Category: Class Lecture

Podcast

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This podcast talks about my favorite trip that I went on while studying abroad, which was Switzerland. On the fist weekend of December, me and 14 of my friends who I met abroad all staying in an airbnb in Interlaken, Switzerland for the weekend. Our airbnb was in the heart of Interlaken so we had easy access to walk to everything. We could even see paraglider’s from outside our window.

View from our airbnb

We started the trip by flying into Zurich, and taking a train to Interlaken. When we got there, it was kind of a ghost town. There wasn’t many people there, since the winter season was just starting. On the first day, some of us went kayaking in Lake Thun, and some of us went hiking around Lake Brienz.

Lake Brienz

That night, we all cooked a pasta dinner in our airbnb and went out to Balmers, which is a hostel with a club attached to it. We saw some friends from Barcelona there too, as well as friends from my college at home that happened to be in Switzerland at the same time as us. The next day, some of the group went skiing in the Swiss alps, while the rest of us went paragliding. I was pretty nervous to go paragliding since I had never done it before. We took a bus all the way to the top of the mountain and then had to run off the mountain at the beginning of paragliding. Once in the air it was super relaxing, and so cool to see the city of Interlaken. The paragliding instructor was able to point out both Lake Thun and Lake Brienz while we where in the air, and we even got to do flips! It all lasted about 10 minutes, but it is an experience I will never forget.

My friends skiing in the Swiss alps

Photo of me paragliding 

View paragliding

After paragliding, we went to lunch and got famous cheese fondue. It was so good! We ate it with bread, cheese, and pickles. This was my first time trying cheese fondue, I normally would get chocolate fondue but the cheese was better than I expected.

Example of cheese fondue

That night, we walked to Lake Thun to watch the sunset and even drank the lake water! The walk to lake Thun consisted of us seeing amazing landscape views.  I had heard my friends who kayaked saying that they where drinking the lake water and had to try it for myself. It defiantly tasked as if I was drinking straight from a water bottle.

Views on our walk

Lake Thun sunset

My friend Madison and I at Lake Thun

The next day, we had to head back to Zurich for our flight. But before that we had to get some Swiss hot chocolate. We went to a place called Funky Chocolate Club, which is a popular tourist spot in Interlaken.

My hot chocolate

Finally, we took a train back to Zurich and got to see the christmas market before we headed to the airport.

Christmas market

Overall, this was my favorite trip because of how beautiful Switzerland was, the people I was with, and all of the fun activities that we all got to do.

 

4 Easy Holiday Cookie Recipes

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Making Christmas cookies for a crowd, or hosting a holiday party? These easy, bigger-batch recipes mean more cookies and less work! If you are not huge on baking like me, you want to make some simple cookies that taste good and don’t require professional baking skills to make. Here are some of my favorite easy Christmas cookies that once-a-year bakers like me can make.

  1. The Basic Chocolate Chip Cookie: Only takes about 30 minutes total to make, these cookies are called the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies for a reason. And that reason is people eat them immediately after looking at them.

Ingredients: 1 cup of butter (softened), 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup packed brown sugar, 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons hot water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 3 cups all-purpose flour, 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1 cup chopped walnuts

HOW TO MAKE IT

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

-Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.

-Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned

2. Peanut Blossoms: Takes around 40 minutes to make. It’s an easy cookie with the easiest “decoration” possible. Just remember, the chocolate goes on the fully-baked cookie. Not on the raw dough.

Ingredients: 1 cup shortening, 1 cup penut butter, 1 cup packed brown sugar, 1 cup white sugar, 2 eggs, 1/4 cup milk, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup white sugar for decoration, 2 (9 ounce) bags milk chocolate candy kisses, unwrapped

HOW TO MAKE IT 

-Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.

-In a large bowl, cream together the shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar, and 1 cup white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, and stir in the milk and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture until well blended. Shape tablespoonfuls of dough into balls, and roll in remaining white sugar. Place cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets.

-Bake for 10 to12 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from oven, and immediately press a chocolate kiss into each cookie. Allow to cool completely; the kiss will harden as it cools.

