Europe at First Glance

Stepping off the plane in a brand new city, country, and continent would be scary for anyone since you are all of the sudden not familiar with your surroundings. When I first arrived in Barcelona, there were many cultural differences I noticed right off the bat. Along with my fear came a lot of excitement, especially because I had never left the North American continent before coming here. After getting settled in my room, a friend and I decided to go out and explore the city, ultimately hoping to find a department store where we could get some necessities for our rooms. As this journey started we were enjoying seeing all the differences between our country and our new home for the next 4 months. However, the further we walked the more lost we got. We must have walked for 2 hours before we even got pointed in the right direction. We approached person after person hoping one would understand what we were saying, but with no sense of direction and not even being sure of our address we were pretty much on our own. About 3 hours later we were able to find our way back after asking the one thousandth person we encountered to point us in the right direction…I began to realize just how different life is here compared to what I am used to. However, after my first week I started to get acquainted and was able to really enjoy every aspect of Barcelona.

I have always wanted to come to Europe because of all the great things I’ve heard about it and to be able to travel to so many amazing places without leaving the continent. My two favorite topics are food and fashion, so of course those were top priorities on my agenda when first getting to Barcelona. I have tried a wide range of food since being here and have little to complain about, the same goes for the fashion. I am tempted to go into every store I walk by in Catalunya and La Passeig de Gracia. From what I’ve seen the clothes don’t seem much different than what I see in America but there are, in my opinion, better stores and more of them in the same area.

One of my many discoveries about Barcelona is the amazing food. The amount of dessert and pastry shops I walk by on a daily basis is hard to even count. Of course, I had to try all of them within my first week. I haven’t had any particularly bad food however there are a couple American meals that I miss at times, one being a bacon egg and cheese with hash browns. Although its so simple, I have come to notice that it’s very difficult to find in Europe. I am very satisfied with the other food I have had here though and am really enjoying trying new meals that seem quite foreign to me as an American. I am excited to try and compare all the food throughout the places I visit in Europe and I will do the same in terms of fashion.

Got a blog?

Since I can remember, newspapers and magazines have always been the main source in which people discover new information through reading articles. As technology has advanced we are now able to read articles from newspapers and magazines online. In recent years however, blogging has become a new way for people to publish and/or read information without it being part of a major publication such as a magazine or newspaper.

Blogs can be started for a variety of reasons. As a way to enhance your business or as a way to publicly express your thoughts and experiences, are the two most common reasons. According to Forbes magazine, blogging is a great way to create and publicize your own personal brand. It is a way to express your opinion and add a personal touch to information that certain people would be interested to read about. Forbes states that blogging is a great way to enhance your social media presence in a beneficial way as well. It is hard for some people to voice their opinion sometimes and creating a blog is a great way to express yourself to others and talk about things that are important to you.

Blogs in comparison to say newspapers or magazines is similar to television compared to YouTube. YouTube began as a source for people to upload videos of any content they choose for the world to see. It could be a personal video showcasing your views on a topic or maybe even showcasing a talent. Comedy is a common theme for YouTube videos as well. I believe that this is similar to a blog because they are both outlets that are accessible to anyone, in which you have the freedom to post whatever you choose and have it be publicized to the world. Blogs and YouTube channels both have the potential to gain major publicity depending on how people respond to it.

Not only do businesses use blogs to enhance their public image but also it is common that employers will favor a potential candidate with a blog of their own, because it is a great way to learn more about a person. For those looking for feedback on either their writing or their opinions, blogging is a great way to receive that feedback easily. Blogging is also a way to connect with people with similar interests and viewpoints as yourself. For example, my sister recently graduated culinary school and created a blog as she began searching for jobs. Not only did she receive great feedback from friends and anonymous viewers but also received a good response from employers from jobs in which she applied to. This just goes to show that creating a blog can help you in many ways in which you wouldn’t even consider and on the other hand you don’t have anything to lose!