Life Abroad

Podcasting!

sam1235 — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:34:51 +0000

For someone like myself, who is very interested in listening to the newest music or watching the latest episodes of television, podcasts are a great thing for me. With podcasts, it allows us Internet users to get audio files from any podcasting website to listen on our own computers. With the method of podcasting, you can publish files through the Internet and we then can subscribe through an RSS, which lets you know when you recieve new files. I personally think this is great especially being across seas, my computer lets me know what audio is new and it will update through my computer automatically, and I dont have to worry about updates for my music. Podcasts also have come in great use for being across seas when it comes to television shows. On T.V, i watch around 3 to 4 shows a weeks consistantly, and with podcasts it lets me keep up with all my shows on schedule. One interesting thing I learned with the lesson on podcasts are that you can put podcasts on your ipod and watch and listen anywhere and everywhere!

As far as podcasting goes, it can be used in a lot more ways then we all may think. Podcasting can be used for talk shows, music shows,interviews, story telling, tutorials,directions, commentaries, and sportscasts. One company online that uses podcasting to reach their audience is Natural Physiques. With this company, they like using the technology of podcasting, because it allows international health coach Jeffery Likeness to interview a guest or lecture on healthy living. It lets people around the world to listen and hear inspirational information on health. In the near future they hope to have seminars and coaching programs available on podcasts. Something of this nature, I think is great to use podcasting for. It allows people to listen to others talk about health and issues they have going on, so others can learn new more about health issues that they may have or think they have.

11 days off… Spring Break!

sam1235 — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:10:24 +0000

As if four months of being abroad in Barcelona, Spain have not been a spring break in itself, we just had almost 2 weeks off from classes! I started the break off in Italy, first going to Rome, then Florence, then ending in Venice. With this being my first time in Italy, it was the best time ever! We arrived in Rome early Friday morning with the first place visiting was the Colosseum. We got a tour and got to learn all about what took place there. With always seeing pictures and hearing about it in history class, it was so amazing to finally see it up close in person. Next places on the agenda was to see the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain and the Vatican to see the Sistine Chapel. They were really great to see, but after ten minutes of seeing them it was time to move on to more sightseeing around Roma! It was such an amazing city for it being so big, and every corner you turn there are more remains of the city. After about two days in Rome, we were off to Florence!

The one city I have been waiting to go to, I was finally on my way! We took the train from Rome to Florence, and got there in only two hours! When finally arriving in Florence, I knew it was going to be my favorite city that I had visited! When we first arrived, I was starving so with pizza places being on every corner in Italy, we had some pizza for lunch! We then walked around the small city and went to the leather market, since Florence is known for its leather, as our first stop! With shopping being one of my favorite things to do, I of course bought a leather jacket! That same day, we continued walking around and hit the Duomo. It was really fun to walk to the top and get a amazing view of the whole city, but it was very tiring! That night, we were told to go to a restuarnt called Il’Latini! When you sit down, they don’t even bring you at menus, they ask what you like to eat and then from there on just bring out a bunch of different kinds of appitizers and main meals. It was one of the most amazing meals I have ever had! Day 2 in Florence was just as amazing as the first! We got up early and walked around all day! The weather was awesome, around 65 degrees out, it was so nice to just walk around and enjoy the great weather, especially after the past week of rain here in Barcelona. That night we were recommended another great place for dinner called Acqua Al 2. We each got amazing steaks and dessert. We then met up with some friends who we knew that are studying in Florence for the semester, for them to show us a great time out in Florence. The night life was very different from here in Barcelona. In Florence, they go out a lot earlier then we do here in Spain, and come home earlier. It was deffinitly alot of fun to go out in a different city, just to see what its like. Being in Florence for two days was enough! With there alot to do, it also is a small city, so we got a lot done in those two days! Finally, to end our Italy trip, lastly we were off to Venice!

We arrived in Venice, after taking a three hour train from Florence. When arriving, we started off going to St. Marco’s Square and going on a Gondola ride! It was so relaxing having someone take you around on a gondola for about 45 minutes! We then took a boat to Murano, to watch the guys make glass that comes from ">Murano. It was really interesting to watch, because they show you how they shape and put the color into the glass. With Venice also being a pretty small island in Italy, we were only there for the Day! It was so pretty to just be there! I got the impression of Venice being a very romantic place. After the long day of doing things in Venice and seeing three major cities in Italy, our vacation came to an end.

