Italy

So, its now our last week here. I can’t believe how fast time has flown. It literally feels like just yesterday that we were on a plane here and moving into our first hotel before permanently moving into our housing assignments. For our last hora we decided to do a long trip through Italy. We flew into Milan and took the first train the next morning to Rome. We basically conquered every tourist destination in Rome. We started with the Parthenon, then moved on to the Sistine Chapel, where we had a private tour and got to cut the entire line. Afterwords, we went to the Collisium, and up the Spanish Steps. That night we hung out in Campo de Fiore, a large square where there are tons of bars and people roaming around. It was so much fun.

The next day we left for Florence. Because Lexi and I had already been there we spent most of our time shopping and looking around the open air markets. They had more leather than anyone would ever think necessary. Seth found a pair of leather gloves that were made of a man’s pet cat. Gross. Our hotel situation couldn’t have worked out more perfectly in Florence. We stayed right by the Duomo and had really comfortable beds. We decided to spring for a hotel for Florence after our first encounter with having a random roommate in Rome. Her name was Liz, she was a vegetarian from Alaska and did not like loud noise at night. Clearly, not the best match up for our group of friends.

We only went out one night while we were in Florence, to a small Irish bar. It was so much fun! They played all our favorite songs, including Lil’ Wayne and Miley Cyrus. The whole bar thought we were absurd because we sang along anoxiously to each and every song we knew.

The Gossip Gansta of the US

As we talked about in class, podcasts are a great way to connect with others and learn more about your own interests. Perez Hilton, an American blogging sensation, blogs daily about celeb gossip that keeps all of America buzzing. In addition to his blog he has something called a “Perez Cast”. This is his own version of a podcast. As he recieves updates he will send out breaking news in radio show format on his webpage. Check it out!

Perez Cast

Recently, Perez has been doing a lot of blogging and podcasts about this guy right here. Tiger Woods. Supposedly, the number of affairs he has had over recent years is up at 13. Oops! Big mistake. You can hear all Perez’s thoughts on the matter on his Perez Cast, as well as by looking at his daily comments just on his blog.

Podcasting continued…

Podcasting was made in the most convenient of ways so that you can download it to your MP3 player or to your computer’s desktop. One website we looked at in class was music.podcast.com. This is a music podcasting website with all sorts of cool songs on it. As many site do, it even has an application where those who listen to the podcast can rate it so others know if they are wasting their time or not by tuning in.

If you want to make your own podcast you can use a website like Audacity. Sites like this provide you with tools to record, edit, and mix audio clips.

You girls don’t look like you were prepped for this…

Thanksgiving is a major US holiday that is a time when family and friends gather together to remind themselves of all they are thankful for and of course to chow down on a huge feast! This was the first year I have not been with my family on Thanksgiving. They were unable to make it to Barcelona, so I went to London with Lexi and her family instead.

We celebrated this traditional American holiday in a unique way this year with carnival rides, Chinese food, and an apple pie we bought from the train station. It was so much fun! I couldn’t have asked for a better Thanksgiving. The next day we were blessed with gorgeous sunny weather, which is rare in London and did the hop-on hop-off bus tour around the city. This was such a treat for me because I’ve never been there before. We saw everything: the Big Ben, the London Tower, the London Bridge, Buckingham Palace, the oldest bank in the world, Westminster Abby, and the Globe. Our tour guide was hilarious and made it really interesting. That night Laura, Megan, Lexi and I went to the One Republic and James Morrison concert. It was unreal. Probably one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen. The lead singer from One Republic came down our row on his last song and high fived us too!

The next day we went on a 12 hour tour of the English countryside. Our first stop was at Windsor Castle. Obviously, magnificent and huge. There we also saw the changing of the guards as well as the queen’s personal cathedral and had a view of Eaton College. Next, we stopped at Stonehenge. Stonehenge was absolutely amazing. It had this air to it of mystery, thus being one of the 7 wonders of the world. It was definitely one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. For lunch we made a stop at Lacock, a small historic town where Pride and Prejudice, Harry Potter, and a few other movies were filmed. Our last stop of the day was in Bath, which was very crowded due to the professional rugby match that was taking place that night. The tour was so much fun and gave you a taste of everything, however, I did not appreciate David’s (our tour guide) attitude, nor did any other Americans on the trip. He was condescending and would make comments about how the English were the best and that everyone else was like a commoner. It was totally ridiculous. Moreover, he started bashing McDonalds. That was a direct blow to every American’s heart.

After our long tour we got some pizza and went to bed, thinking it would be an uneventful evening after a long day of running around England. We were so very wrong. At about 1:30am the fire alarm sounded throughout our hotel. We had to go outside for about an hour and a half in our pajamas in the rain for an emergency evacuation. Because this was prime-time going out hours everyone was extremely confused why we were in such attire. A couple guys stopped to ask what was going on and when we told them our hotel was on fire they responded “It doesn’t look like you girls were prepped for this”. That we were not.

