So, like many others I did a degree within the media, specifically video production and photography and the course was fairly good, but not amazing. However, during our third year one of our lecturers created an incredible opportunity for our course to head to San Francisco for a five day media related trip!
The dollar to the pound in 2001 was very favourable to us Brits and our lecturer secured a bargain hotel (where we also slept four to a room lol)! The whole trip was no more than £300 all in, which as a student was just about viable and looking back was a really good deal.
The first two days we did the usual touristing, Pier 39, Golden Gate Bridge, Haight Ashbury, Lombard St and of course Alcatraz! Then, we moved onto the media related activities, we headed to The University of San Francisco for a lecture with the media students! It was very exciting being in an American University and the best bit was sitting at one of those single person desks (like they have on Saved by the Bell lol).
After the lecture we went clubbing with the students in a slightly sketchy part of the city…I don’t think of those tales are suitable for 2024 social media feeds (you can ask me in person however 🙂 ).
Our next media trip was just a exciting, as we were taken to ABC Studios to watch the ABC News programme being filmed live, I remember this well and also we were able to take photos of us pretending to be news broadcasters after the show aired! After this we then had a tour of the whole site, annoyingly the only bit of this I remember is my friend taking flatulence tablets!
All in all, the trip was a fantastic experience, this was my first time leaving Europe and it was a real eye opener! It was certainly the highlight of my degree and I’d recommend a visit to the city if you’ve not been before (though I’m not sure I’d stay on the Turk St/ Polk St crossing, sorry that’s another tale I can’t share here lol).