Day 1: Travels

Hallo Berlin, ich bin Lydia aus Texas.

That's about all the German I know, besides the names of random foods/animals, thanks to my 2% fluency in Duolingo. 

After 24 hours of travel time, 3 flights, and a lot of walking, I have arrived at my destination: PLUS Berlin (hotel/hostel). 

I have another 4 hours before check-in time and I'm too exhausted to go explore the city on my own, so I decided to sit down and write this blog post.

I was extremely lucky/blessed through the entirety of my airport adventures this go around!

I non-reved this trip, meaning I didn't buy a ticket (hence the non-revenue name) because my dad is a captain for Delta and I can fly on Delta for free if there's empty space (at least until I graduate and am no longer a dependent). 

I've non-reved plenty of times when things don't go so well, and I've had to spend full days sitting in airports, hoping that just one or two more people won't show up so I can get a ticket. 

So, I was trying to not  be too optimistic; my dad and I made sure there were plenty of backup flights in case I didn't get on any of the first ones.

I got to the DFW airport at 6:15 for the 8:15 flight to Atlanta. Security felt pretty long for so early on a Friday morning, but I got to the gate at 6:45, in time to see people show up late for the 7:00 flight and transfer ahead of me on the standby list for the 8:15 flight.

It went from me being number 8 on the list of 7 open seats to being number 15 on a list of 3 open seats. But, amazingly, just enough people (both paying and non-reving) didn't show up, and I was the last person to walk on the airplane.

So then I got to Atlanta and had a 3.5 hour layover before the first flight headed to Amsterdam. I walked from Concourse B to Concourse F because I had plenty of time and knew from experience that my body doesn't like all the sitting still during international flights. 

I got to the gate, worked on a presentation, filled out a lengthy airport survey, and got awarded a business seat!

Now, if you don't fly very often, especially if you don't fly Delta, you may not realize how fantastic having a business seat is. 

The Delta business seats are basically pods of comfort to make you want to fly internationally all the time.

You get a personal tv with a plethora of shows/movies/music/games/etc., lots of elbow room, complimentary headphones and misc. travel items, delicious food and all the free alcohol you want, and a seat that can go completely flat. 

Completely. Flat. 

This is a miracle of engineering that makes a huge difference when you want to sleep on a 7+ hour flight.

Granted, I'm a very light sleeper, and airplanes are always noisy with some activity happening, and this flight happened to have long sections of pretty bad turbulence, but I still dozed off several times over a 4-5 hour period, without which I would be dead right now. 

Thank you, engineers who designed the business seat.

So, I left Atlanta around 3:00pm, flew for 8 hours, and arrived in Amsterdam at 6:00am. 

This is when things got interesting.

I leave my beautiful, Delta, business pod and head into the Amsterdam airport. 

I go to a help desk to check in for my KLM flight, only to find that my suitcase (which had to be checked in DFW because the plane was full) could not be transferred from the Delta baggage carousel to the KLM flight I was listed on. 

The helpful people who helped me said that I should just get on the flight because it was wide open, and then file a report in Berlin to ask that my suitcase be sent from Amsterdam to my hotel address in Berlin.

That didn't sound fun, but I'm a good non-revver and had all my essentials in my backpack, so I would only be missing my clothes for however long it would take for my suitcase to arrive. 

Thankfully, my dad was still awake (time zone difference meant it was the middle of the night for him) and told me I should definitely not leave my suitcase in Amsterdam.

With half an hour before my flight boarded, I went through the terminal to find the baggage claim with my suitcase, went through customs, ran through three terminals, went through security again (where they had to pat me down and search my bags, of course), ran across the terminal and arrived at the gate almost exactly when the plane was supposed to leave.

Miraculously, there was a delay, so the plane was about 15 minutes behind schedule and the gate agents took pity on my situation and let me get a seat and take both my backpack and my suitcase onto the plane (because the plane-checked luggage had already been put on).

Wind turbines are the first thing I notice while arriving in Germany for a course focusing on renewable energy management. Coincidence? 

So then I arrive in Berlin and follow a set of semi-thorough directions to get to PLUS Berlin. 

I buy a bus ticket, ride it for a while, get on a train, ride it for a while, carry my suitcase up a long flight of stairs because the station is under construction, and then find myself a block away from the hotel.

Do I realize how close I am and walk to the building "directly in front of you on the opposite side of the square?" 

Of course not; I'm much too tired to comprehend how clear the directions are. 

