist attraction in London and attracts about 100,000 visitors each weekend! There was a huge array of different types of vendors within a large area that branched into separate markets with different specialties. The vendors were selling all different types of things like new and vintage clothing, handmade jewelry, souvenirs, freshly squeezed fruit juices, and a large variety of foods from all over the world. Bartering with the vendors was one of the best parts of this market. It was a little awkward at first but I got better and managed to get some great deals. It was different than any other market I have experienced before and very different from what I was used to in Richmond. There were lots of people and unusual stores and items to buy.

Portobello market was also a fairly large market set up on a long road with outdoor stands and small stores. There was also a large and unusual variety of merchandise, including many items that were vintage or second-hand items which attracted many people who were undoubtedly collectors. Some of the things they sold were antiques, clothing and jewelry, beauty products, food, and souvenirs. Many vendors here were a lot less willing to negotiate but others would agree to slight negotiations depending on the item. It was interesting to see the different types of people that shopped at Portobello Market and how vendors operated their business compared to Camden Market.

After exploring these markets and what they have to offer, I plan to go to other markets in different parts of London. I’m looking forward to the Christmas markets and festivals the most and will hopefully have the opportunity to travel outside of London to discover more markets!

http://www.londonmarkets.co.uk/

Lost for Apples

     Amazingly, we have now been here studying abroad in London for over a month. This is still something that I have to get used to. I have not missed home as much as I had expected, but now that it is coming into the fall season here and at home, I am craving the stereotypical fall activities. Some of the things I miss most are apple picking, pumpkin carving, haunted hayrides, and other fall spirited activities my friends and I like participating in. Thinking about what I was doing last fall semester makes me miss home. One way I heard makes adjusting to a new culture easier is doing what you would at home in the new culture. Since I am missing these aspects from home, I decided to try the adjustment technique.

    Mariah, my roommate on campus at WNE, and I decided to explore and try to go apple picking this past week! I felt this would be a good opportunity for us to go off on our own since we will be traveling on our own during our fall break here in just two weeks. Unfortunately, the circumstances did not prove to be successful for apple picking, but it was a good experience for figuring out the transportation systems on our own. Normally we do not have any issues with traveling, but we were using the National Rail, which was a new experience for us both. Mariah and I had no problem leaving the station. The trouble came on our way back from our unsuccessful apple-picking trip. Once we were almost to the pick your own farm, we discovered that the farm was closed. Somehow, we did end up venturing to the birthplace of the Paralympics, Buckinghamshire. I found this as an interesting place to stumble across, even though there was nothing around but a sign as shown above. On our way back, we realized that this station was not set up, as we are accustomed to. The station was so small and did not have any place for scanning an oyster card, our normal means of paying for travel. Fortunately, we ended up successfully figuring out what train to take back. The best thing I can take from this experience is learning the National Rail System, and to always double check, that the place you are going to is actually open on the day you plan on visiting! In terms of missing home, I know that I always have next year to pick my apples, while being in London is such a special opportunity to be a part of now.