This past weekend I ventured off to Amsterdam with a number of my flatmates and friends. The city turned out to be incredibly charming and a ton of fun!

On Friday we arrived around noon and I got settled into my hostel. Hungry, I found this cute little bakery called Melly’s Cookie bar where I bought myself a croissant with mozzerella and tomato. It was warmed up and salted so it almost tasted like a delicious pretzel with cheesy goodness.

After catching a quick bite, I met up with an old friend that I interned at The New York Musical Theater Festival with back in 2011. It was so nice to see her after 2 years and catch up with each other.

The afternoon slipped into the evening and I found myself wandering the streets alone for a little while. I was able to just zig in and out of shops and meander the street getting a sense of what the city had in-store. As the sky darkened and night took over the day, I met up with the others for dinner.

Saturday was loads of fun as we literally ate our way through Amsterdam. It all began with breakfast on the way to the Anne Frank House Museum. I shared a giant omelet and Dutch pancake with a friend and when I say giant I mean hanging off the plate status (see picture).

This beautiful breakfast prepared me for the very emotional experience that was the Anne Frank House Museum. Excellently set up, the museum walks you through the hiding space that held the Frank and Van Pel families over the 2 years during WWII. Quotes from Anne’s diaries graced the walls of the home, sharing her thoughts and ideas of her time in hiding. The heavy subject matter was delivered in a very gracious way. Even though there were numerous moments I felt tears swelling up in my eyes, I kept my cool and walked through as the strong confident jewish woman I am.

Following the Anne Frank House Museum we stopped in the museum cafe for a quick coffee. I ordered a cappuccino. When we were all warm inside we headed out into the cold when we saw a cute Dutch cheese shop – with FREE samples. Making sure to take a sample of each different kind of cheese, we entertained ourselves trying to find which type we liked best.

Once we had purchased our favorite cheese, we headed in the direction of the red light district. There we stopped in the chocolate store, Metropolitan. There we got to try their hot chocolate and while standing around waiting to make a decision we were offered FREE mini Dutch pancakes. I also got a delicious brownie and Stroop Waffle flavored gelato.

While walking around the red light district we also made sure the stop and get a frosting covered waffle and FRIES! The french fries in Amsterdam are AWESOME! They offer these fries with numerous sauce options, the most popular being what they call mayonnaise which isn’t really mayonnaise but instead this brilliant sauce that is just impossible to describe.

Other than having a ton of absolutely amazing food, Amsterdam was truly a charming little city where EVERYONE rides a bike. The energy of the city was cute and calm at the same time. Even though the weather was quite awful as Saturday included walking through large flakes of snow, that didn’t deter us from what Amsterdam really had to offer.

Before the trip back to London we visited the Hermitage Museum, the temporary home to Van Gough’s 50 most popular paintings. It was incredible to be up-close-and-personal with such amazing works of art. To see each and ever brush stroke was incredible. The exhibit was laid out very well, exposing the perfect amount of information about Van Gough, his life and is works. I was absolutely inspired by his story and the versatility he had as an artist.

Amsterdam was a great weekend away from London. I felt that I had just enough time to see everything I wanted to see and do everything I wanted to do.

Hope you all had a fantastic Super Bowl Sunday! A day many think is even more American than Independence Day. Each year we come together the first Sunday in February to watch to American football teams duke it out for the biggest title in the sport. Some of us may hate to admit it but we also stay glued to the tube as some advertising’s best commercials grace the screen, making us laugh, cry or just get weirded out. Giant Brands including Dorito, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Pepsi, Coke and M&M use the high-priced ads to reach millions of people throughout the US.

But happens when those outside the US participate in the American tradition of Super Bowl Sunday?

Last night I went to a bar in Shortditch, London, England and was so excited to be surrounded by other Americans and football fans to watch the big game. I had a feeling I was going to get to see any American ads but was hoping that there would be at least a few British ads. NOPE! Not a single ad ran during the BBC Sport’s presentation of the game. Instead we had to listen to British commentators and slow motion replay footage.

For an international audience, like the UK, I learned that in-stadium promotion and sponorship is key. When ads are not an option, brands much seek out other ways to participate in the broadcast. Brands like Gatorade, provider of beverages and such, could be seen throughout the game when players would stand near the large chugs to take a gulp in between plays. Brands like Hyundai, Mercedes Benz and Pepsi were able to find airtime when their names were included in the broadcast as sponsors of the pre-game show, the superdome, and the halftime show. Other then those 3 brands, this superbowl experience is rather bland and unAmerican.

Today, the Super Bowl as an experience is as much about the ads as it is about the game itself. BBC and other international tv stations should play the American ads just so an international crowd can get the entire American Super Bowl experience.

