A New Job and Happy Chinese New Year!

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Hi my friends. How was your holiday and how was your first week that you have already finished on both campuses? I want to join you so much. But my time is gone. Glion is yours now. I hope everything is fine, especially my new friends. It’s always difficult at the beginning. But everything is going to be better soon. I’m sure you will enjoy the time in Glion.

I also have good news to tell today, I got a phone call yesterday about my job from Raffles Dubai. And it was a YES. They will offer me a job in Front Office. I am still feeling happy about that. It’s been almost three months since I started sending my CVs to hotels and other organizations, I’ll say it’s not easy to get one for me. I say that it’s difficult for me for two reasons: nationality and personal preference. I say that because personally, I want find a job outside of China, but on the other hand, for Chinese citizens we have limited countries where it is easy to get a work visa. So, in these months, I learned all kinds of words which have the same meaning,“NO”. To be honest, after I got the postgraduate diploma from Glion, it’s really hard to accept these rejection letters again and again. But I did not give up. I didn’t believe these political issues, I trust myself, and after one year of study and five months internship with Glion, I knew I would find a good place in the end….and I was right!

Now, I’m just waiting for the contract they are going send to me, and then I’ll be on my way. This is just the beginning of my career, I have no idea what is going on in the future, but I will believe in myself.

At the end, I want to say Happy New Year to the Chinese students. The Spring Festival is coming. In our culture, Spring Festival is our “Christmas day”, it’s the most important day throughout the whole year. This year, I’m lucky that I can stay at home to celebrate with all my families. But it’s not like that for the students who are on campus, so I wish all the best for you, Happy Chinese New Year!

Daniel

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Slàn agus go raibh maith agat!

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(Goodbye and thank you! (hopefully translated correctly, if not, I apologize))

Hello everyone!! Can you believe it? A year ago I was still nervously awaiting the beginning of my journey into the hospitality industry and now I have finished the first two semesters. I can honestly not explain how happy and incredibly in awe I am, as to what I have seen and experienced throughout the past year. I met the most fascinating people and got to know oh so many different personalities. I took my first steps in the hospitality industry during a very interesting, all be it not always easy, internship in a lovely hotel in a country I had never been to before. Of course, through all of this and with the help of the courses in the first semester, I have already accumulated a whole lot of knowledge and have learned more about my own preferences in the industry.

In my last blog, I left off with the start of my night shift, so I thought I would tell you a bit about those interesting nights. Honestly, I have to say that the beginning of the night shifts was quite difficult seeing as you rarely see other people and simply due to the fact that your daily routine is somewhat turned upside down. However, after a few nights I had gotten more used to this spooky shift and was not as tired, as in the beginning.

Overall, I was able to perform a large part of the night audit during these shifts, which was definitely more than I had expected and gave me a good insight into the nightly tasks. My dancing and singing manager also helped a lot in making the night a lot more entertaining. Yes, you read correctly, my manager was actually always very upbeat and decided to keep himself awake by singing. I honestly do have to say that I admire the people who constantly work overnight, such as the overnight housekeepers and overnight managers, as well as those who always have to change their shifts, constantly shifting from early morning to night shifts, such as the security people, as it is a very hard job to do in my opinion, and these people’s lives are obviously a lot different from others. All in all, I feel that my night shifts were a very valuable experience, but definitely did not turn into my favourite shifts overall.

After my night shifts were over (all in all I was on night shifts for about three weeks), I was introduced back into ‘normal’ life, which actually included the occasional rays of sun. Not too many of course, it was Ireland after all (no, the rain is neither a prejudice against the country, nor a myth!), but now and then the sun did decide to say a short hello. The day shifts were all very regular and those where I was allowed to work at the desk by myself were especially exciting. Then, at the beginning of December, the hotel started to fill up. Those busy days, where we had people queuing up at reception were definitely the most fun, but also the most nerve-wracking, all while being very good days to get used to quite stressful situations. Then as the gorgeous Christmas trees and the lovely holiday decorations were put up and the Christmas music finally started playing (personally, I would have started playing the music at the beginning of November, but for some mysterious reason my colleagues were not that enthusiastic about my genius idea), I realized that my internship at the Ritz-Carlton was coming to an end and that I would actually get to go back home.

A few weeks later that is what I did. After a tearful goodbye from my lovely colleagues and friends, I packed my bags, which were of course overweight due to the unwillingness of the scale at the intern house to cooperate and therefore caused a bit of trouble at the airport, and after all this finally headed back home to Germany and later on to South Africa, which is where I am now.

All in all I have to say that the internship at the Ritz-Carlton honestly helped me to learn a lot about hospitality and gave me a very good insight into Rooms Division, while my friends and colleagues made my time there all the more special, which I can not thank them for enough.

