Spring Break was great! My mom, sisters, and grandparents all came to meet me in Barcelona to catch a cruise on the Mediterranean. I really have missed my family so I was so excited to see them and spend quality time with them. I have not gone this long ever in my life without seeing my mom or sisters.

The cruise was an Italian ship called the MSC Fantasia, it is brand new, only 4 months old, and the most beautiful ship I have ever seen. The crew was so welcoming and really made you feel at home, the food was spectacular (Italian food all day every day), and the entertainment like the shows, casino, and disco, all made it wonderful.

Our first stop was Marseille, France where we took a car to Provence, which is in the South of France. Next, we went to Genoa, Italy where we took another car ride to Portofino, which is the Italian Riviera. Then, we went to Naples, Italy where we took a really long and nauseating car ride along the Italian coast towards Positano. In the end, the car ride was worth the views but I got extremely sick. After Naples we went to the capital of Sicily called Palermo. The next stop was my favorite stop and that was to Tunisia, which is located in North Africa. This was my favorite stop because it was very different then the rest since it was a poorer country with villages and really beautiful mountains. Finally, we went to Palma de Mallorca where we happened to be there for the coldest and windiest day so no beaches and sun in the Balearic Islands of Spain!

Village in Tunisia

Provence

Each stop was very beautiful. This was not really much of a touristy trip, which I have done with my friends all semester where we go to main cities and visit museums and historical sights. My cruise was more of a relaxing vacation where we went to beautiful places with not much historical sights, just cute little towns. I really enjoyed that aspect of this trip because I was so sick of traveling and running around cities to try and make sure I could see everything important. Every place I went to was quaint towns and I even found my honeymoon destination, Portofino, Italy!

Now I am off to find this romantic future husband of mine to take me to this honeymoon destination!

Italian Coast with Portofino on the bottom

TIPS:

- Most my friends traveled around Europe by train and had to drag a huge luggage with them from place to place. If I were to recommend a trip for future study abroad students I would definitely recommend a cruise. Its easier, you get to see a whole lot more, you have a home base (no dragging suitcases), all meals included, and just plain EASIER!

According to Wikipedia a podcast is “a series of digital media files that is made available to download via Web syndication.” This term was created on February 12, 2004 with its definition for portable listening to audioblogs. There were many events that occurred before, after, and during the creation of the “podcast”. For a full timeline click here.

“It can also be thought of as the internet equivalent of timeshift-capable digital video recorders (DVRs) such as TiVo, which let users automatically record and store television programs for later viewing,” says Wikipedia.“The system most commonly involves audio files in mp3 format, but other formats and other types of files, such as video, can also be podcasted.”Podcast is like the term “broadcast” except used on the web and a podcaster is used to describe the person who creates the podcast. The Apple Ipod was created to make the transfer from computer to the device easier for podcasts but podcasts could be downloaded on to any type of device and even listened to on your desktop.

The popularity of the podcast has boomed in the past few years. There are so many different types that could appeal to everyone. Most podcasts today are conducted like a radio program and some of them are actual radio programs with a podcast version. Some individuals even make their own podcasts like for example a class podcast for others who have missed their class that day. All you need to record your own podcast is a high quality microphone, audio editing software, and a program like Audacity. Here is a video I found that gives a step by step instruction of how to create a podcast.

As you can see, creating a podcast is simple and fun. The growing popularity is just starting and who knows, maybe podcast will become the new technology for homeschooling or the new radio where podcasts will be played on a computer screen in your car.

Listening to podcasts and finding the ones you want is a very simple task. There are websites like podcastalley.com and podcastawards.com where you can find thousands of podcasts. There are all different genres for everyones liking.

For example if you are into Golf, there are different podcasts on Golf tips or if you are into cooking, there are cooking ones as well.

Puerto Banus

Marbella is known to be the ritzy part of Spain where the rich and the famous go for vacations. This weekend I was treated by my wonderful mother to Puerto Banus for a relaxing vacation and some bonding time with her since I have not seen her in 3 months. The whole stereotype about this fancy shamncy place is 100% true because I have never seen anything like this extremely sheik place. Everyone comes on their 65-foot yachts and Ferrari’s and stroll through the nice shops and sit by the most expensive restaurants. My mom compared this vacation spot to South of France with the way of life there.