 I walk straight forward for like 9 blocks before I look at the map and realize I should have turned left. So then, I go left for two blocks and then left again for the 9 blocks again, and then left 1.5 blocks to the hotel. 

All of this walking happened on a day with great walking weather, but in heeled boots, black dress pants and a dark, long-sleeved shirt. I'm gross and tired when I show up, and all I want to do is take a shower and fall asleep for a few hours. 

This day has been filled with adventures and close calls and walking/running through airports and Berlin, but that's part of the study abroad experience, right?

Feeling pretty good but still looking forward to a shower,

The Purple Writer

Check out my other adventures!

European Adventures

It's time to become a world traveler!

I mean, I've traveled to an amazing amount of countries and states, compliments of my dad working hard as an airline captain. However, most of those trips involve an almost impossible amount of activities and locations packed into two or three days in a city.

I'm excited to be able to experience other countries' cities for weeks instead of days.

So, where am I traveling?

Two Weeks in Berlin

PR 4301: Global Issues Management - Renewable Energy Issues in Texas & Germany

Four weeks in the Northern UK

EMC 4301: Media, Tourism & Culture as Study Abroad

PHOT 4300: Travel & Cultural Photography as Study Abroad

Want to follow my adventures (with pictures)? 

Each day's blog will be added as a link in the list below:

Day 1: Travels 

Day 2: Berlin (Welcome Dinner)

Day 3: Berlin: (Navos PR & Presentation)

Day 4: Berlin (Navos PR & Crisis Communication)

Day 5: Berlin (Berlin Wall Memorial)

Day 6: Berlin (Pergamon Museum)

Day 7: Berlin (Potsdam)

Day 8: Berlin (Laundry)

Day 9: Berlin (Flea Markets)

Day 10: Berlin(Edelman PR & Berlin Adlershof Science City)

Day 11: Berlin (Edelman PR & Freie Universität)

Day 12: Berlin (German Parliament)

Day 13: Berlin (Federal Press and Information Office & Farewell Dinner) 

Day 14: Berlin (Food and Packing)

Day 15:  Travels

Day 16: Family Adventures (Arthur's Seat & the Royal Mile)

Day 17: Family Adventures (Edinburgh Castle & Holyrood Park)

Day 18: Family Adventures (Princes Street & Game of Thrones)

Day 19: Free Day (Sleep)
Day 20: Free Day (Parks & Shopping) 

Day 21: Edinburgh (Welcome Dinner)

Day 22: Edinburgh (Edinburgh Castle)

Day 23: Edinburgh (Scottish National Gallery)

Day 24: Edinburgh (Blackness Castle)

Day 25. Edinburgh (Rossyln Chapel)

Day 26: Stirling (Wallace Monument)

Day 27: Dundee (City Photo Walk)

Day 28: Dundee (University of Dundee - Centre for Comic Studies)

Day 29: Dundee (Glamis Castle & Arbroath Abbey)

Day 30: Dundee (Free Day)

Day 31: Perth (Scone Palace & Hermitage in Dunkelnd)

Day 32: Inverness  (City Photo Walk)

Day 33: Inverness (North Sea Photography)

Day 34: Inverness (Loch Ness & Urquhart Castle)

Day 35: Isle of Skye (Eilean Donan Castle)

Day 36: Isle of Skye (Old Man of Storr)

Day 37: Isle of Skye (Fairy Pools)

Day 38: Isle of Skye (Free Day)

Day 39: Fort William (Travel Day)

Day 40: Fort William (Free Day)

Day 41: Glenoe Village (Glencoe & Oban Distillery)

Day 42: Glasgow  (City Photo Walk)

Day 43: Belfast  (Ferry & City Photo Walk)

Day 44: Belfast  (Game of Thrones Northern Locations & Giant's Causeway)

Day 45: Belfast (Game of Thrones Filming Locations)

Day 46: Belfast  (Tourism Northern Ireland & Farewell Dinner)

Day 47: Travels

Excited to share my travel experiences,

The Purple Writer

Am I a good PR student?

I divide my class time and passion for learning between my English degree track and my public relations degree track. Sometimes I wonder how my progress compares to other students who can focus on a single degree track.

This was part of my thinking when I participated in the second annual PR Showdown this semester, and it turns out I'm a pretty good PR student.

"A team-based competition to find out who the fastest, smartest, most creative public relations students in the West are"

My team, Best PRactices, was randomly compiled of four individual participants. We had a PR minor, two sophomore PR students and a senior English/PR major. 