3. Reindeer Cookies: Takes around 40 minutes to make. If you want a good cookie, and you’d want people to feel a little festive when they see them, these Reindeer Cookies are what you need!

Ingredients: 1 cup butter, (softened), 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup smooth peanut butter, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 3 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 72 small pretzel twists, or as needed, 1/2 cup chocolate chips, or as needed

HOW TO MAKE IT

-Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

-Beat butter, sugar, peanut butter, eggs, vanilla extract, and salt together in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Stir flour and baking soda into creamed butter mixture until well incorporated.

-Roll dough into 36 balls. Flatten each ball and shape into an upside-down triangle. Press two pretzels into the two top corners of each triangle for the antlers. Press two chocolate chips into the center of each triangle for the eyes, and one chocolate chip or M&M on the bottom of the triangle for the nose. Arrange cookies on baking sheets.

4. Melted Snowman Cookies: Takes around 2 hours to make but so worth it! These cookies are perfect for  dressing up ready-made sugar cookies or refrigerated dough from the grocery store.

Ingredients: ICING (4 egg whites, 8 cups confectioners’ sugar, or as needed, 1/4 cup lemon juice, or as needed) COOKIES (24 sugar cookies, 24 large marshmallows, 1 (.75 ounce) tube black decorating gel, 1 (.75 ounce) tube orange decorating gel) OPTIONALS (75 silver nonpareils, or as desired, 1 (.75 ounce) tube red decorating gel, 1 (.75 ounce) tube green decorating gel)

HOW TO MAKE IT 

-Beat egg whites lightly in a large bowl using an electric mixer until frothy. Slowly beat enough confectioners’ sugar into egg whites to make icing that will hold shape; blend in lemon juice until desired consistency is reached.

-Arrange cookies about 1-inch apart on a large sheet of waxed paper. Spread icing onto each cookie, allowing icing to drip over edges to look like melting snow.

-Grease a microwave-safe plate. Place 1 marshmallow onto plate.

-Microwave marshmallow until it starts to puff up, 20 to 30 seconds. Immediately place marshmallow on the edge of 1 cookie while the icing is still wet to look like a melted snowman. Repeat with remaining marshmallows and iced cookies.

-Decorate ‘melted snowmen’ by piping ‘twig-like arms’ using black decorating gel on the icing. Make ‘coal eyes’ and a ‘mouth’ on the marshmallow using black decorating gel. Make a ‘carrot nose’ under the ‘coal eyes’ using orange decorating gel. Make ‘coat buttons’ by arranging silver nonpareils down the middle of the icing. Make ‘scarves’ or ‘bow-ties’ using red decorating gel or green decorating gel.

-Allow cookies to fully dry before removing from waxed paper, at least 1 hour.

So hopefully now if you struggle at baking like I do, these recipes can help you out in the holiday season!

Multimedia Report

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Thought this video, I interview my roommate Rachel on her experience studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain. I asked her 10 questions to hopefully help people get a better idea on what its like to go abroad. Coming from Baltimore, Maryland Rachel explains that she always knew she wanted to study abroad. Her brother had previously studied abroad in Barcelona, and she had gotten the chance to visit him while he was abroad and she absolutely loved it. She explains how when she visited she got the chance to experience Barcelona nightlife and had the time of her life. Having the advantage of her brother already studying here, he was able to give her tips and information on Barcelona life to help better prepare her for her time abroad. The next question asked had to do about the actual school par of being abroad and that is what her favorite class she is taking is. Rachel said her favorite class was Fashion and Society with her professor Fred. Fred is Rachels favorite teacher and they have become very close over the semester. The next thing talked about was food. Rachel explains her love for tapas and how that there are many different options to choose from when it comes to food, like Italian and sushi. The next thing Rachel explains is her favorite day. She talks about when she first got here, her and her friends went up to a place called the bunkers, which looks over the entire city of Barcelona. She explained how cool it was to see the entire city and that she got super close with her roommates and will always remember that day.

Rachel and I at the Bunkers

View of Barcelona from the Bunkers

Next, Rachel was asked her favorite travel experience. She said that her recent trip to Switzerland was her favorite. She said that it was her favorite because she went with a huge group of all her study abroad friends and that they all stayed in a big airbnb together and did so many fun activities. She explained how beautiful Switzerland was and that the activities they did included skiing in the Swiss alps, hiking, and paragliding.

