Here´s a popular question: Where do you see yourself in five, ten or fifteen years? If somebody asked me this question, I´m not quite sure what my answer would be. I know for sure that I want to work in journalism, as I have mentioned in earlier blog posts. But this field is huge.
As a journalist, you first have to choose between radio, television, newspaper and other media. Then, you also have to make a decision whether you want to write about sports, cultural events or the economy, for example. I´d definitely go for sports, if I hadn´t written two travel reviews for the newspaper last year. I mean travelling to countries all around the world to collect impressions for your articles seems pretty fun and easy, doesn´t it? You´re allowed stay in the best hotels, just because you include information about them in your articles. And you don´t have to pay one single cent. That´s just you scratch my back and I scratch yours: The hotel managers let you live in their hotel for free and you promote their hotel in your story. Sounds like a good deal, right? Unfortunately, I haven´t had the chance to go on a holiday like this so far. This is a privilege for “real” journalists. For my two published travel reviews, I had to pay for the trips myself. The destinations: London and Scandinavia.
Aside from New York, London is the most awesome city I have ever been to so far. The city is just amazing, especially for a football fan like me. I had asked my boss if he wanted to have an article about the sporty side of London in his newspaper. He agreed – and so I had the chance to earn some money back that I had to pay for the trip. I probably don´t have to mention that I would have visited the stadiums on holiday London anyway.
The first stadium I visited was Wembley Stadium, home of the English national football team. Although it´s not the original stadium of the 1966 World Championship, this new one also has a magic aura. Even for us Germans, Wembley Stadium is THE football stadium, although we were betrayed by a linesman from Azerbaijan there in 1966 World Cup: NO, it was definitely not a goal and YES, we should´ve won the cup. Instead, the English squad won it for the first – and up to now – last time. It was not really to our surprise that the administration of the English Football Association has kept the crossbar from where the ball bounced before the line. On entering the stadium lounge, we saw it hanging proudly from the ceiling. Surprisingly it didn´t scream: “Hey, Germans. Don´t you know me?” Too bad the English will never win a penalty shootout!
After being mocked by our guide a couple of times because of this lost final, we decided to visit Wimbledon. In other words, we went from the hallowed lawn of football to the hallowed lawn of tennis. For some strange reason both places are located in England, although they have neither a successful national football team (do I have to mention the FIFA World Cup 2010 here?) nor successful tennis players (too bad Andy Murray is Scottish). But hey, the English definitely know how to promote their stadiums and events. It´s not for nothing that Wimbledon is considered the most important tennis tournament of the year.
For me, this unofficial title is a little bit surprising, though, since the Wimbledon tennis club itself is pretty strict, conservative and traditional. This doesn´t really go together with the media hype. The club itself has only a limited number of members, at the moment 375. If you want to become a member, you have to enroll on a long list and wait until a member dies. But the procedure is very difficult: Four members of the club have to write a letter of support to the board. In addition, two of these members must have known you at least three years in advance. Then, your name is put on the waiting list, which doesn´t mean that you´ll ever become a member, though.
So my friends and I decided to rather take a walk and visit the different stadiums and courts instead of wasting our time making friends in the club there. We got to see all the important courts, the broadcasting center and the player´s lounge. At least they didn´t have a racket or a net there which had witnessed an English victory over Germany.
The trip to Scandinavia was different… (to be continued)
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