It was very relaxing to sit by the beach all day and get some sun while catching up with my mother. I would not recommend this place to anyone going on travels with their friends because I would not have afforded this trip without my mother’s wallet. We did take some really cool side trips to Tangier, Morocco and Granada, Spain. These were really interesting day trips and very easy and cheap to get too. I definitely recommend Morocco because it was the most different place I have visited here in Europe. There is not much to actually see but just the architecture and their ways of living is a different experience within itself. Once you travel most of Europe, everything starts to look the same as in the architecture and their ways of living. To see a different city like Morocco, which is actually in Africa and a very poor country, was touching. I never have seen such hungry animals and beggars in my life.

TIPS:

-do not go to Puerto Banus if you are on a budget. Even if you try to avoid the high cost of everything, you can not.

-Do not go to Morocco without men or even a tour guide, it is a little scary there.

-La Alhambra is the most visited tour site in Spain, and I highly recommend going there if you can (its in Granada)

Alhambra

El Periodico is Barcelona’s most read newspaper and Spain’s third most read newspaper. It was born after Franco died, 30 years ago. I find this interesting because the newspaper was born right at a perfect time when people were allowed to read newspapers again. El Periodico was the first newspaper using color in Spain but critics say that this is too typical of tabloids. They put their most attention to headlines and make the reading easy but serious at the same time. Left side ideologists are not something they want to hide but take pride in that. They understand others do not have the same ideologies as them so they make sure to show both sides of a story, which makes the newspaper pertain to everyone. The newspaper is published in 2 languages: Spanish and Catalan. In their newsroom there are 300 journalists and more photographers then the NY Times. El Periodico practices Media Convergence in that they have an online version, which is integrated.

I decided to compare El Periodico with my local newspaper; The Miami Herald because they have many similarities and differences. Firstly a difference is that The Miami Herald seems to be larger in that there are 450 staff; 144 reporters, 69 editors, 29 photographers, 11 columnists, and 6 critics. They publish 88 pages daily while El Periodico publishes 80. The Miami Herald’s readership is 610,850 daily while El Periodico is pretty close in tie.  Also, The Miami Herald is not Miami’s oldest newspaper like El Periodico is or does not have as much as an interesting history like being born after Franco. The Miami Herald does not really have an ideology and must be more mutual since Miami has such a major gap in ideologies. The graphics in El Periodico are more intense and have more color then the Miami Herald is allowed to even have. I find the headlines in Periodico to also be more thought out.

A major similarity is how both newspapers are published in two languages since the language gap is so large in both cities. Other similarities include a lot of attention on being serious, same layout, and of course the content.

Overall, both newspapers are very popular in their location and present all elements very interestingly and similar. 

Obama wins election and they put MLK on the cover

Amsterdam was another of those places I have already visited but just went along because my friends were going. My friend Dani who I met here in Barcelona is actually from Amsterdam. All her grandparents, aunts, and uncles live in Amsterdam so we had a place to stay. It was very nice of her family to take us into her home. They were such wonderful hosts, they took us to the nicest meals and sightseeing via cars.  The best part of staying in her family’s home were the home cooked meals! On Friday, Dani’s grandma cooked us a typical Dutch lunch. Dutch lunch consists of a lot of break and cold cuts. They also drink tea with every meal which I find pretty nice since I love tea.

Since Dani was there mostly to see her family and I have already toured Amsterdam before, we only went to the most important places like the Van Gogh museum, Anne Frank house, and the flower market. At night I went to the Red Light District which was actually my first time going there since my last trip to Amsterdam was with my family, they did not allow me to go there. The red light district really upset me. It was like entering a puppy store with girls begging you to sleep with them for money. I could not believe that it is legal to do such a thing. Some of the girls were very pretty and could have done something else with their lives.

Flowers at the Flower Market

The highlight of my trip was going to Dani’s aunts boat house on one of the largest canals in Amsterdam. It was such a cool boat house on the most spectacular canal with farms surrounding on the other side of the water. This was the part of Amsterdam a tourist never sees. I saw some windmills and real Dutch families hanging out by the canal.