Rachel and I in Switzerland

 

View of the sunset over Lake Thun

 

Next, she talks about money. Before coming to Barcelona, Rachel worked all summer to save up money for study abroad. With even doing that, she said she spent a lot more than she expected. This is because she wanted to be able to experience everything she could while abroad, and that traveling expenses really added up. The harder adjustment she had to make was the language barrier. Before coming to Barcelona Rachel did not know much Spanish, but after being here for four months she says she has defiantly picked up on it. She then explains how she defiantly wants to come back to Barcelona in the future and have a reunion with all of her friends she made here. Lastly Rachel says that she would defiantly recommend studying abroad to people and they is was a life changing experience that defiantly matured her while participating in the CEA study abroad program fall 2018.

 

Marketing

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There are many elements that go into marketing, and many of them have to do with journalism. First off, one of the main aspects learned through journalism and marketing has to do with the importance of reading and research. Going off of that, it is important to be a critical thinker. With that being said you should always be reading. An example of being a critical thinker would be saving webpages to your bookmarks can be an effective way to brainstorm and generate ideas for marketing content. Journalistic skills and best-practices are also critical for creating any sort of customer-facing communication. Interview skills aren’t just useful for journalism; they are even as useful for creating content in the world of marketing. However, reading is only part of being successful in marketing through journalism. Writing is all about monitoring social media for new headlines and reactions and then going off of those  to create editorial and marketing content, all in the hopes of chasing an existing audience or trend. When it comes to journalism or marketing, it is important to do your own research. Ultimately, the kind of content that creates true value for your audience is the kind that matches searcher intent and drives traffic.

That leads me to the topic of Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining traffic or attention through social media sites. Different social media platforms all are used to provide information in different ways. For example, Twitter is a social site designed to let people share short messages or “updates” with others. Facebook, in contrast is a full-blown social networking site that allows for sharing updates, photos, joining events and a variety of other activities.

social media marketing is becoming more popular than e-marketing and digital marketing together. Most social media platforms have built-in data analytics tools, which enable companies to track the progress, success, and engagement of ad campaigns. There are two main  platforms used for this. Social networking websites allow individuals, businesses and other organizations to interact with one another and build relationships and communities online. When companies join these social channels, consumers can interact with them directly. These interactions hit on a personal level. Social networking sites act as word of mouth or more precisely, e-word of mouth. The Internet’s ability to reach billions across the globe has given online word of mouth a powerful voice and far reach. Social networking websites are based on building virtual communities that allow consumers to express their needs, wants and values, online. Social media marketing then connects these consumers and audiences to businesses that share the same needs, wants, and values. Everyone now days is always glued to their phone. Mobile phone usage is beneficial for social media marketing because mobile phones have social networking capabilities, allowing individuals immediate web browsing and access to social networking sites. For example, Many companies are now putting QR (Quick Response) codes along with products for individuals to access the company website or online services with their smart phones.

Social media marketing is something that can only benefit your food business. It is a source of instant feedback and a market research tool. It helps you bond with customers and potential customers. The main way to get the word out about your business is to simply start posting. Instagram and YouTube, in particular, are great for pictures and videos because their users love to “share” them with friends. With that being said, just creating an Instagram page for your business can help you gain customers.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BnDVbVMnjos/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

Example of restaurant Instagram page.

 

 

Mobile Journalism (MOJO)

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This week in class we talked about Mobile Journalism otherwise known as MOJO. There are many trends within MOJO that we should be aware of. The first is how high the demand for video is. This is because everyone now days is glued to their phones. People are now staying up to date on news via phone rather than watching it on TV. Another trend is the growth of social media. If your audience is on social media, they you too need to be on social media in order to stay interacted with them. Having quick and easy access to stream and post video content through your mobile device is a huge plus of MOJO. With that being said, it is easy to create content on the same platform that it is being viewed. Before today, the way we would stream media was through TV, radio, and books. Now days, content is multi-media and the key ingredient is your smartphone. Your smartphone can take pictures, record audio and video as well as editing graphics. These are all examples of mixed media content all through one device being your smartphone. Another trend is live streaming. Live stream is a trend that you are able to do within multiple different social media platforms, like Facebook live.