I was afraid we wouldn't do well at all, seeing as how the majority of our team hadn't taken any relevant classes yet, and while I'm great at writing and editing, I'm not as confident of my skills in strategic planning, crisis communication, graphic design, etc.

We were also facing hand-selected, five-person teams of  senior PR students who had worked together on multiple projects and were the cream of the crop.

However, we put in our best effort and ended up winning a challenge and earning 2nd place out of the full competition.

The competition was split into four challenges in one week and a final challenge the following week, so I'll split this post into five sections.

(Yes, this competition took place in February and it's taken me over two months to write about it.


To be fair, it took two months for us to receive our prize for the challenge we won, and it's hard to share a picture of a prize that hasn't been seen.)

Day 1: PR Strategy Challenge

For the first 24-hour challenge, we were told to develop a strategic PR communication plan for a sports organization. One of our members had taken a strategies class and I had taken an international sports class, but we were pretty out of our depth on this challenge.

We put together a plan to "raise awareness among the virtual USA Water Polo community about the emerging water polo program at virtual Texas Tech University." We didn't think it was that great, but we were the second highest scoring team in this challenge.

This wasn't a very exciting challenge for me, and probably not for you either, so that's all the detail I'll include.

Day 2: Writing Challenge

For the second daily challenge, we wrote a press release and a media pitch to promote the PR Showdown.

Now, I'm a pretty decent writer, and two of us had taken PR Writing, so this challenge was much more intuitive. We used the headline "A Week of Public Relations and Easy Mac," which we all agreed was pretty catchy.

We scored fourth place in this challenge, but if you want to check out our press release, check out this link.

Day 3: Creative Challenge

This third challenge involved creating a media product to raise awareness of a hypothetical new location of CapRock Cafe. 

One of our members had a knack for graphic design, but for some reason or other, she was unable to participate and create anything for us.

Our poster was created in Canva and really isn't that pretty, but at least we put something together, combining multiple different ideas, and found ourselves in fourth place again.

Day 4: Social Media Challenge

The final challenge of the week was to create a social media campaign proposal, as well as a content plan for two weeks, for the Museum of TTU.

Now, if you know me, you probably know that I'm currently working as a social media intern and want to pursue social media management as a career. I'm not necessarily the best or brilliant at social media, but I have a pretty decent understanding.

Two of us created graphics and wrote copy for two weeks of content, and we won this challenge by a decent amount of points. Want to check it out?

Final Challenge: Crisis Communication

The three top-scoring teams faced off in the final challenge by holding mock press conferences.

The client: Southwest Airlines. 

The crisis: A news story has been released, claiming that a security breach at Southwest Airlines has been ignored and confidential information (like credit card numbers) may have been accessed by unknown parties. 
The Challenge: Plan out a crisis response strategy and host a press conference to demonstrate our knowledge of crisis management, public relations, and strategic communication.

One of the pieces included in our media packet

For some reason, we didn't realize that we had access to multimedia, so we were the only team to not utilize a power point. We put in the time to build a website to accompany our crisis strategy and included a QR code on the packets of papers we passed out. 



I think that if we had shown the site on the big screen, we would have ensured that the judges understood we built an actual site, and that might have been the tipping point in our favor.

As it stands, the winning team was the team of officers from the TTUPR organization. They had also put in a lot of time, already understood how to work well with each other, and were all seniors, so it makes sense that they beat us out with their presentation. 

Also, the grand prize of going to a networking event in DFW was more necessary for them, as they were a few months away from needing jobs while half of my team still has two years of classes and plenty of networking opportunities ahead of them.

We got official certificates to acknowledge that we were almost winners

Did I wish my team of underdogs would have won the PR Showdown? Yes.

Was everyone surprised by how well we did? Yes.

Am I glad that I participated and gave up two weeks of my life for the competition? Absolutely.

We can't all be winners, but I definitely feel more validated in my PR degree, knowing that I led our team to an almost victory.


Heading off to test my social media prize,
The Purple Writer

I've started a side business

A friend and I realized we could make a small profit from selling our perler bead creations at local conventions. So we made the jump and started Geeked Out Colors.

You probably have some questions for me:

1. Where have you been since December 3rd?

That's an excellent question! I apparently lose all desire to write blog posts during the holidays, and then get into the habit of not writing blog posts.

I have a lot of topics saved up that I've wanted to write about, but my brain is pretty good at finding distractions and other things to do whenever I start thinking about blogging.

2. Why are you starting to blog again?

Because I'm really excited to share this newest chapter in my life with you!

Also, thanks for asking this question, it provides a great transition to the next question.

