London Greetings

Hello from London!

I arrived yesterday at Goldsmiths and received a warm welcome from the entire staff.  Of course I fumbled a bit on the Underground finding my way to the University but that is all part of the fun adventure.  I just wish we had this kind of transportation in Los Angeles!

I was able to sit and observe the conferences offices for a few hours on my first day and all day today and was amazed at the amount of similarities we share.  We both have ESL (English as a Second Language) programs and the students and guests profiles are nearly the same.   Vanessa has given me a desk to share in her office and it has been fascinating to listen and observe the daily workings of their department.  Students losing cards, guests requesting maintenance, a group cancelling their event, etc, etc. 

Today we took a wonderful tour of the campus.  I was amazed to find all the rooms on campus are single occupancy.  Can you imagine!  My room is in an adorable building called Loring Hall and has a single bed, built in desk, dresser and bathroom.  They still use hard keys for their rooms so I am very conscientious of keeping it safe.  I remember how difficult it use to be to change the locks once a key was lost.  Across the hall I share a kitchen with the other rooms in my hallway (only about 5-6 rooms).  The kitchen has a stove, a few fridges and small dining table.  It is quite comfortable.  The one thing I learned today about the U.K. is that it is not common for the campus to have or offer Wi-Fi .  Yikes.   

When I worked for Hilton Hotels it was required as a Sales Manager to stay at the hotel a few nights of the year in order to understand the guest experience.  I was thinking it was pretty funny that I had to fly all the way to England to gain this experience on campus.  Are any of you required to live in your campus accommodations to feel the guest perspective?  I think this is something I am going to incorporate for all of my staff (sorry guys!). 

A new media building has opened today at Goldsmiths and the meeting spaces and auditoriums in this building are simply amazing.  Wonderful colors, give or take 15 meeting spaces or so, a beautiful balcony overlooking London, a small cafe and so much more.  Such great potential!  They are also renovating a Victorian style building that is completely opposite in style and architecture from the new modern media building. 

Unfortunately I am having technical difficulties with my laptop so am unable to upload photos at this time.  I will get those up as soon as I get everything fixed.

OK, I am off for today!