Podcasting

Podcasting is an innovative concept that allows every day people to broadcast themselves for a small fee.  Podcasting can stand for a number of things including Personal On Demand Casting and Portable On Demand Casting. People who are interested in what they are talking about can subscribe to these pod casts and tune in to them as they please.

In my opinion, this is yet another example of a type of citizen journalism because people can use this mode of communication in order to share what they know or think about relevant topics in today’s society. However, using this medium or communication also allows for them to talk about things that aren’t news related at all. They can also just talk about random things that they find interesting in their day-to-day life. I think that this is a great idea because it allows people to learn more about topics and hobbies that they are interested in, as well as allowing them to make friends and connect with others who have things in common.

Amsterdam

This past weekend we made a trip to Amsterdam. It is unreal. While I was there I felt like I was in a dream. When we arrived the woman who owns our hostel picked us up from the train station. Her name is Kait. She was awesome. She was very welcoming and marked down all the different places that we should go on our map so that we weren´t necessarily going to all the touristy spots. That night she took us out for a little bit and we walked around the Red Light District. It was unreal to see.

The next day we went to a delicious breakfast, walked around the Red Light District some more and then went to the Heineken Experience. We went on a simulator ride that made you feel like you were the beer being brewed. It was really cool. While there, we also toured the Anne Frank House. This was probably one of my favorite tours I’ve been on just because there was such a personal story behind it. The tour became alive with the story and artifacts that accompanied it. It was also very cool at the end that we got to see her actual diary. I was not expecting to see that, I thought the diary had been destroyed. Seeing her handwriting was kind of unnerving. It gave me the goosebumps. Finally, we walked around through the open air flea markets. I saw a few old bike jerseys I wanted to get for my dad, but none of them caught my eye (and they were slightly smelly)– Dad if you are reading this you can thank me later for not getting it.

El Periodico

The other day we took a field trip during class to El Periodico. I was surprised by how tight the security was upon walking in. It was stricter than the airport. Once we entered the set up looked just like the set from the movie State of Play.

El Periodico is a newspaper for the average every day person. It is produced in two versions: Catalan (blue) and Castillian (red headline). Each day about 140,000 copies are sold and they have an average readership of about 7,000 people. Because they do not produce as in depth of articles as Longobardia much of their success can be attributed to their eye catching covers. Also, they try to pick relatable topics to write about in the paper that they know are hot topics at the moment that will be talked about at bars or simply amongst groups of friends. El Periodico also includes a section every day for readers to send in random stories that they would like to discuss as a form of citizen journalism. Another thing that distinguishes this newspaper from others in the area is that they were the first to use color. El Periodico also has 3 suplements that are available on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

I think that El Periodico is pretty similar to the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Both cover broad hitting news stories that affect the majority of the population. Though each newspaper contains a section for people to write in about current events, Spain incoroperates much more of the public´s opinion than St. Louis Post Dispatch. They have sections dedicated to opinions, blogs, and participation. This shows their increasing movement towards citizen journalsim and allowing the public to get involved and have a voice directly in what is being printed. Though the St. Louis Post Dispatch allows the public to voice their concerns and opinions about various issues, they are not given as large of a role as journalists. Another thing that they both have in common is producing supplements. However, St. Louis Post Dispatch only produces a supplement on Sundays, whereas, El Periodico publishes one for each day of the weekend.

Humpty Dumpty went to Dublin

This past weeken we went to Dublin, Ireland. It was absolutely amazing. We stayed at a hostel called Barnacles which is in the Temple Bar area. It was the perfect location because it was right around a bunch of cool Irish pubs, restaurants, and shops. It was also about a 2 minute walk from the River, which although brown, was still pretty.

The first night that we got there we just went right to bed because we were so exhausted. When we woke up the next morning we went to a quaint little restaurant for a huge traditional Irish breakfast. It was delishious. The breakfast came with bap, a kind of Irish bread, fried eggs, bacon, and sausage. After our filling breakfast we went on a walking tour of the city. These tours work out really well because they take you to see a lot of different sites, but they are in essence free. You pay the tour guide in tips: if you like it you pay them, if not you don´t. We only stayed for half of the tour because it got a little bit boring. We then made our way to the Guiness Storehouse. It was awesome! We learned about how Guiness beer is made and got to taste samples of it during the tour. At the end we went up to the gravity bar which had a panoramic view of Dublin. The view was incredible! While absorbing the city our livers got to absorb a free Guiness beer.

After the tour we decided to take a horse drawn carriage driven by a 12 year old boy to dinner because it was raining. During the carriage ride Lauren was trying to lean out to take a picture of the driver. While she was trying to take a picture she was leaning on the door when it swung open. At first we weren´t really sure how to react as she was hanging out the window trying to run along side the carriage. Quickly she gave up, tumbled out, and kept trying to run after the carriage. It was hilarious!