3. What on earth are "perler bead" creations?

One of our Thor keychains

There's a good chance you've actually made your own perler bead creations when growing up but didn't even know they were called perler beads.

The concept is pretty simple:

We have bags of hallow, plastic beads that we arrange in patterns on peg boards.

When we have our designs the way we want them, we put wax paper on top and iron the beads until the melt enough to stay together (but not too much or they'll lose their distinctive, hollow centers).

Making perler art can be pretty time consuming.

Otherwise, everyone might go out, spend a couple hundred dollars on perler beads and make their own awesome designs.

It can take a couple hours to make just a few perler creations. Obviously, the time differs with the size and difficulty of each project.

 

Disney Princesses are pretty popular - we almost sold out at LubbockCon!

For example, these 3D Disney princesses are pretty large and took extra time, beyond putting all the small beads in place. 

These were some of the first perler designs I made after Rob and I rediscovered perler beads this past summer, so the ironing is not quite perfect, but it works.

Mulan, especially, took a couple peg boards and careful ironing to keep everything from falling apart. 

I also realized Mulan needed two stands (one is hiding behind Tiana) to keep her from falling over.

Rob and I mostly had Marvel and Star Wars character keychains at our table at LubbockCon on Feb. 20, but we're hoping to expand the scope and difficulty levels of our designs.

Most importantly, I suppose, is that Rob and I share a lot of geeky hobbies.

These include comics, board games, video games, TV shows, movies, and so on.

We're just turning one of our hobbies - making geeky perler bead designs while watching movies - into a business by selling our creations at local cons.

If you want to follow our journey, check out Geeked Out Colors:

Facebook/Instagram: @geekedoutcolors

Twitter:@geeked_colors

Email: geekedoutcolors@gmail.com

Excited to see how this goes,

The Purple Writer

Am I an engaging individual online?

As you may have noticed, several of my blog posts this semester had to do with my current public relations class, which focuses on digital and online public relations.

For this final post of the semester, I will answer 5 questions from my professor to evaluate my digital engagement this semester.

Question 1:   Reflecting on the assignment to identify a firm, key influencers, a job and skills needed to be a successful candidate, do you feel more or less prepared to succeed after taking this class?

Let me start by clarifying that I took this professor’s content development class this summer, and am also working as a social media intern for Texas Tech University’s Office of Communication & Marketing.

I’ve encountered the majority of ideas discussed in this class before, whether from a previous class or through my job. I started this semester with a blog, unified social media profiles, a Klout score above 55, and a pretty thorough understanding of how to use Hootsuite and the features that accompany it.

That being said, this class did require me to polish my accounts and profiles a bit more and create content for this blog on a consistent schedule. In that way, I think this class will contribute to future success in the digital sphere.

Question 2:   Discuss how your blog and the information you are sharing with others through social media is enhancing your online reputation – both personally and professionally.

What would be the point of having a blog if I didn't post anything?

I am not the most consistent blogger, almost constantly putting other things first like class, work, friends, sleep, and so on. Even when I am blogging, my blog’s content is generally more for my friends and not relating to the fields of public relations or content development.

By writing and sharing about these fields more this semester, I have been engaging more with other people and letting them know that I have opinions and input to add (which is good).

Question 3:   Discuss the characteristics that have helped build your online reputation (ex. personality characteristics, information sharing behavior, engaging consistently and professionally with followers and others through social media, etc).

I act a little differently on various social media platforms.

My personal brand on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat are all about interacting and engaging with friends on a consistent basis, taking pictures of new things I try and with people I engage with.

On Twitter and LinkedIn, I follow a lot of high-powered professionals who focus on public relations, content and social media, and I interact with their posts by liking, commenting, and sharing. I don’t have many engaged followers to interact with, although I’m sure that will change eventually.

Question 4:   Which Hootsuite report did you choose to run? Discuss results.

I ran the detailed twitter engagement report. It seemed like a good way to visualize how I’ve actually been doing on Twitter, and the results were both disappointing and eye-opening.

My growth in number of followers on Twitter has been pretty sporadic. While I definitely have more now than I used to, there have been large periods of time when people unfollowed me. It also appears that my content is not popular enough to be retweeted or for my personal brand to be mentioned. These are some things to work on in the future.

Question 5:   What were your perceptions before and after this assignment in regards to online reputation management (AKA Digital Footprint)?

I knew that it was important to have an influential digital footprint, and I’ve built up a pretty decent Klout score this year (which shows that I influence a good number of people).

