ABOUT LONDON

1- Locate our hostel  "Safestay Elephant and Castle" in google. Check out the facilities and regulations of the hotel. What you can do and what you mustn't do. 

FACILITIES
- Central city location
- Bar and restaurant
- Key card security system
- Full CCTV coverage
- 24-hour reception
- Free Wi-Fi in public areas
- Laundry room
- Social areas including TV and chill-out rooms
- Private garden at Kensington Holland Park and Elephant & Castle
- Private terrace at York
- Great social spaces at Edinburgh

REGULATIONS

- At Check-in, groups are required to leave a security deposit of £250 (£500 for Stag and Hen Parties) to cover any damages caused during the stay at the hostel. The deposit will be returned on departure subject to no damages being reported or detected. The deposit is payable via cash, debit or credit card.

- The comfort of all of our guests is of paramount importance. Any guests who in the opinion of our staff compromise the comfort, safety, or security of other guests, staff or local residents will be requested to leave the hostel premises and will not be issued a refund.

- On arrival, at least one leader will be required to sign a statement of intention to uphold the rules set in place for groups upon arrival. The group leaders must ensure that all members of their group behave in an acceptable manor.

- The group leader will be responsible for any wilful damage that is caused to the rooms, furnishings or hostel, for any theft of hostel property by any member of the group or in the case of guest complaints due to the behaviour of the group. Damages will be deducted from the security deposit paid and remaining costs will be required to be paid, or a payment agreement reached prior to departure.

- Should damage come to light after the group has departed, we reserve the right to make a charge to the group's credit / debit card, or send an invoice for the amount to the registered address. We will however make every effort to rectify any damage internally prior to contracting specialists to make the repairs, and therefore will make every effort to keep any costs that the guest would incur to a minimum.

- Smoking is strictly forbidden anywhere on Safestay premises. Any group member found smoking within the building will be charged a fee of £250.00 in order to cover the extensive cost of restoring the room to a smoke-free condition. Further failure to comply will result in the group being asked to leave the premises immediately and will not be offered a refund. If you wish to smoke please ask reception staff about designated smoking areas on arrival.

2- In google maps:

What can you visit near our hotel? (30 minutes on foot)

How far is the hostel from the center Piccadilly Circus?

How can you get to the center by bus and by tube?  UNDERGROUND

SAFESTAY ELEPHANT AND CASTLE

BIG BEN

LONDON EYE

GERALDINE MARY HARMSWORTH PARK

Piccadilly Circus is about 52 minutes on food and 17 minutes on underground if we take it in Bakerloo.

2. How can you get to the restaurants for dinner? and from the restaurants to the hostel?

On the 4th of April: LEICESTER ARMS (844 Glasshouse Street, Picadilly)

On the 6th of April:  ZETLAND 82 Bute Street, kensington)

To go to the first restaurant, we should take the underground from Bakerloo until Piccadilly Circus Station. And the same to go back to the hostel: take the underground from Piccadilly Circus Station to Bakerloo.

The second one, we should take the underground from South Kensington Station until Westminster Station and then take the underground from Westminster Station Bridge Street (Stop H) until Larcom Street (Stop A). So this is the way from Zetland to our hostel. 

3. Look for 3 must-see landmarks in London you definitely would like to visit.

Write 50 words about each landmark and how to get there from our hostel by bus or tube.

LONDON EYE → The London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London. Also known as the Millennium Wheel, it has also been called by its owners the British Airways London Eye, the Merlin Entertainments London Eye, the EDF Energy London Eye and, as of mid-January 2015, the Coca-Cola London Eye. 

BIG BEN → Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London and is usually extended to refer to both the clock and the clock tower as well. The tower is officially known as Elizabeth Tower, renamed to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 2012; previously, it was known simply as the Clock Tower.

LONDON TOWER

1066 : William the Conqueror establishes the Tower to keep hostile Londoners at bay.

1080s: Work on the White Tower is under way.

1101: Ranulf Flambard, the first known prisoner at the Tower, makes a daring escape.

1155: Thomas Becket, keeper of the works at the Tower, carries out repairs.

1220s: Henry III starts a major expansion of the royal palace.

1251 : A polar bear joins the Tower menagerie.

