El Ristretto Espresso Bar

In Ecuador, good coffee was hard to come by.

The most common drink was cafe con leche.

(Strong coffee with warm milk)

It was very good, but definitely weaker than my normal choice.

My host family was shocked when my roommate and I wanted only black coffee, which some days were better than others.

I tried a cappuccino at Corfu, which was served with a delicious chocolate truffle.

I loved those truffles.

The cappuccino was not a traditional one, but it was still alright.

Juan Valdez was a common coffee chain there, with coffee from Colombia.

They had yummy iced coffee and a fun atmosphere.

But my favorite coffee spot in Quito was El Ristretto Espresso Bar.

After a mall shopping excursion at El Jardin, I spotted this little shop out of the corner of my eye, and I immediately new I would love it.

I have a sixth sense for good coffee shops. ;)

Thankfully, Brandi is also a coffee lover, so we set out to try this shop one afternoon, and it was just as cute as I expected.

We both ordered cappuccinos.

It was a good choice.

I had never seen a cappuccino like this.

It was layered with coffee and foam with cinnamon on top.

It was not a traditional cappuccino,

but it was so delicious!

It also came with chocolate covered espresso beans.

I like chocolate with my cappes.

What can I say?

We went back a second time, and I ordered an espresso.

It was different.

I think they must of added hot water or something,

but it was still good.

Brandi got a cortado the second time around.

"Cortado" means cut in Spanish.

It is a Spanish drink that is in between the strength of a macchiato and a cappuccino, but the milk is more like latte milk and is served at a cooler temperature.

I was excited to try this since it is a Spanish drink and we were in a Spanish speaking country.

It was yummy,

but it looked more like a macchiato than a cortado.

I still loved it.

Another funny fact about coffee in Ecuador is that at every coffee shop there is also alcohol.

Even in the mall, you could get an Irish coffee.

It was such a foreign concept to me to see it everywhere.

I could have stayed there forever.

-Beth

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A Red Velvet Weekend

First of all, I want to apologize for the crazy absences. I have had some technology issues when I got back to the States everything from a lost phone to a dead computer. I promise to get back into the swing of things soon and share more Ecuador stories.

This past weekend was filled with another road trip to Tulsa with the beau to see his momma. We had a fabulous time with:

a random creek

skipping stones and dropping them

(he is full of many hidden talents)

a proper homemade spa treatment

red velvet ice cream

(is anyone else blown away by this concept? It was delicious!)

All in all, it was great spending time with the beau and his momma.

Is everyone else having a fun summer so far?

-Beth

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A House is Not a Home

I said my official good-bye to The Fremont House about a week ago

So many emotions

running

through

my head

I am happy

to be rid of 

ANTS

I am exhausted

from cleaning and 

MOVING

I am anxious

to start a new

CHAPTER

I am sad

to loose my 

ROOMIES

I will miss

Pippie greeting me 

each morning

My neighbor saving me

from my bad cooking skills

Always having someone

different to entertain

I will miss

Walking to class

Walking to Homegrown Foods

Walking just walking on Fremont

I have so many fond memories

of those three other crazy

Fremont House Girls

from the Snowpocalypse

to Christmas dinner

to parking each other in

They say a house is not a home,

but The Fremont House was my home for one year.

I will miss it,

but now it is time to make a new home.

-Beth

p.s. I am going to miss small children trick or treating at my house during Halloween. :)

What is home to you?

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An Inconvenience Rightly Considered

First of all, I want to apologize for the absence.

Quito kept calling my name making it hard to stand still at a computer for too long.

Second of all, I want to thank everyone again who guested blogged for me while I was away. I hoped you all enjoyed hearing from different people this month.

I want to share with you about my month in Ecuador little by little.

First, I want to take about a tiny little coastal town called Puerto Lopez.

It was so charming and refreshingly simple.

That was not my first response, however.

I read a quote in my journal that said:

"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered."

That pretty much sums up the weekend at Puerto Lopez.

We were told we were going to the beach and staying in a hotel.

