student blogger

London Pride was an amazing and colorful experience. Pride's theme of this year was dedicated to ‘Love (and Marriage)' to celebrate the positive steps towards equal marriage in the UK, as well as in various countries around the world. More than fifty events have been taking place throughout June and July as part of the Pride in London festival.

My role as volunteer involved insuring the parade ran smoothly, to enchant the audience and give information out to those who asked. Volunteers were given a t-shirt & a badge, and we were divided into groups of 5 or 6 people with a senior steward leading each one.

The parade started at 1.00pm and went along Oxford Street to Oxford Circus, moved down Regent Street and along Pall Mall, then to Trafalgar Square and finally ended in Whitehall at around 4.00pm. Over 150 groups had registered to take part in the parade, and many organizations joined the event as well.

After the parade, people than moved to Trafalgar Square where there was a big stage and different artists were performing. Soho soon became full of people having food and drinks. The after party took place in many venues around London and it was a great time to meet new people and celebrate Pride together.

One thing has not changed since I have returned to France: using public transportation.

Tourists have been invading France every summer and I understand why, as the French Riviera is an amazing place- it's like heaven on earth. From its nice weather and its proximity to the Mediterranean Sea and the Italian border, to its delicious ice creams and beautiful landscapes. People are able to understand why I cherish this place so much. Let's get back to business as I am losing track of what I wanted to say...

So I have been using public transportation here, as it's impossible to drive when there are so many tourists and hence traffic. The public transportation somewhat reminds me of London and its underground, DLR and other ways of transporting yourself to every single inch of the big city. I find public transportation pretty interesting as it is a place where companies use space to promote their products.

Differences in Advertising

Let me give you more details. Back when I lived in London I remember myself staring at all the ads and watching all the commercials, as this is an area I'm personally interested in. I have been studying advertising for years now and so I know something about French ads and those you can find in magazines.

"In Bulgaria it is often impossible to know where organised crime ends and legitimate business begins. The nexus between the two is characterised by complex bureaucratic structures, opaque corporate accounting and a maze of offshore accounts." The journalist John O'Brennan gives us an explanatory view of the causes of the protests in Bulgaria, widely ignored by the media during the first week of manifestations across the nation.

Besides the economic stagnation, lack of jobs and youths' future undermined by incertitude in the poorest country in the EU, the principal cause of the outrage and malcontent that led civilians to the street is the corruption of the political elite, accused of being oligarchs and biased.

The escalated bribery, dotted by many episodes of embezzlements and elections of people whose lifestyles and morality are rather ambiguous, exasperates citizens. They are making demands that the current three-month-old, socialist-led government step down, for new and legitimate elections, for effective strategies to fight organized crime and for reforms to improve the stagnant economy.

Brazil is using the upcoming sporting events to present the idea that it belongs to the world's richest countries; however the protests against the social problems do the exact opposite.

Brazil is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and is getting ready for the organization of the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics two years later. However, over the last week, the streets of the major cities have been stormed by protesters, using the football Confederations Cup as a way to get global attention.

They are objecting to social injustices and increasing costs, especially those of public transport- since 1994, the bus ticket price in Sao Paulo has increased by 540%. The discontent of the majority testifies to the fact that the wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few and the rest fail to pay for a middle class status.

The Business of Football

In contrast, on the football field Brazil is doing well at the Confederation Cup- a kind of rehearsal competition one year prior to the World Cup. They have always been good at the ‘low cost' game brought by the British workers at the end of the 19th century.

While people in London are all complaining about the weather, I am back home living in the sunniest part of France. I wanted to make a list of things that have changed since I got back home for the summer.

1) The food: I have been complaining about the food in London, maybe because I missed French bread so much. Comparing French food to English food was not really a hard thing to do for me. I have to admit that being a French person living in England is hard with the larger choice of chocolates and Ben & Jerries' ice cream, as well as the existence of Nando's restaurants were not going to keep me alive. Especially since I was trying to be healthy.

2) The weather: The sun is a natural source of vitamins, and I do not know how English people or people living in the UK survive. The bad weather puts me in such a bad mood and the lack of natural vitamins is not healthy.