1263: Henry III surrenders the Tower to Simon de Montfort.

1275-79: Edward I builds St Thomas’s Tower and the watergate now known as Traitors' Gate.

1360 : John II ‘the Good’ of France lives in great splendour as a prisoner.

1381: Simon of Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, is dragged out of the Tower and murdered on Tower Hill during the Peasants’ Revolt. 

1389: Geoffrey Chaucer, clerk of works, oversees completion of Tower Wharf. Chaucer is better known for having written The Canterbury Tales.

1483: The Princes in the Tower disappear, presumed murdered.

1485: Henry VII founds the body ofYeoman Warders or 'Beefeaters'.

1536: Queen Anne Boleyn is beheaded on Tower Green by a swordsman brought especially from France.

1554: Lady Jane Grey, the ‘nine days queen’, is executed. Princess Elizabeth, later Elizabeth I, is imprisoned in the Tower.

1605: Guy Fawkes is tortured at the Tower following the failed Gunpowder Plot to assassinate James I and blow up Parliament.

1671: Colonel Blood attempts to steal the Crown Jewels.

1780: The last hanging takes place on Tower Hill.

1826: Duke of Wellington becomes Constable of the Tower and appoints Yeoman Warders based on their exemplary military service.

1835: Tower Menagerie closes. The animals are transferred to the new London Zoo.

1841: Crown Jewels are saved from fire.

1850: Koh-i-noor diamond is presented to Queen Victoria.

1952: East end London gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray are held at the Tower.

2012: The Crown Jewels exhibition opens.

CAN LOVE LAST FOREVER?

Love is something difficult to define and even up to poets have tried to do that like something very personal. Nevertheless, over the past few years, there are researchers who are trying to give an explanation to this feeling. 

One of them is the psychologist Robert Sternberg who talks about the “triangular love Theory”: intimacy (emotional closeness), passion (sexual attraction) and commitment (be together). 

On the basis of this theory, we can define an enduring love as that which comply with and respect these three rules. But, can we keep this foundations forever? 

Thanks to all the investigations that have been taken over recent years, we know that the biggest source of all what happens to us when we fall in love is dopamine, a neurotransmitter that increase and produce pleasant symptoms. But it doesn’t act alone, because noradrenaline steps in also, and it makes us focus our attention in one object (love object in this case). We have to add a decline in serotonin which is the responsible to generate obsessive thoughts related with our love. 

This could sound as a real love and we could say outright that love will last forever if people could maintain their feelings on the top, but it has been demonstrated that chemical love ends in 2 or 3 years after the first crush. 

In light of the anthropologist Helen Fisher, two patters were repeated: women had children every four years, exactly the average of expiration time of marriage. Coincidence? The anthropologist wraps up that in couples it tends to repeat a cycle: a first stage of crush which the priority is sexual contact; the other one called love or affection, where the objective is to have a child; and the last one which ends up with the splitting.  

Notwithstanding, it is just a theory but not a science. Passion can increase or decrease depending on the chemical fluctuations, but along the time other elements can raise like solidarity or fellowship, which will contribute to feed the passion. 

If we are able to keep passion in equal measures as affection and solidarity, everything improves. 

On the other hand we can compare two different opinions between teenagers and elderly people. What we are going to obtain is a large percentage of teenagers that deny the possibility of “love for ever” and, in contrast, the majority of elderly people would believe in eternal love. 

The reasons why we obtain these answers are: nowadays technology and social networks are all around and we are much more open to the society considering all the chances that lie ahead; today, and thanks to all those who fight for it, we have the freedom to choose with who we want to stay and we have the right of divorce in comparison with the madness that was meant to split up with your couple. 

In conclusion, we can say that we must take into consideration the three rules of the “triangular love Theory” if we want to love someone forever and we should keep the fire burning if we want prolong the chemical love that appears when we crush with someone.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

TED’S àhttps://www.ted.com/talks/alec_soth_stacey_baker_this_is_what_enduring_love_looks_like  [09.03.2017]

https://www.ted.com/talks/helen_fisher_tells_us_why_we_love_cheat [09.03.2017]

https://www.ted.com/talks/jenna_mccarthy_what_you_don_t_know_about_marriage [09.03.2017]

ARTICLES à

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hold-me-tight/201006/can-love-last-lifetime [09.03.2017]

https://www.babble.com/relationships/ways-to-tell-if-your-love-will-last-forever/  [09.03.2017]

NEWS

THE MOST DANGEROUS JOB IN THE WORLD

The landscape of Syria has changed this few years: cities have been destroyed, loss of homes, businesses and human lifes, etc. 