Well, apparently, a hotel/resort on the beach is the same thing as a dirt floor hostel with mosquito nets in the middle of nowhere.

I had my first miniature freak out at this point because I was not prepared for "roughing it" that weekend.

I had my good little cry, washed up in our sink that fell off the wall, and dried off with towels that did not cover all the important parts.

(If you know what I mean.) 

I gave it a chance though,

and I am so glad I did.

Our group fell in love with this tiny coastal town.

Tiki huts lining the beach created a super fun night life,

and even though we had a ghetto hostel,

it turned out to be a charming little place.

 

We ate all our meals at this cute little restaurant called Restaurant Spondylus for every meal.

It was so delicious and fabulous to have seafood right from the ocean,

and to have soda in glass bottles with fun straws.

the little things

We went to Isla de la Plata by boat,

which was an experience.

It is nicknamed a "Poor Man's Galapagos".

We went on a hike to see some wild life, 

and then plunged right into the ocean for snorkeling. 

This was a huge feat for me,

because I am not a very good swimmer.

But I did it

with the help of my lovely friends Molly and Amy.

What started as an inconvenience truly turned into a charming adventure,

and I have four dresses to prove it.

;)

-Beth

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Social Media for PRSSA Chapters-- Lauren K Gray

In public relations, we know that social media is one of the top tools for PR today. With that, PRSSA National has many social media platforms to communicate with members around the country and out of the country!

Social media pages for Chapters are very beneficial. My Chapter, the Western Carolina University Chapter @WCUPRSSA, uses Twitter, Facebook, blogging and LinkedIn to post industry news, Chapters news, National news and other updates as they surface.

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Our Chapter also uses the Facebook page for events and discussions. We post job and internship opportunities at least once a week, which is beneficial for our members who could be searching for jobs and internships. Events on Facebook are useful because members get a reminder of the upcoming event and they can RSVP to the event and get more details about the event.

Twitter seems to be a PRSSA favorite lately! @PRSSANational posts job and internship opportunities as they arrive on the PRSSA Internship Center. For your Chapter, you can tweet individuals to remind them of meetings, thank people for coming to meetings and more. I think Twitter is more personal than just a mass message on Facebook. It’s very useful! A lot of Chapters retweet @PRSSANational posts and posts by other Chapters. 2010-2011 PRSSA President Nick Lucido even created a list of Chapters on Twitter: http://twitter.com/nicklucido/prssa-chapters.

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Twitter and Facebook are also great ways to communicate with other Chapters. I know our Chapter has gotten a few ideas from other Chapters for events and meeting topics, we are all here to help each other!

A lot of Chapters also have a blog or a website to talk about industry news and PRSSA topics. For example, the WCU PRSSA Chapter has our blog http://wcuprssa.wordpress.com where members can get information about our point system, meeting calendar, blog updates and more. We posted notes from a few different conferences our members attended and more.

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I think it’s important for Chapters to use social media to communicate with members because while email is very important, emails rack up quickly and are easily overlooked. College students are on their social media sites every single day. Does that mean they will check the Facebook and Twitter pages? No, but it is another method of communication for reaching more people.

As the 2011-2012 PRSSA National Vice President of Public Relations, I will communicate to members through our social media channels, the bi-weekly update and the PRSSA President phone and email tree. It’s very important to check these channels for PRSSA news and updates! Here are our links to our social media sites:

PRSSA National Facebook Fan Page

PRSSA National LinkedIn 

PRSSA National’s YouTube channel

PRSSA National Facebook Group

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           Something new we will be doing will be adding videos to the YouTube channel from the National Committee members! We will add introduction videos to tell you more about us and our initiatives. I will also ask Chapters to submit Chapter news via video so we can upload Chapter news to our YouTube channel as well! We want to utilize all our social media channels to their fullest potential.

            If you have any questions about starting social media for your Chapter or social media for PRSSA as a whole, please feel free to reach out to me! Tweet me on Twitter @laurenkgray or email me at laurenkgray2@gmail.com.

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