With this being my first time in Italy, I thought it was nothing but amazing! Each of the three cities are totally different from one another and each being special in different ways. Florence was my favorite city because it was not too big, but still so much to do. The food and everything about it was just nothing but fantastic! Venice was great also, with seeing what they are known for which is the glass being made was something that was really neat to see as well! I think that this was one amazing way to spend spring break abroad!

MultiMedia Storytelling…Parc Güell:Best place in Barcelona!

sam1235 — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 22:27:27 +0000

History of Parc Guell:

Parc Guell is a very famous parc that Antoni Gaudi designed and built from 1900-1914. This lovely outdoor parc is located right here in Barcelona, in the Gracia district. The parc all started up by being connected from a commerically unsuccessful housing site from the idea of Eusebi Guell, who the parc is currently named after. Where the parc is currently located, it once was an area with rocky hills and little vegitation. This area was called Montana Pelada. Already standing in this area was a house called Muntander De Halt House, that was located in a upper class neighborhood known as La Salud. What they wanted to accomplish at first was to take advantage of the gorgeous surroundings and fresh air. Eusebi Guell in 1906, moved into one of the houses to live in the Larrad House. At this time, and in this area they only had as few as two houses built, neither designed by Gaudi. Finally in 1906, with Eusebi moving out, Gaudi took his savings and purchased it and made it a new family home being with his family and father. Ever since, it has been changed over to a gorgeous parc that Gaudi designed himself. Entrance to this Parc is free at no charge!

About the Designs at the Parc:

When going to a parc , the only thing you want to really do is relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery . When first entering the Parc, you see a gorgeous main terrace, which happens to the main point of the parc. The bench is shaped in a curvy form, and Gaudi took the shapes of naked workman sitting one day in wet clay to get the shape of their bottoms. This is something that sounds so bizzaire, but makes each part of the parc so interesting. I really love the ideas on how Gaudi thought to just ask working men, that were doing the parc at the time to sit down in wet clay, and make that become the bench’s in the parc. In his designs in this parc, Gaudi included themes of Catalan and old poetry into the architecture of the parc. Around the parc, there are roadways that were from the houses that Gaudi designed, in which they were used as structures coming from the steep hillsides. At the highest point of the parc, there is a cross loacted on one of the two houses designed by Gaudi, to show the Sagrada Familia, which is close by. By standing at this point in the parc, it gives you an outstanding view of Barcelona, as a whole.At the Parc, one of my favorite things is the big colorful lizard that is right in the center of the stairway up to the parc. This colorful lizard has water coming out of its mouth and it looks like a waterfall!

Parc Guell and I:

When first coming to Barcelona, one place everyone told me that I must visit it Antoni Gaudi’s Parc Gell. With living in New York City and growing up there, going to Central Park was always my favorite thing to do on beautiful summer days. I would take a book and some food and just lay out in the park for hours. It was always so relaxing and just so great to sit there enjoying the scenery and all the people passing by. My first time at Parc Guell, I just loved being there. With all of Gaudi’s amazing work and design of the parc, just sitting and walking around was almost heaven. My two favorite things were together, being outside in a relaxing enviorment, and looking at gorgeous artwork. When all my family and friends come to visit, one of the first places I take them to visit is the Parc. Everyone always says its one of their favorite places here in Barcelona. The enviroment is great and always filled with different kinds of entertainment such as guys singing and playing instruments, or woman dressing up as tango dancers and stopping you while walking around to do for you. Going to Parc Guell each time is always a different experiance which is what I enjoy most. This past weekend, having a few friends here from school, they had the real experience of Parc Guell.

Movies and T.V Shows where Parc Guell has appeared:

On one of the most popular tv hit shows, Americas Next Top Model, had season 7 tapped here in Barcelona, Spain at Parc Guell. The international destination was at Parc Guell.With this particular show having over 5.13 million watchers, going to Parc Guell is something special! One particular famous movie directed and filmed by Woody Allen, in which Parc Guell is showed is “Vicky Christina Barcelona“.

Other Designs done by Antoni Gaudi:

-Casa Vicense(1884-1885): A family residence , that was built for Manuel Vicens who was an industrialist.

-Palau Guell(1885-1889): This was a town mansion, where people in the neighborhood would come and gather for occasions.