A facebook live video streaming from an iPhone.

Even major broadcasters are using livestream from their mobile phones.

One of the first live broadcasts through a phone.

Overall, mobile journalism is cost-effective, powerful, and in tune with the trends. When it comes to cooking, mobile journalism an easy way to help others when it comes to cooking. For example, all over YouTube there are cooking videos that allow others to learn different recipes by simply watching a video.

Example of a YouTube cooking video

Watching a video is a much easier way to learn how to cook rather than reading the recipe out of a cook book.

Citizen Journalism

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This week in class we discussed citizen journalism. This is a very controversial term which many people don’t agree with. It refers to the reporting of news events by members of the public using the Internet to spread the information. It is easily spread through personal websites, blogs, microblogs, social media and so on.

Heres an awesome video that better explains citizen journalism.

An example of citizen journalism would be the use of food blogs. An article states that 79% of respondents consulted U.S. food blogs at least daily, if not multiple times a day, crediting their increased usage to a food bloggers candid writing style, diverse voice and range of topics, as well as their approachable personalities. Websites like yelp, trip advisor, and even google all review restaurants. Citizen journalism is used throughout these food critic websites because of how peopler posting their opinions on the restaurants, rather than it being actual credible facts. So why do we trust these websites?

 

 

 

 

 

Example of a Yelp review

 

 

Guest Speaker Post

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This week in class, we had the pleasure of having Alberto Linares come and speak to our class about Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, and his experience working with them. One of the main things that Alberto is passionate about is music, and specializes in drums and guitar. He has had the opportunity to work with many famous musicians for example he mentioned that he got to work on a project for a band called Mumford and Sons. Since Albert spoke about how he has used AR within the music industry, I wanted to focus on how AR can change the music industry completely.  Harris study says that 78% percent of millennials would rather put money into experiences and events over a desirable object, and another 72% say they want to increase the amount they put towards experiences over physical objects in the coming year. Audiences are already familiarized with the technology, and the most popular, mainstream examples of AR would be Pokemon Go and Snapchat. The first way AR can change the music industry is through Music Videos. AR can empower musicians to bring the video to their audience and even make the listener part of the video.

Looking as far back as 2010, Rihanna and David Guetta partnered with Doritos to create an AR experience for the video to their track “Who’s That Chick.”

Another way AR made its way into the music industry would be through Music Marketing. As Inc. notes, AR can bridge the human and virtual worlds. While technologically impressive, virtual can be hard for audiences to connect with. For example, one restaurant in New York City increased business by 75% through a strategic use of Pokemon Go.  Next we can look at AR within Music Education. AR is a tool for the music industry to meaningfully and emotionally connect with younger audiences. AR has already made its way into the music industry if we look at the example of a Japanese company has already produced a hologram that can teach people to play the piano. Lastly one of the most important ways AR has changed the music industry in my opinion is the overall music experience. The possibilities for altering physical experiences like concerts and events with AR are limitless. For example, song identifying app Shazam just launched the world’s first scaled augmented reality solution for brands. AR has the potential to bring the concert to fans in their own environments. Augmented reality has the potential to become the new reality for the music industry.

 

Digital Tools for Journalists

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This week in class, we discussed digital tools for journalists. These tools are coming from Google, social media, social networks and more. When searching for places to eat, everyone turns to Google. Google then can lead you to different sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, even Google maps. Google grammar is something we can use to search better in order to better our search results. For example, word exclusion can be used when trying to find something specific. For example, if you are searching coffee shop but want to find coffee, you would exclude the word shop. Looking at literal search, you would just type in the exact thing you are trying to find, for example if you are trying to find a specific restaurant, you would type in something like “Brunch & Cake”. In my experience I normally use literal searching when using Google.

