Recently a commercial was released to draw tourists to the States. You can watch it here.
It is interesting, but I do not know if it will be effective. I was especially confused when it showed obscure locations in the United States. Many people seem to visit big cities, but I suspect that very few will go the swamps in the South, random fields of flowers, or large dinners in the country. It is also hard to know whether they are telling people to visit or move here.
Personally, I think a better technique would be to find what people like about America and promote that. This ad seems to show everything that we offer, thereby showing nothing specific that would draw tourists. I want to go to other countries to see specific and well-known sites. While this did show some big name locations, I thought it could have done better.
What do you think? Would you want to visit the US after seeing this?
Aaron Roecker
Apartment Hunting
Apartment hunting. You either hate it or love it - I have yet to make up my mind.
Now that the real world is starting in just over a month, I need to find a place to call home. For the past 22 years my home has been various places around the Peoria area, so I have not done any apartment hunting. I'm not really sure what I thought it was going to be like before starting the adventure a few weeks ago, but I am definitely realizing that it's no walk in the park.
It wouldn't be nearly as bad if I was moving across town and could easily visit an apartment at any time. But instead I move across the state and there are so many choices! The biggest (and probably most important) variable is cost. A one bedroom apartment in the Northwest suburbs can vary by hundreds of dollars and it is hard to know what you get for your money. Internet reviews make searching so much easier, but there are many locations with no reviews, so I am essentially walking in blind.
Due to the apartments being three hours away and school being busy until early May, I am going to Chicago this weekend to look for places. My goal is to find a place and fill out an application (and hopefully sign a lease) this weekend. I want to get something finalized so I can cross another thing of the list of activities I need to do before I move. I also want to try to find a place before everyone else starts looking.
This weekend is going to be crazy going from apartment to apartment, but hopefully at the end of the day Sunday I can relax knowing that I have my new home.
Aaron Roecker
Now that the real world is starting in just over a month, I need to find a place to call home. For the past 22 years my home has been various places around the Peoria area, so I have not done any apartment hunting. I'm not really sure what I thought it was going to be like before starting the adventure a few weeks ago, but I am definitely realizing that it's no walk in the park.
It wouldn't be nearly as bad if I was moving across town and could easily visit an apartment at any time. But instead I move across the state and there are so many choices! The biggest (and probably most important) variable is cost. A one bedroom apartment in the Northwest suburbs can vary by hundreds of dollars and it is hard to know what you get for your money. Internet reviews make searching so much easier, but there are many locations with no reviews, so I am essentially walking in blind.
Due to the apartments being three hours away and school being busy until early May, I am going to Chicago this weekend to look for places. My goal is to find a place and fill out an application (and hopefully sign a lease) this weekend. I want to get something finalized so I can cross another thing of the list of activities I need to do before I move. I also want to try to find a place before everyone else starts looking.
This weekend is going to be crazy going from apartment to apartment, but hopefully at the end of the day Sunday I can relax knowing that I have my new home.
Aaron Roecker
Bradley University Recap
Since I am only a month away from being completely done with my college career, I though it is appropriate to take a look back at the last four years. I decided to go to Bradley because I wanted to stay close to home and didn't want to leave Peoria. A few years into Bradley my mindset completely changed and I started second guessing why I stayed in the area. But looking back at the past four years, I realized how many opportunities I had at Bradley.
One of my favorite experiences at Bradley have been my study abroads. I had the privilege to go to both China and Finland for a few weeks in 2010. This opened my eyes to how big the world is and gave me a desire to hopefully travel (and potentially work) abroad again.
Also, the marketing professors I have had at Bradley have been great. Although I have had many long nights and weekends trying to finish projects, these projects have taught me more than mere lectures could. The teachers make class interesting, relevant, and challenging.
Finally, Bradley has helped me land my most important internship. I simply put my resume on Bradley's career website and I was contact by the recruiter at Robert Bosch Tool Corporation, which has then led me obtaining a full-time position with the company. Although Bradley's career website helped me, it can be frustrating due to Bradley's lack of relationships with large, out-of-state companies.
All-in-all, I have enjoyed my time at Bradley. There are many things Bradley can improve upon and many schools that are better than Bradley, but it has been a good experience and I thankful for the past four years.
Aaron Roecker
One of my favorite experiences at Bradley have been my study abroads. I had the privilege to go to both China and Finland for a few weeks in 2010. This opened my eyes to how big the world is and gave me a desire to hopefully travel (and potentially work) abroad again.
Also, the marketing professors I have had at Bradley have been great. Although I have had many long nights and weekends trying to finish projects, these projects have taught me more than mere lectures could. The teachers make class interesting, relevant, and challenging.
Finally, Bradley has helped me land my most important internship. I simply put my resume on Bradley's career website and I was contact by the recruiter at Robert Bosch Tool Corporation, which has then led me obtaining a full-time position with the company. Although Bradley's career website helped me, it can be frustrating due to Bradley's lack of relationships with large, out-of-state companies.
All-in-all, I have enjoyed my time at Bradley. There are many things Bradley can improve upon and many schools that are better than Bradley, but it has been a good experience and I thankful for the past four years.
Aaron Roecker