In Aleppo, there have been volunteers, more known as “White Helmets”, who delve into the ruins of Syria’s cities and retrieve survivors from the danger. Because of it, this job has been considered the most dangerous job in the world. Firstly, because they have to run towards a pile of rubble; and secondly, because they there are “double taps”, which are the secondary bombs sent down with the explicit purpose of attacking the first responders. Unfortunately, there were 470,000 deads among White Helmets in 2015.

They used to be tailors and electricians, bakers and civilians, leading pretty ordinary lives in Syria. In 2012, the year of White Helmets creation, there were 25 and nowadays they have increased until 3000. 

As if this were not enough, White Helmet have been accused from the Syrian government and Russia who says they have become politicized and help extremist group. They have answered that they would help anyone trapped in those buildings, regardless of what side they were fighting on.

What’s easily guess is that they are making a difference savining tens of thousands of lives. 

On Friday 10th of March I was at Maria Baguer’s home and we had a friend’s dinner. We were Maria Baguer, Marta Juncà, Cèlia Víudez, Ona Dorca and I and we decided to watch something on Tv. Maria had Netflix and we went through it to see with what we could spend the night watching at when coincidentally we found a documentary called “White Helmets” and we knew it was been nominated to the Peace Nobel Prize last year and, this year, it has won an Oscar. Finally we decided to play it. 

It was really dramatic because there were authentic images and you could see how people die in the middle of bombings, the White Helmets putting their lives in risk, leaving their lives for this solidary and humanity job, etc. But and the same time it was really touching. While I was watching it I feel like they should appear and be remembered along our society history, because what this group of volunteers are doing every day is something unique and courageous. 

Again, we are not conscious how fortunate we are having stable and regular jobs and lives. We should all do the effort for time to time to get into someone else shoes and start to appreciate what we have and value what we can do for the others. 

There’s no clearer example than White Helmets and what they are doing to help others. They are not stand idle complaining about what is happening in their country and crying for those who are dying, they are acting and helping as much lives as they can in order to cry for fewer people. 

So yes, they are making a difference, they've potentially saved tens of thousands of lives. It would be very easy for them not to do it, and yet they do it. I think that's real bravery, and that’s why I think they must be mentioned and remembered for what they are doing and what they are losing and we should all do our best to help them and, consequently, to end wars, being Syria or any country.

TRAILER

FULLFILM

Link: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/19/health/my-hero-hala-gorani-white-helmets-syria/index.html

NEWS

BEST PEDIGREE CHUMS!

Joel Sayer is boy who suffered from autism: he couldn’t go outside, he was trapped in a silent existence and he was unable to speak to people. 

Now, aged 13, with the overwhelming help of Caddie, a six-year-old Labrador from the company Dogs for Good charity, the world has opened up to him and his family. He is really happy now, and thanks to his guardian angel –as he says- , he has turned from muddled into calm and safe.

When they met, it was the first time Joel went outside and smiled. From that moment, his parents knew that the suggestion of Joel’s pediatrician to adopt an autistic assistance dog will make a meaningful turnaround in their lifes. 

This new attracted my attention a lot because I’m a real big lover of animals and I love to see how they can help people to overcome their difficulties and troubles. 

Since I was a baby, I have been living surrounded by animals and it is incredible how it affects in your personal life. They can give you almost as much as a person can and above all, they will never try to hurt you but to protect you and make sure you feel happy and comfortable.

They are those who always listen to you, who always play with you, those who accept any activity you propose, who stay with you make you feel coupled and they are also the best pranks partners, among others.

This is why I consider that having a pet can help you a lot in human beings aspect and can provide you lots of values you can’t appreciate without them. 

Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4304738/Dog-Crufts-award-changing-autistic-boy-s-life.html

WHY FASHION ENCHANTS US?