While working on Texas Tech’s social media, I analyze the university’s influence and the influence of its competitors on a monthly basis. I understand how to present a unified brand tone with specific hashtags and keywords, while posting engaging content and interacting with followers and potential followers.

In that regard, my perceptions of online reputation management haven’t really changed, although I’ve come to understand more of the nuanced differences in managing a large brand’s digital footprint and managing my own personal digital footprint.

Avocado Pockets

As I've mentioned before, I'm all about that avocado.

I normally eat the avocado straight from its skin or as guacamole, but I wanted to do something a little more creative and new this time.

The result? I'm calling them Avocado Pockets!

Not only are these little pockets surprisingly quick and easy, but they're simply delicious!


They can serve as a snack, an appetizer or a meal, be eaten with your hands or with a fork.


While they have plenty of flavor on their own, they also pair well with salsa and barbeque sauce, and will probably work with just about any sauce you want to try.

So, what do you need to make them?

The cool thing is that you could add just about any ingredients you like, and it would probably turn out great. 

This time around, I used:

-> 1 avocado
-> 4 mini sweet peppers
-> a bit of cheese
-> 1 tube of crescent rolls

How did I make them?

1. I rolled out the crescent dough. Instead of dividing the dough into their triangles, I kept them in rectangles, so I could fit more filling into them.

2. Into each of the four rectangles I put even amounts of cheese, avocado and peppers on one side.

3. I then folded over the other sides of the rectangles, and pressed down the edges.

4. I put them in the oven at 350 for about 12 minutes. The baking time may change slightly based on your particular oven. 

* I used a toaster oven because I was only making four avocado pockets, but its temperature is on par with my regular oven, so that doesn't make a noticeable difference.

Now, before I close out, I want to tell you about this cheese that I used. While I normally use sharp (or extra sharp) cheddar cheese, I am hooked on this champagne cheddar that I buy from Costco.

Yes, you read correctly: champagne cheddar.

It is fantastic.


It tastes like cheddar (because it is), but it also tastes like champagne. I don't know how it works, but I greatly appreciate whoever came up with the idea.


Not only is it classy, but it pairs excellently with anything I would add barbeque with, and it's just great.


You should just try it for yourself.




Enjoying my delicious avocado dinner,
The Purple Writer

What do James Bond films earn on opening weekend?

The James Bond film SPECTRE came out this past weekend (Nov. 8). I loved it so much that I watched it twice.

My James Bond class got free shirts from Sony and went to see SPECTRE at Alamo Drafthouse on Nov. 9

I was curious and looked up what SPECTRE and previous James Bond films have earned during their opening weekends.


I was interested in the changes in early viewership and reception between the movies and also wanted to see how SPECTRE stacked up against the other recent films.


I found some websites with useful information, but they featured long lists on numbers and data which played tricks with my eyes.


There was a graph with squiggly lines which helped a little but was still confusing and didn't really help me comprehend what I was looking for.

Recently in my Online & Digital PR class, we've been talking about the importance of data visualization.

Not only do colorful pictures draw our eyes and keep our attention for longer, but it is easier for us to distinguish trends, patterns and possible anomalies when looking at visual data.

Therefore, I decided to make my own infographic interpreting this data.

The gauge chart focuses on which month each film was released, while showing how much they earned in their opening weekends in comparison with the other films.

The blue/green sections represent summer months while the purple sections represent winter months.

The move from summer to winter months appears to have significantly impacted the James Bond franchise.


The bar graph focuses on how much each of the films earned on opening weekend.

I color-coded this graph by the actors who played Bond to differentiate the eras of the films.

While The Spy Who Loved Me ($1,347,927) does not appear on the chart, the other films range from $6,834,967 (For Your Eyes Only) to $88,364,714 (Skyfall).

The source of information I used only had opening weekend box office information for the James Bond films made from 1977 to 2015.

Although the numbers for SPECTRE are estimated rather than definite because it released so recently, I went ahead and included its weekend performance at $73,000,000.


I think it is interesting to note the increase in the immediate earnings when Pierce Brosnan entered the world of Bond in 1995, after six years with no James Bond films. This contrasts with the decrease when Daniel Craig premiered as Bond, although his films have gone on to be big earners.

While the James Bond films have always been popular, they have been becomingly increasingly large productions which generally results in larger returns. I would like to go on to compare production budgets with the films' earnings and look at overall box office results for the James Bond films.

However, this train of thought will probably have to wait until I finish finals and end-of-semester projects.


Looking forward to my James Bond class' discussion on SPECTRE this evening,
The Purple Writer