-Casa Calvet(1889-1904): This house was built for a textile manufactuer that served as a residence and commercial property.

-Casa Batllo(1905-1907): Building that is located on Passeig de Gracia, in which Antoni Gaudi redesigned himself.

-Casa Mila(1905-1907):A house that is also located on Passeig de Gracia, that was originally built for a married couple.

-Sagrada Familia-(1884-present day construction): Roman Catholic Church, that is still under construction today.

Newspapers…El Periodico Vs. The New York Times

sam1235 — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:44:15 +0000

Being from New York City, and having the newspaper delivered to your front porch is something that I always had growing up. Having the New York Times just to name a couple, delivered daily, made reading the newspaper a habbit for me. The New York Times is one of the oldest newspapers with being started back in 1851 being published in its own city of New York. This newspaper is the largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States. The newspaper here called the El Periodico, is total opposite of the NY Times. With this paper only starting 30 years ago, it has grown over the years.

The New York Times, publishes 10 other papers such as the International Herald Tribune and The Boston Globe. With the New York Times headlines tend to be very wordy but with major stories they have subheadings that give more detail regarding the story. At the start of the newspaper, it had an eight column format but over time with other papers switching to the six column format, the New York Times switched to keep up with the other papers. This paper was also the one of the papers to use color photography. For that particular day, the most important article mostly appears in the top right hand column, on the main page. These are just a few important things about the New York Times, and how the paper changed so drastically over time. On the other hand, the Barcelona El Periodico, differs from the New York Times. When the El Periodico first started they did not publish their paper with a lot of pictures. Opposite from the NY Times, this paper was the first newspaper to use color here in Spain. Also, with this Spanish newspaper they have on the back of the actual paper complaints from their readers about what they don’t like or are not happy with about the paper, and for the NY Times, the readers just write to the paper it, it is not physically published on the paper.

As we can tell, these two newspapers are very different from each other in many ways. After reading the New York Times for about 7 years now, and reading the El Periodico for the first time today, I can tell right away that the El Periodico is a lot more of an easy, fun read where the New York Times, is more in depth and more about details. For me personally, I really enjoyed reading the El Periodico, well as much as I can in Spanish, but it was a fun easy read which made me want to sit there and try to read more of the paper. They both have their advantages and disadvantages to reading a paper and enjoying it!

Marketing,Advertising, and Business 2.0!

sam1235 — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:09:35 +0000

As we know, nowadays, most major companies are using the corporate blogging . With this new method used throughout a big business corporation, it gives people the chance to voice out their opinions and tell people how they feel or what they think about a new product for example. Something like this definitely has it advantages and disadvantages to a companies enterprise. With having a corporate blog, some advantages can be by posting things all on the blog about meetings and updates with products and things going on in the office, so if someone misses a meeting they can just go on and check the blog to see what was missed. On the other hand, with having a corporate blog, it can have its disadvantages. Some of those might consist of people blogging about a certain product or item and not having good things to say about it, which gives other outsiders that read the blog, a bad feeling and then having them not want to buy your product or whatever it might be you are selling.

One company we all know, called Dell, just recently started a company blog. With Dell’s blog, and this article describing it, which is called “one2one”, it lets employees voice their opinion and post messages and videos, as well as lets readers submit their opinion to things that were posted. A corporate blog can also serve as an early-warning system for a product or service problems. It lets the company or manufacturer know what the issue may be, so it can get resolved quick enough for consumers to still be able to purchase the revised product. With Corporation blogs, I personally feel that they are a huge benefit to the company. It can only help the company in the long run, by telling them the problem of a product and getting it fixed as soon as they can. There really are not that many disadvantages to having one because if someone is not satisfied with your product and writes that on the blog no matter what you are still going to have people buying it anyway. It is very hard to always please all your consumers.

Paris!

sam1235 — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:21:02 +0000

One place I have dreamed of going to ever since I was a little girl was the one and only Paris,France! They always say save the best for last in which I certainitly did! This weekend I got to experiance the wonderful world of Paris! I went with friends from here and then met my three school friends who are studying in Prague for the semester. With having only seen them one other time this semester it was great to be with them in Paris. We stayed at some little hotel which was very clean and close to the center of the city which was great. With arriving so late Thursday night we were exhausted, so we went for dinner then back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.Friday morning we woke up early to get an early start on the big day of touring the city! The first place was the Jewish Quarter. We got to see some old Temples and eat some great Jewish food! Right by the Jewish Quarter was the Notre Dame, which was one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen! Unfortunately, with being very pressed for time, we did not have the chance to go in and tour the church, but just from the outside everything about it was beautiful! After that I finally got to see the one and only Eiffel Tower in person! We hopped on the metro and off to see the tower we go! With it being a gorgeous day in Paris, it was very enjoyable to just sit in the park looking up at the tower in real life! I took as many pictures as possible from every angle possible.