The next day after exploring the city further we watched the Ireland vs. France game. Unfortunately Ireland lost 0-1 in the final minutes of the game. However, we didn´t let that stop us from having fun. Afterwords we went to a pub called The Quays. It was the best time ever. They had live music and we sung along to American Pie, Gallaway Girl, Brightside, and many more songs.

On our last day there, Sunday, we took a train out to Bray to see the countryside. It was a great finaly to our trip: breath-takingly beautiful with the ocean and gorgeous green hills.

Sevilla

This past weekend we visited Sevilla. We had to wake up really early at 6:30 to catch our train at 8. On the 6 hour train ride there we slept almost the entire way, which was really nice. Once in Sevilla and checked into our hotel we decided to walk into town to get lunch. Sevilla was so great because everyone took siestas much more seriously than they do here in Barcelona. Everyone was out and just hanging out. It was like one big block party. We settled on a tapas restaurant and were very satisfied with our choice. We had a delicious 3 hour lunch for such a great deal! Much cheaper than Barcelona! After our meal we went to go meet up with my friend Alex from home. He and his friend, who is a club promoter in Sevilla, got us a couple beers and Tabo took Lauren for a ride on his moped!

After our day of festivities we decided to go back to the hotel for a bit to nap. However, after our large meal and accidentally eating some stale chocolate my stomach hurt really bad. I decided not to go out, which ended up being a really good decision because the rest of my friends who did got lost and came home after about two hours.

The next morning we had a delicious FREE breakfast at the hotel and went on a really cool tour of Alcazar, the oldest and still used palace in Spain. It was absolutely beautiful. We walked through gorgeous gardens and saw some of the largest tapestries hanging on the walls that exist. While we were there we saw a few different couples taking their wedding pictures there. The intricate detail on the ceilings of the palace was stunning.

After the tour we decided to do a bit more exploring on our own. We went to an awesome restaurant by the river for lunch, then walked around for a while. We discovered that we could rent paddle boats for only 5 euros a person for 1 hour! Obviously, we decided to do this. It was so much fun. The weather was perfect so when we were out on the boats I was slightly upset I didn´t bring my swimsuite to get tan. Rachel was my partner in my boat so we both just paddeled up and down the river for a bit while talking and having our own version of karioke. Lexi doesn´t really like paddle boats so we went back early to save her from her boredom (she was throwing leaves into the water). We later found out she was almost robbed by gypses!

That night we went to a wonderful Italian dinner and then met up with my friend Alex again to play beerpong. Lexi was my partner on team BOMO. We won one game then got sick of playing and just hung out the rest of the night. After the bar Rachel, Lauren, Claire and I went to another club and then got home around 4am. It was so much fun, but no Barcelona.

On Sunday Lexi and I walked around to try to find a pottery shop I had seen earlier on the trip so I could get a gift for my mom while everyone else ate lunch. Sadly, because it was sunday everything was closed but a couple tourist shops. It was still a fun afternoon though. Lexi and I walked around for about 2 hours and went in the Cathedral where Columbus is barried.

It was a great weekend with beautiful weather and I couldn´t be happier with how we spent our time there!

Politics 2.0

In class we talked about politics 2.0 and how you can utilize web 2.0 and social networking to help a political campaign. We discussed the differences between Spain and US politics and how the different campaigns are run. For instance, we talked about how US campaigns are much more complex and professional than those in Spain. In the United States professional are brought in to help with the campaign as a pose to just people that are a part of that political party helping to create it. Furthermore, in the United States they make great use of microtargeting. In doing so, they categorized their demographics much more narrowly than in Spain in order to make sure that the message being sent to the audience is relevant to their wants and needs.

Barack Obama

One tool that can be very helpful in furthering a political campaign is facebook. By using this social network it allows you to be connected with your audience. It lets the person running connect with others on a much more personal level. Another example of social networking aiding a campaign can be seen through twitter. Twitter lets a politician update their status in a way so that people feel that they can keep up with him and know what he is doing on a daily basis. Barack Obama utilized both of these during his political campaign both to update the public and to advertise. By using these tools he shrank people´s worlds in a way that made them feel closer to him and that he actually cared about their specific needs and worries.

I think that he was very smart to use these tools because they are very technology forward and current with the times. By using these tools he was not only able to reach a wider audience than before, but he was able to reach out to individuals in different ways that were relevant to their personal concerns. One thing that I thought was very smart and interesting that he did was advertising in video games. On some football video games he would have a Barack Obama banner on the sidelines promoting him. This was extremely wise of him to do so because one of his major target audience was a younger age group of 18-25 who use these games frequently.