title: How to set optionals that are nil to an empty string?
body: <p>Right now I use the above code to set an optional to an empty string if it's nil and to unwrap it if it has a value. This is only three lines of code but this is a very common operation for me so I'm wondering if there's a more elegant way to do this?</p>
  
  <pre><code>var notesUnwrapped:String = ""
      if(calendarEvent.notes != nil){
          notesUnwrapped = calendarEvent.notes!
      }
  </code></pre>