With this I wish all of you a wonderful New Year filled with joy, good health and success and I will write my final blog, once I am back in Switzerland.

Have a lovely week!

Lea

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Time flies

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Hello everyone!

Happy New Year! Is incredible how the time flies isn’t it? X-mas has passed, New Year’s Eve has come and is already gone and let’s all hope to have a great 2012!

How is everyone doing right now? To all the new students joining Glion in a couple of weeks: how do you feel? Have you already started writing your checklists? Packing perhaps? Or are you still thinking what to bring with you to Switzerland?

I still have some weeks left before going back to school: I will start my 4th semester in the Bulle campus, which is only twenty minutes away from Montreux, however, everything is going to change one more time for me: the place, the campus… but luckily I will be back with all my friends, which is great! In the Bulle campus, we will focus more on our academic skills rather than on our practical ones, since there will no longer be Craft Based Learning (CBL). Once in Bulle, it will be possible as well to choose some elective courses, according to our interests and preferences.

Have any of you (new students) already tried to picture yourselves in a kitchen? Not really right? I couldn’t do it either! I was scared of the idea I had to cook, in particular since I was good only at preparing salads and sandwiches! But don’t worry you are going to be fine! I really enjoyed the time I spent during CBL. There was a lot to learn and things to do while you get to know your classmates even better and you will feel like being part of a family; a team that works together and helps each other, which is important for our industry.

Well everyone I wish you all a wonderful day and enjoy what is left of your holidays. See you soon!

 

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Goodbye Glion, Goodbye Switzerland

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Hello everyone. How are you guys? I hope everything is fine. I have some good news and some sad news to share with you this time.

I prefer to start from the good news: I got my certificate of employment for my internship. This means that I’ve officially finished my internship. It was such a good experience for me.

As a cost controller in the F&B department on campus, my main responsibilities were:

  1. Control the deliveries, storage and stock of non-perishable food items and beverages
  2. Participate in the laying out of the main cellar-inventory-purchasing-cost control
  3. Control of order forms, transfer forms from the different outlets
  4. Elaborate and analyze the monthly closings of our f&b outlets
  5. Assist in the organization of special student events, and participate actively in functions within the community.

During my work in this position, I learned a lot from my chef Mr. Charles and all my other colleagues. They taught me how to work in a team as a team player and how to work effectively, which are very important qualities in the hotel industry.

Actually. If you have already read my previous blog, then maybe you will find out some clues about the sad news that I want share with you. Yes, as soon as I finish my internship, I have to leave Glion, leave Switzerland. After these days of studying in Glion, I have already fallen in love with this place. The fascinating nature views, lovely people from all over the world, the professional teachers, the tasty food…. It is really hard to say goodbye. But this is life, I have to move on. So, Goodbye Glion…. I will miss all my presentations, reports, exams… even though I was suffering a little bit when I was doing that, but now everything seems so precious. And Goodbye my friends… I will miss all the good times that we had together. Obviously we know how to work hard and play even harder.

Now, I am back in China, waiting for my job offer. I hope I will get it before my next blog, so I can tell you guys, but no matter where I will go or what I will do one thing is for sure: I will spread the Glion sprit to other people and inspire them.

For the last time, I say goodbye to Switzerland and everyone that I loved! I will come back soon.

Happy New Year!!!

Zhen

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A New Chapter

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Only a few days ago, I received an email from the Glion academic office informing to choose my courses for my programme (Postgraduate Diploma in Hospitality Management). I found this procedure very helpful as it gives me an insight into what I have been anticipating and what it is that I will have the opportunity to learn this semester. What I really enjoyed and appreciated was the fact that there were videos illustrating each and every course. Only when I had finalized my course selection did it really hit me that I was a few weeks away from meeting my future classmates, from an exciting new beginning, a new chapter, new challenges and most importantly a new future.

Although I am very excited about this new encounter, I also have mixed feelings, a feeling of nervousness and anxiousness; a feeling I believe is normal when embarking on an adventure, a new chapter in everyone’s life. However, once I think of the excitement of joining such a prestigious university like Glion, all such feelings disappear immediately and I feel lucky to be given an opportunity to fulfill my dream at a highly respected institute.

I am doing what I’ve always dreamed of so it all makes it worthwhile!

After carefully reviewing the list that was provided by Glion on what to pack – which I found very helpful and thoughtful, mind you. I found the list of items to bring very helpful as it made my choice of clothing easier especially at this time of year (winter), which, I personally love, as I love and enjoy skiing. I was very excited to hear that student body organizes outings such as ski trips.

I am really looking forward to the beautiful view of the lake Geneva from my room on campus.