With being in Paris, something that every girl must do is some shopping! After the Eiffel Tower, we took the metro to Champs Elysees where some of the most outrageous shopping in Paris is. It was so relaxing to walk up the streets and see all the stores and tourists all doing the samething. When we go to the end of the street we saw the real Arch de Triumph. Since there is one here in Barcelona, it was very interesting to see this one in Paris. With having done so much in just one day, we knew it was time to go back to rest for dinner. That night after dinner, we took another trip to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up at night. Seeing it at night was jsut like seeing it how it is in a movie. It was alot of fun and definitly a great experiance. Saturday was a new day, which meant the touring and sightseeing began! We started off at the Louvre Museum. The main thing that all I wanted to see was the Mona Lisa. With seeing this picture in person, it was very neat! The only places I have seen this picuture was in a movie or in books, so finally seeing the real thing up close and person was very cool. Everyone was gathered around it like it was going to come alive or something crazy! After all the sightseeing around Paris, it was time for a break and some crepes. Walking on the streets, they have so many people making crepes with nutella and bananas. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever eaten!

With have wanting to go to Paris for a long time now, it was one of the most amazing places I have ever been in my whole life! Being there almost felt like it was a fantisy with everything being so pretty and hearing the language was so great. I hope to get back to Paris in the next five or so years!

Politics 2.0

sam1235 — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:19:07 +0000

With this being the year of a new President, there are many ways to promote your campaign. Between Europe and the United States, there are differences on the promotion of campigns. For example, with television, here in Spain you have limited time but it is free in the public television which consists of 2- 3 minutes of ad time compared to in the US where you buy as much time as you need.Witht he use of Internet, Spain is just starting to use it and in America, they use it as an advertsiting space. Another teqnique used differently from here and the US is microtargeting. Here in Spain, when doing a campaign all we know is if we are giving a message to a male or female or if they are between the ages of 30-45 and nothing more, where as in America, US politicans identify their electors one by one. We know who is Democrat and who is Republican, who is anti-abortion, it all comes down to where you can personalize your message to what you want people to know about you. When it comes to campaigning, money plays a huge roll for most in America, but in Spain they tend to use alot less. From these showings between Europe and the United States, one thing first is that Europe is alot more relaxed and does not find the need to spend so much money. Americans like to get the message out there as much as they can, no matter what they have to do or how much money needs to be spent.

With Obama recently becoming President, he did many things and spent plenty of money to get his message out there to the Democratic Party. He started off by having his own site MYBarack.com. Also, he used sites such as Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, and Myspace. He had online advertisments showing what he can do for us Americans if he got appointed position of President. By Oboma updating his blog more than 10 times a day really showed how much he wanted to get his message out there to his party on what he wants to do and how he will do it. He found it very important to constintly inform of what was new going on. He wanted to be connected to everyone by being able to speak to as many people as necessary. I feel overall, Obama really knew how to work and communicate with his party to get his message out there on how he is the one who will be able to get the job done and do it in the right way. Campaigning is something that has to be done the right way, and you have to know how to keep your party interested in what you wante to do and accomplish. By doing all these types of campaigning it really helps to get your message out there. Yes, everyone that wants this sort of position, will campaign but it just depends on how you are going to go about. Obama felt that by setting up all these different sites and having advertisements all over, that it would give the Democratic party a taste of what he will do when and if becoming President. The more you do and the more time and money spent, will help you.