Everybody have to dress up, but nobody has to follow the fashion trends. Despite everything, the majority we do it with the most of the pleasures. Because fashion is pure seduction: always something new, something different, sometimes glittering, sometimes shocking…

Fashion is something more than just clothes. There isn’t any comparison. The essential difference is if the silhouette is correct, if the proportions are appropriated or if the colour contrasts harmonize. Fashion is a sign of civilization: the fact of get dressed make the difference between people and animals. 

Fashion took a lot of time in catch on, it was in 1860 when Charles Frederick Worth, get the idea to put a label with his name in every cloth he designed and tailored, like if they were art treasures. From that moment, all the ladies wanted to wear signed dresses. That was fashion, and whatnot was simply clothing.

Since then, all the biggest fashion masters have created their artworks and have signed them giving them an enormous value: Paul Poiret, John Galliano, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Martin Margiela, Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Coco Chanel or Giorgio Armani, among other. Regardless of if they have preferred focus on their job, on the art or on the commercial aspect, all of them have fought for giving an expression of their perfection idea. They give their best on their collections and this is why fashion touch us. 

REFUGEES

Few days ago, in class, we were talking about what is happening nowadays with people who run away from Syria’s war and we discussed whether we should open our country doors or not. 

If we go back in time, in 1936, we could remember what our ancestors suffered. The Civil War broke out and there were lots of families who had to migrate to another country, for example France. Witnesses have never complained about if they has difficulties to be good welcomed or not, because they had West-European culture, so there were no problem to be accepted. But, what happens with people who is from another culture, Islamic for example? Haven’t they equal rights as any person in this world? Why we don’t let them shelter in our lands?

It’s hard to see how, day after day, people has to leave all their lifes behind because a war is taking place in their countries. And it is even more upsetting to see how they can’t find any place to restart their life or just a place to wait safely until the war ends. 

I absolutely agree with open them the doors, but I also think that there’s something wrong. I mean, we can greet a certain number of people and there is a limit where we have to say “enough”. We can offer them as much facilities as we can but there’s also local population to maintain. For this reason, I think we should warn and ask to countries with the same culture, as Arabia Saudi, among others, to make an effort to accommodate a part of these immigrants. I think European countries are trying to do their best and even they can improve the facilities they offer, other countries not even have started. 

Finally, I would like to mention one last thing. If there’s a water leak you can put a container under it and collect all the water leaving but you will have to keep an eye on it because it has to be changed to avoid that water flows. If rather than put a container you take direct action to problem focus you can stopped it forever. So the same happens with this war. If the same governments which are getting immigrants help them finishing the war, the infinity flow of refugees will stop. But which is the problem? The same governments who should act against the war are the same who are selling weapons to the war militaries

NEWS

HERE’S WHY SELF-DRIVING CARS MAY NEVER REALLY BE SELF-DRIVING

Two self-driving cars are headed down the highway when the lead car decides to   speed up to avoid being rear-ended by the second. That car, in turn, slows down to avoid hitting the first. Then a third car suddenly comes between the two, prompting the slower car to change lanes to avoid and accident. But, the problem is that, there are cars in the lanes on either side of it.

The scenario is called "a ripple factor" and it's one of many researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) are studying to understand how embedded software could  address a myriad number of unexpected situations that could cause accidents as self-driving vehicles speed toward reality.

One problem with trusting autonomous vehicle software is that if a software glitch exists in one vehicle, it exists in the entire line of cars or trucks.

As we have been talking about in class, it’s true that technology progresses can bring advantages forward and by making a “good use” of it we can spread our knowledge and reach as much expertise as we already have. 

But, on the other hand, there’s a part of technology we don’t really like. Maybe this part can damage us because we don’t know about it enough, but it’s possible that we certainly know about it but we make a “bad use” of it. 

Here, in the new we have already comment, we talk about technology we can’t rule properly. Although we progress in a breakneck speed, we must be sure that everything it’s controlled before make some product commercially available. And like the tittle says, the car might seem like if it works by itself but the driver is who will have to pay the consequences. 

Link: http://www.networkworld.com/article/3173629/hardware/heres-why-self-driving-cars-may-never-really-be-self-driving.html