As I check off my Glion pre arrival list, I know it is time to say my goodbyes to my wonderful family and friends. Although goodbyes are hard, I know I am about to embark on something great, I am about to open the door of many great things, many greats opportunities and a bright future.

I am very anxious and I cannot wait to meet my teachers, my fellow classmates, the world of hospitality and my future home! I know it all sounds quite intimidating but my mother always said to me the “The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up”.

Special thanks to my lovely family: Mummy, Daddy, David, Ayinda & Shimie – Thank you for always supporting me and encouraging me to accomplish my dreams, I Love You. &To an amazing Shareena.S: Thank you so much for always being there and pushing me forward! God bless you

Aye

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Bonjour Monsieur, Madame et Madamoiselle

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Once you come to Glion, you have to know how to say hello in the French way!

My name is Wang Zhen. I come from China. People call me Daniel on campus. If you want to be remembered, you better have an English name (for Chinese people only), but it is not obligatory. I was in Glion for the Postgraduate Diploma in Hospitality Management. I have already finished my study part, I am doing my internship on Glion campus as Cost Controller in the F & B Department. Nowadays, I only have one month left before I finish my internship and I am looking for the job now. So the main part of my blog in the following year will be my career life, as well as my working experience in some countries, maybe in Maldives, in China or maybe elsewhere.

If you do not mind, I would like to share a few more details about myself. As I told you, I am Chinese. In my family, I have two brothers, one sister and really cool parents, which is a huge family in China. I was born in a small city called Fushun. It is located in the north part of China, four hours from Beijing by train. We have a very typical continental climate in my hometown. In summer it can be 35 degrees and in winter we can also have 35 degrees below zero. So, you can imagine how warm I felt the winter here in Switzerland.

Before I came to Switzerland, I was doing my university in Shenyang Institute of Engineering. My major was tourism management which is also related to hospitality. I think this is one of my reasons why I choose to my further study in hospitality industry.

The first time I worked in a hotel was three years ago. It was a Sheraton hotel, one of the Starwood hotels chain. I worked in the front office department as a concierge. Even doing that, I had the feeling that I liked this job. It is very important to realize what you really want to do in the future. After six months of internship in that hotel, I decided to continue my further studies in hospitality. Luckily, my previous hotel manager gave me the suggestion to come to Glion. Now, I really appreciate his suggestion. Taking everything into consideration, Glion is truly the top school in the hotel industry. With the “Glion Spirit”, you will never regret to be part of this family.

So guys, I am looking forward to seeing you soon on campus. If you want more information, you can visit other blogs from all my colleagues. We will try our best to present the life of Glion in different aspects with different cultures. And if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Zhen.wang@glion.ch, danielw1987@163.com

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Welcome

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Hi everyone,

My name is Aye J. Umaru and I am happy to introduce myself as the new E-Ambassador for the coming school year January 2011. I am a postgraduate who will be pursuing a Diploma In Hospitality Management. I am very excited about embarking on this next stage of my life but more excited about being able to share my experiences with both present and prospective students. I do hope that my experiences will create a vision of what it feels like to be part of the Glion family.

As I will be speaking to you on a regular basis, I feel it is very important to give you brief background information about who I am and why I have chosen to pursue Hospitality Management in this prestigious university, Glion.

I have just completed my undergraduate degree in the Regents Business School London.

However, I was born in Minna a small city in north central Nigeria, Africa. Nigeria is known as the giant of Africa with the highest population in the entire Africa.
Though I was born there, I spent most of my life travelling and being educated all around the world. My academic career away from home began when I was 10 years of age.
My parents sent me off to a private boarding school in Switzerland called John F. Kennedy International School, which has a student body of over twenty different nationalities where I graduated from the eighth grade.

I pursued my high school diploma immediately after that at the prestigious Aiglon College, also an international school that nurtures up to 58 different nationalities. Ten years later, I have seen my out-going qualities improve significantly not only from being around people of different backgrounds but from being opportune to attend a university in one of the most cosmopolitan cities’ in the world, London.

It is no surprise that one of my favourite hobbies’ is meeting people from all around the globe. I am a very sociable and out-going person. Amongst my other hobbies includes fashion design hence why I pursued an internship in Haute Couture Fashion design Boutique for 2 months. I was opportune to experience what it feels like working hand-in-hand with fashion designers as well fabric manufacturers. I also love listening to music, visiting restaurants with different cuisines, patisseries with Ladurée being my personal favourite and travelling. I believe an excellent holiday consists of a stay in an excellent hotel, which has a strong reputation for its hospitality treatment. It is no surprise that my love for travelling and hotels influenced my desire to pursue a course in one of the most prestigious hotel management universities in the world; Glion; a university family am very proud to be part of.

This is the beginning of my career, and am confident that Glion has what it takes to help me embark on this next stage of my career.