Amsterdam!

sam1235 — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:58:09 +0000

So the one place, thats almost every teens dream to go where smoking weed is legal is Amsterdam! Last weekend after not seeing my best friends from school in almost two months, I met up with them in Amsterdam for their spring break. I arrived early Saturday morning and thats when one crazy weekend began! I met them at the Marriott Hotel, located right in the center of the city where we stayed for the weekend. When I first saw them it was like I had not seen them in ages! We started out by Saturday afternoon going to the Heineken Factory, where we saw and learned about the process of making the beer and everything that goes into it. At the end of the tour, they gave us a couple free glasses of beer which was great! After that we went to a coffee shop called “Dampkring” which was featured in one of the movies. It was very weird just sitting in a coffee shop, smoking marijana and it being okay. We then walked around the beautiful city and shopped, and of course ate! That night, we were all exhausted from traveling, so we went to dinner and then just went back to the hotel to get a goodnight sleep!

Sunday was another great day! We got up bright and early and started out at the Anne Frank House. This was something that was very meaningful to me. To go around her house and see what exactly her and her family went through was something that was touching. After seeing Anne Frank, we did a more up beat activity and saw the Van Gogh Museum. This was something that I have been wanting to see for a long time, since art is very important to me. These tourist sites were so great to finally see in person and to learn more about them after hearing family and friends talking about them! Seeing my best friends made my time in Amsterdam that more memorable and amazing!

Social Networking/ Microblogging!

sam1235 — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:11:16 +0000

As we know with kids being in college, and parents loosing contact with their old friends from childhood, college or even growing up, something everyone of all ages is now using for social networking is something called “Facebook” {wiki} is one example . Social networking allows us to connect to people directly. With people having facebook from as young as eight years, to as old as eighty years, it keeps everyone connected socially. As many positives with having such a great source like this to keep everyone connected and in touch, it can have its negatives too. Some of those negatives can be something as knowing too much information on one person, or future employees can see information on you before you even start working at that particular job. Privacy is something that is so important with facebook just knowing who you are talking to and making sure someone out there is not trying to steal or get any information from you that they are not supossed to know or have. I personally think facebook is a great social networking site especially for me, because I am so far away from my family and friends, that messaging, wall posts, or facebook chatting makes it so easy to keep in contact with people that are so far away from you on a different time zone.

On the other hand, we have something called Microblogging {Wiki}. One example of this is a website called “Twitter”. What twitter exactly is, is where you can share updates with family and friends on anything and everything that is going on in your life. What you have done in that day or week, or what you are doing at that exact moment are things that you can share with people on twitter. It can be used in many different ways.With 1, 125 newspapers using twitter, it really allows you to inform everyone about what is happening in your daily life so often. With using twitter, vs. facebook, I think they are the same personally. Facebook and twitter both allow you to share with who you want to share information with and let them leave comments and questions themselves if they wish too. They both really are great ways to keep people that are close with you updated on everything that is going on with your life!

Prague!

sam1235 — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 09:45:31 +0000

With traveling another weekend, I can now say I have been to Prague. This past weekend I visited three of my close friends from college in Prague. Just like every other weekend, it’s the usual routine, after classes on Thursday, I come back to my apartment to pack, and get on a flight late at night, so I am there for the full weekend. I arrived around 11:30 P.M Thursday night, just in time to go out and have a good time. We went to a club that I personally thought was very similar to a place we have in Barcelona. It was great to be out and about with good friends that I have not see in about three months. We didn’t get up until around 1 or so in the afternoon on Friday, from a rough night before. When everyone was finally up and ready, Friday afternoon we walked around and explored the city of Prague. It was not as large as I expected it to be. The first stop was the Charles Bridge, which was great to walk across and see the city surrounding it on both sides. The weather was cold and raining which made it hard to enjoy walking around the city. The next stop on exploring the city was the John Lennon wall, where you got the see the big “Imagine” peace sign, and people’s writings and drawings all over the wall. After always seeing that image on the computer or in movies, it was really cool to see it up close in person. After seeing those major attractions around Prague, it was time to go back to the apartment and nap before another night of going out began. Friday night at Midnight was my friend Rebecca’s 21st birthday! We started by going to a bar called “Beer Factory” first to pregame, then went to some club afterwards, and by the time you knew it, no one knew what was going on. With Friday being such a crazy night, it resulted in Saturday hungover all day in bed. It was a waste of a day especially being in a city, I have never been before, but everyone was just way too tired to move or do anything all day. Saturday night, we had gone for dinner, then just came back to my friends apartment since Sunday I had to get up early for my flight. Prague was a great time, especially being with good friends that I have not seen in over three months. I loved the city overall, but I could of never seen myself studying abroad, since it is not that big of a city with alot to do!