I  learned the culture in Amsterdam and how people live there which made this trip different from the rest of my extremely touristic visits.

Windmill

My experience in Barcelona would not have been the same if it weren’t for my living conditions in Residencia Onix. Located in L’Example right by Arc de Triumph lays this wonderful residencia with the nicest staff, friends, and bedrooms. Each room is equipped with a bathroom, large closets, kitchen, bed, and desk. The building itself has a rooftop pool, gym, laundry room, TV room, study room, and 24-hour concierge.

Living in this residencia has led me to meet the nicest of friends. We all grew closer because we live under the same room. All together there are 500 students living here from all over the world. CEA has 30 students living here and of course we stick together. We have dinner parties every week where we each cook a dish and eat it all together. There are also multiple parties on every night. Everyone’s doors are always open to allow you to come in and just have a good time.

Besides going from room to room, we also have a rooftop pool, which almost nobody in Barcelona has. This rooftop pool allows the residents to get closer as well. We all just lay out in the sun, have some drinks up there, and listen to music. 

When I first found out about my rooming assignment and that it was in a Resedencia which would be considered a dormitory in America, I was very upset. I decided to give this place the benefit of the doubt and check it out before complaining to CEA. So, I arrived in Barcelona and was freaked out about the dimensions of my new apartment I would be sharing with one other roommate. At least in my home institution, we go home some weekends and have a sort of escapism from this cubicle.

The first week, I was hating this small dorm. I was crying to my mother that she must find me another rooming assignment. Then as weeks went by, Resedencia Onix grew on me. I met the most outstanding friends where everyone’s doors were always open for you. I felt more at home then ever. There is never a dull moment in Onix which I find to be an important aspect when you are so far away from home. Living with 500 other students is much better then being put in an apartment building with old people or locals in Spain where you can’t make as much noise and feel like you’re a college student. I have friends who were put in apartments and they live with their 3 roomates and  no one else in their building is young. At least with Onix you are destined to make a lot of friends which makes it easier to meet people.

Other major pluses with Resedencia Onix is the 24 hour security staff, gym, TV room, and other cool hang out spots to connect with these new friends.

The only cons with Onix is the location which is not even too horrible. Its located in Eixample Dreta where camus is 20 minutes away (which is far for someone like me from Miami who does not walk much) and there are absolutely no restaurants around Onix.

Overall though, my experience in Onix made my stay here in Barcelona beyond what it would have been if I lived in a private apartment with 2 or 3 friends and no social circle around me. Living here has helped me adjust to life in Spain because I am never lonely and never have a chance to miss anyone or anything back at home!

word of mouth= effectivness of viral marketing

The whole point of viral marketing is to pass along a message. Passing this message could be by word of mouth, emails, and a lot of more new techniques that are used today due to our growing mass market. Viral marketing is a form of free advertising because it is all based on passing something along. This something could be about a new product, movie, etc. I believe viral marketing is a great way to gain recognition of a product you are introducing to the world because the whole point of it is for the words to come out of someone you know very well. For example, I would trust my friend over the ad campaign on a television screen in telling me about a product because obviously they have my trust if they are my friend. Another reason why viral marketing is effective is because it could be spread faster and more effectively.

Here are some examples of viral marketing campaigns that have been very successful in launching a product: (http://danzarrella.com/examples-of-viral-marketing-campaigns.html)

-Hotmail: When Hotmail launched, much of its early success was due to the virality of the sigline that it attached to every outgoing email inviting the recipient to join. One of the earliest examples of viral marketing on the internet.

-One Red Paperclip: This was a blog where the author started with a single red paperclip and traded his way up to a house, documenting his steps along the way.

-The Simpsons Movie: Simpsonize yourself was a website that viewers could create themselves into a character from the movie.

-Dove: The Dove evolution campaign.

All the examples above are good examples of viral marketing because they each sent a message which grabbed a viewers attention in a different way then the traditional ways of advertising like in newspapers and television. For example, the Dove evolution campaign touched my heart when I watched it because it made me feel that Dove as a product is being true in the word by showing me that the girl in the ad is made up to be better then she is. As a common observer of the Dove campaign, one would give Dove their trust.