When it comes to using social media, there are many technical concepts that can help when searching. For example, a tag is a label attached to someone or something for the purpose of identification or to give other information. When using tags, it is ESSENTIAL to use them properly, or else it will not work. Tags can be used on many social media sites, making it easier to find things you are looking for. For example, when posting an Instagram, in the caption you can add different tags that have to do with your picture. If I posted a picture of the food I was eating I could use tags like where I was eating, what type of food it was, the kind of taste it has, etc. Another thing that can help when searching is search engine optimization (SEO), and search engine marketing (SEM).

Lastly, digital tools are used within social networks. When using twitter, you are able to use something called TweetDeck. TweetDeck is a social media dashboard application for management of Twitter accounts.

This way, you can manage all of your favorite twitter accounts. For example, you can add all your favorite restaurants to your TweetDeck to see new specials and announcements all in one place. Apart from these tools, there are many other useful tools that can be used when searching the web.

 

Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality Post

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This week in class, we talked about virtual and augmented reality. Before this class I knew what virtual reality was, but never really had a clear idea of what augmented reality was. Both virtual and augmented reality are being used to impact the future of the food industry. Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated real-world environment, augmented reality (AR) remains in the real world and uses a variety of hardware devices and extensions to give users a layered or multidimensional view of an object.

The main areas that are affected by VR and AR in the food industry are designed to reduce the costs of training and to enhance the customer experience. When looking at reducing the cost of training, Simulating the training with VR creates an excellent simulated but noticeably unrealistic environment. When using this type of training the chefs can then visualize the process and the details looking at a single screen, requiring only one video to instruct any number of chefs. When using VR and AR on the marketing end for the food industry, in order to get customers to come to your restaurant, it requires creating a visual experience using VR and AR that is memorable and motivational to the consumer. Here are two examples of Coca Cola using VR and AR in their marketing campaigns.

We can see that VR is an experience, AR is an immersive experience and more interactive for the customer. AR has extended itself into connecting the physical world with the virtual world. This shows us a whole new world for marketing speaking in terms with connecting with the customer. In this example, companies are making video games available to customers on their cereal boxes.

Today and moving forward, technology is going to be enhancing our overall experience as a customer. For example, tequila manufacturer Patron has already taken this bold step. The company recently launched a 360-degree video showing the entire tequila manufacturing process, from harvesting the agave plant to bottling the drink. Sure, pictures and videos are fine when it comes to choosing where you want to eat, but AR is so much better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Social Media Post

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This week, we discussed social media. Social media is something we are surrounded by all the time in our everyday lives. Especially us millennials, everything is documented through social media. This can be a good and bad thing. When it comes to food, I always go to Instagram to get inspiration on meals to make or even when choosing where to go to eat. For example, tonight me and my roommates went to Monster sushi. When simply just looking at the menu, we had trouble deciding what to order. Instantly we all pulled out our phones to search “Monster sushi” on Instagram. There are a couple ways you can use Instagram when searching for food. First, would be looking at what people have posted under the tagged location. This is where you are going to find most of the photos of different foods the restaurant you are eating at is offering. I always do this because sometimes when just looking at the menu you can’t really get a feel for what the meal is going to taste like. That is why some food places add photos on their menu of their most popular dishes because more people are willing to order something that has a photo of it looking yummy. The next way you can use Instagram when searching for restaurants is simply finding their company Instagram page. This is where you are going to see all their best sellers because you are getting information from the actual source. However, using the location tactic when searching for food is going to give you more of a real answer, because it is customers posting.

Instagram isn’t the only social media we can use when looking at food. Facebook is another great way restaurants advertise their food. For example, when out to eat you can use Facebook to “check in” to show all your friends where you are eating. By checking in other people can do research on where you are out to eat. Facebook also allows you to read reviews on different restaurants to see if they are worth going to or not. Other than going out to eat, Facebook is always posting videos on different recipes to make. For example, I am obsessed with watching the “Tasty” videos that pop up on my Facebook feed and always save them so I can make them on my own!

Have you ever seen someone post a snapchat or even an Instagram story of food and you wonder where they are eating? In my opinion, social media is a great way for restaurants to be advertised due to the fact we can check in and show people where you are eating. That way there’s no need to wonder where that burger came from because we can use social media to advertise where, and what we are eating.

Good article on social media marketing