The other day I picked up the Metro and Evening Standard before and after school to find the same cover take over by Sky TV. Promoting its presence on all trains, Sky cleverly bought the cover of both the morning and evening papers that so many commuters pick up on either way in and out of the tube. Not the most attractive or creative ad in the world, the message is delivered clearly. I’m sure the reach and number of impressions was incredibly high.

Effective? I’m not sure. There is a link to a website but as a consumer I thought, “Where does this link take me?” and “Why should I take the time to visit it?” There appears to be no true call to action just a general headline, logo and tagline.

My Overall Opinion:

• Great placement
• Direct headline
• No call to action
• No real conclusion to draw from the ad
• Not too much to connect me as a consumer to the brand

Found a Place to Live

Walked Around Touristy Areas

Ran in Hyde Park

Went to a Football/Soccer Game

Attended a Ruby Match

Saw a Show at the National Theater

Visited Markets

 

This morning I was reading the paper. Yes, a paper like the inky, thin, grey thing you see old people read. Here in London there are a generous number of free newspapers distributed on the streets to passersby. On my way out of my building I picked one up in the lobby and began to read on my commute to the Ithaca College London Center. I read through the intriguing stories about scandalous Prince Harry and some tragic deaths. A few pages in I stumbled upon my new favorite column, the “Good Deed Feed”.

Essentially the “Good Deed Feed” features kind words of gratitude for good deeds performed by people around England. Anything from helping to pay tube fair, to assisting someone up after they’ve fallen. Anyone can submit a deed by texting it to a simple five-digit number. This kind column lifted my very exhausted spirits this morning and I was happy to read about the good humanity can do after reading most of the paper which highlights a lot of the bad that humanity does.

Written at 4am in the morning when I couldn’t sleep:

Yesterday I arrived in London! Totally jet lagged, we were thrown right into the Ithaca College London Center (ICLC) staff’s orientation-like sessions to review some key guidelines for our start and stay in London. After that the flat-hunt began! What a stressful process this is but a completely beneficial process none the less. As we try to create groups of people to live with you have the opportunity to reach out to friends, acquaintances and strangers in hopes that someone will meet the space criteria for the flat you may want to settle in. Once you have your British phone it’s up to you to call different landlords and agencies in hopes that they can set you up with a flat that will possess all your requirements. Once you’ve made contact with them it’s trying to locate the area within London the flat is located. “Near ICLC?” “Not near ICLC?” And how long the commute is. If you’re still interested in pursuing the flat, you make an appointment to go see it. That is where the most beneficial part comes in. While scouting out these different flats you effortlessly venture out into different areas in London educating yourself how to navigate on the bus and underground system.

Even though I have only been here a day this process has topped my list of most stressful situations ever. Between sticking to a budget, catering to everyone’s need and just finding the right group of people to live with is a challenge.

By the end of the week I will have a place to live. I just hope it is the place I want and don’t lose every cent I have trying to afford it…

Often when I design pieces I end up going on intense font downloading sprees. For one project I could acquire as many as 30-40 fonts in search of that perfect one to make the copy pop. Here are my latest favorite fonts and how you can download them too!

1. Bebas

Download Here
8. Teen

There isn’t a day that goes by in which I am not grateful for the choices I’ve made in my life. Choices including to attend Ithaca College, to study integrated marketing communications and to pursue a career in advertising after college. But sometimes I miss performing. Even though my heart isn’t a 100% in performing in public anymore, I still work hard on my own perfecting songs I chose to sing. After hard work I love to share my progress and gratification.

Singing will always be something I have tons of passion for and something I will feel the need to share with others. Check out my latest cover:

In case you didn’t already know, I’m spending the spring semester in London studying at the Ithaca College London Center. Know what that means?

My blog is going to be filled with AWESOME EUROPEAN ADVENTURES!


My 2 goals for my semester in London:
1. Live in the moment every day. 
I’m always wrapped up in the future so much that I always miss what is happening right in front of me. This semester I’m going to do my best and slow things down so I can just take in what is happening in the present.

2. Take a million photos.
So my parents are totally those obnoxious people who take a ridiculous amount of photos on vacation. They want to you take 16,000 pictures in 50 different poses in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa while I just want to look at the thing and leave. For some reason I never want to be “that tourist” but this semester that is all being tossed out the window! I’m totally gonna be that person that goes through like 4 memory cards and documents EVERYTHING!

Places I hope hope HOPE I get to travel to:

Europe:

1. Lisbon, Portugal
2. Varna, Bulgaria
3. Brussels, Belgium
4. Vienna & Salzburg, Austria 
5. Prague, Czech Republic
6. Oslo, Norway
7. Berlin, Germany
8. Amsterdam, Netherlands
9. Paris, France
10. Barcelona, Spain

 U.K:

1. Manchester
2. Edinburgh
3. Dublin
4. Liverpool

Look forward to AWESOME pictures and epic stories 😀