Yesterday I went on a hike with a 'Get Out of London' hiking group to the countryside of Kent. We hopped on a train at Victoria station for a half hour to the village of Otford and hiked nine miles to Eynsford, with a stop in Shoreham. It was nothing short of beautiful and amazing and was exactly the kind of hike I wanted to take while I was here. We hiked by cow pastures, up stony hills, through the woods, walked beside lavender fields, and passed through large hilltop gardens, which were high enough to see across the countryside for miles.

Two people in our group who were regular hikers knew a lot about different kinds of plants, berries and mushrooms, and at one point we passed between two large hedges of blackberries lining a small road, so we all stopped and picked some. I also ended up with the greatest walking stick of all time, and at the end of the hike I left it propped up against a wooden fence on the outskirts of Eynsford.

All the villages were typical English villages; exactly like how I imagined them. Standing on the crest of the last hill of our hike, we could see the entire town of Eynsford surrounded by trees and green pastures. There was one church steeple that stood out the highest, and a red brick train bridge at the forefront. Shoreham was probably the most quaint with only three local pubs and one main street. (I have pictures of all these places.) People in these places are more friendly and open to conversation; in fact when we were taking a break at the King's Arms pub in Shoreham, one lady who had been out gardening came and talked to us about what we thought of Shoreham.

All the people in the group seemed really friendly, and Nick - the group organiser - was a great leader. He takes all the hikes himself before taking a group so he knows exactly what he is doing and where he's going. There was also a mum and her little kid, who had to be about 5 or 6 or so, and this kid had unbelievable energy. He talked to anyone he was with, and besides toting around a bag full of toys, he kept running back and forth in the group the entire hike, and still had more energy than everyone else at the end. I don't know how kids do it :p

While on the train to Otford in the morning, I sat by a lady (who was on the hike as well) and she talked to me about her views on British media, and how she believes news coverage is surpassing the necessary boundaries on content, especially with the developing news story on Gaddafi's death. She said that news channels (channel 4 specifically, I think) were broadcasting the actual video footage of Gaddafi's death over and over again, and she felt violated with the violence. I found it very interesting to listen to a first-hand account of a regular watcher of the news here since we are learning about media in school.

This morning I worked on the production team at Hillsong Church for the first time. On average, there are about 20 people on the production team at each service, and the church service is held in a broadway theater. The system itself is intense, and was my first experience at actual 'studio production' that I've had (I'm taking a class in the spring at JMU for studio production, too). They have two studio cameras, a lighting system, sound system, a broadcasting operations unit, CCU operation, and switchboard for the live stream that's projected on the screen at the front of the church. The broadcasting operation projects live-feed over the internet, and I know for a fact Amsterdam churches were online live for this morning's service. A guy named Abraham was my 'guide' for the morning, and since he was on CCU, that's where I spent most of the service. CCU is the Camera Control Unit; it operates (separately) the color balance, the camera iris, and shutter speed, while the cameramen themselves control the zoom level, focus and tracking. All of these things can be doing directly through the camera, but because of the size of the production, it is divided between cameramen and CCU operators for higher efficiency. Needless to say, I learned a lot in an hour and a half. In November, I'm specifically signed up for three services - 6 November, and two on the 13th - as Broadcast operations trainee and CCU operations trainee. I'm excited!!

Abraham also works at the BBC and I asked if I could come sometime and sit in one some of the operations happening there, and he told me sure!

London is ye olde awesome!