A bad example of viral marketing is with Sony’s “all I want for Christmas is a PSP” because they were very secretive about making a blog that was really the company’s form of viral marketing. The marketing firm in charge of Sony made this blog and updated it frequently pretending to be a young boy who wanted a PSP for chrismas. Whether it become a success or not, viral marketing is very effective and has boosted products up with likability and trust in the product.

london eye

This past weekend I went to visit some friends in London. I have been to London two times before so I went to just visit friends and of course for the great shopping and night life. I got there on a Wednesday night and went straight to Hampstead which is where my friend lives. Hampstead is a cute little town 10 minutes from central London. My friend Alex was kind enough to let me and my best friend Michelle stay over there for the weekend.

That night we had our first home cooked meal, which we haven’t had in ages. It was so nice to be staying in a home with parents, pets, and home cooked meals. I started to miss home at this point of my trip. Then Alex took us to central London to their Soho area for the bar scene. We had a pregame at a really cool lounge and then went to a night club called Movida.

The next day we woke up pretty late and went to central London to tour! We saw Buckingham Palace, Leicester Square, House of Parliament, and Big Ben. Then went back home for a siesta and woke back up for another night out in the town. Thursday night was a hot night for a club called Punk. This club was very odd with people dressed like they were in the 60’s and all looked drugged. I guess it was a cool experience but I would never go back there again.

Buckingham Palace

Parliament and Big Ben

 Friday we went out to Notting Hill, which was my favorite area in London. It’s a very cute and quiet place with great vintage shopping and delicious restaurants. Friday night we had Shabbat dinner at Alex’s friends house. I thought it was so wonderful that his friend invited us to his house for family dinner and I truly enjoyed it.

Saturday we saw Camden and then went shopping on Oxford Street. In London, you must go shopping at Topshop. I must have spent my whole day and all the remainder of my money there but it was definently worth it. Finally, Saturday night we went out for the last night in London. First we went to Alex’s friends birthday party. Then, we went to a club called Mahiki, which had a really cool island theme to it. I ordered pina coladas that came in a huge pineapple.

Overall, my experience in London was different then all my other experiences in Europe so far because I really felt like I experienced the culture. In all other cities I have stayed in a hotel and done the touristy things to do and ate at the touristy places to eat. In London I got to see a real town where people live, was invited over for a Shabbat dinner with Jews from London, and go to really feel like I was a part of their family. I always wonder how people live in different countries and this experience really showed me.

With the new tools of Web 2.0, Facebook was created. Facebook is a social networking website that keeps people all over the world interacting with one another. Facebook has recently also been joined by politicians who want to gain supporters for their campaign. Since almost everyone has joined the Facebook community, it only makes sense that bringing ones message to fb would be extremely helpful. 2008 campaign has proved how successful fb could make a politician be.

For example, with the 2008 campaign, President Obama hired the cofounder of fb himself, Chris Hughes, to create and maintain his online campaign. The fact that Obama was able to get the actual founder of fb to do this shows how strong his campaign was going to be. Soon after Obama joined fb, he received 2.2 million friend requests compared to McCain who only had about half a million. The reason for this major difference in friend requests was because Obama was constantly updating and was known for doing so. Obama also had 500 fb groups dedicated to his campaign.

Obama was proven to win this election because of his amicability and how he pertained to younger America. A lot of his tactics was successful because of fb.

According to (http://www.irpp.org/po/archive/nov08/small.pdf), Facebook is a successful way to carry out a campaign because of the following reasons:

1.     Facebook increases exposure at a low cost or even no cost

2.     This exposure is unmediated by the press

3.     Provides access to the millennial generation (people born between 1980-present)

4.     Since fb requires users to request to be a friend or supporter of the campaign, a ready-made database is created allowing campaign to raise contributions and recruit volunteers online.

5.     Facebook is interactive and can allow communication between voters and the campaign.

In conclusion, Facebook is a great tool to carry out a campaign because it allows you to connect to your supporters on a much personal level. Your supporters can learn more about you through your pictures, videos, information, posts, and statuses as well as interact with you digitally. The groups that could be formed on Facebook also lets the politician know the effects on his campaign and make changes to what is unlikable. It’s a great way of two-way communication between a politician and the average individual and can help you win the votes.