Aye

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Cultural Fair

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“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”

Here at Glion we had the opportunity to travel around the world in one afternoon, visiting all the country-stands presented by the students during our annual Cultural Fair, which celebrates community diversity, ethnic and cultural roots of the Glion students. This event emphasizes the cultural diversity here on campus and it is a great chance to know more about our friends’ countries and the uniqueness of each culture. During this fair, students presented their home countries with pride and shared their feelings and values with the attendees, giving us the opportunity to know more about the beauty of their places, traditions and customs. All the students involved got the opportunity to display their culture through posters, traditional music, food, drinks, clothing and so much more.

This is one of the many wonderful things about Glion, and the hospitality environment in general: always surrounded by different people, nationalities and cultures. Being open-minded will always help you to be more tolerant and respectful toward others, and make the most of your experience at this university.

During cultural fair students were challenged with their creativity. France presented a real fashion show with French designers and models. It was quintessential French, from the Champagne to Karl Lagerfeld. Moving up to northern Europe, we met the country of Sweden where it was possible to listen to a live performance of Agnetha and Ann-Frid former ABBA singers. Moving then to the east there was the USSR stand, yes exactly, USSR, where Russia, Ukraine and Belarus joined forces and spirits, altogether, creating a unique atmosphere. I particularly enjoyed the Russian-Ukrainian-Belarusian stand for the great atmosphere, beautiful costumes, and delicious food, and let’s not forget their traditional drinks…

It was a very pleasant and humorous afternoon; instead of attending class, we all got to experience something special.

I would like to personally thank everyone for all the work they put into making this Cultural Fair a truly memorable experience for me and the rest of the students, and all who attended. Hopefully we all learned a little something about someone else, and because of it we are now a closer and stronger community of students, faculty, and staff.

For those of you who are going to join Glion this winter, the cultural fair is something you are going to enjoy a lot, and you will feel the Glion Spirit…

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Life and Work at Ritz Carlton part 2

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Hello everyone!

About a month has passed since my last blog post, so I thought it would be about time to get you updated on my experiences at the front desk.

The past few weeks have been full of new challenges and it was again essential, as it is so often in this industry, to be able to catch on quickly, to deal with stressful situations and to persevere during the hotel’s busy days.

My working space

After a few days of training and shadowing at the front desk, I was let loose on the guests myself, having to try to deal with complaints, queries, check-ins, check-outs and other day to day tasks of the front office. At the beginning, it did take quite an effort to even answer the phone in a calm manner, as I felt that I was just thrown into cold water, not knowing what to expect.

The beautiful lobby

It amazes me how quickly this task became a normal routine for someone like me, who always takes a while to get their constant nervousness and rising panic under control. Now and then, you do get a few calls which are a little awkward or which you might not be able to answer directly, but just as often you get simple ones, of which you definitely do not have to be afraid. The point I am trying to make is that even though you might be a rather timid person and are afraid that front office is not the place for you, this can change, if you just give yourself a little push. If you are ready to try this, working in this department can really give you very good people skills and increased confidence.

 

I personally really enjoy working in the front office, as it gives you the opportunity to communicate with your guests in person. This way you are made aware of certain aspects of the hotel, which might need some improvement, as well as being the recipient of all the joy and excitement sent out by the guests, when they are anticipating their stay or when they have thoroughly enjoyed it. Furthermore, you can deal with certain requests directly and make sure that they really get the most out of their experience at your property. From time to time, you have guests who just brighten up your day, simply by being the nice people that they are. This is one of the best parts about this industry in my opinion: making sure you create an unforgettable experience for your guests and brightening their life up a little by doing so. Of course, all the departments in the hotel work toward achieving this goal, but in front office you actually get to see the happy faces of your customers or the beaming eyes of their children, which really motivates you to continue working.

Now of course, the work is not fun all of the time, especially if you do not have a lot to do on quiet days, but I suppose that is just a normal part of the work. Another factor that is truly nice about working in this department is the colleagues. Some of my front office colleagues are amazing people who really try to help you and assist you when there is a problem. I already know that the things I will miss most about this internship are the amazing people, amongst the interns as well as among the employees who I’ve met at this hotel.

Welcoming the guest

The work might not always be very easy, but the people just make it all worthwhile.

Now the next step of my journey will take me to the world of night shifts, something I am very curious about, as I can’t imagine what it is like, when your night turns into day time. I certainly hope that the hotel is not haunted….what with Ireland being such a mystical place and all.

On that note I wish everyone a wonderful November and I will inform you about my newest adventures, hopefully without ghostly encounters, in a month’s time.

Lea

Pictures taken from: http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Powerscourt/Default.htm

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What to expect on internship

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Hello everyone!

Right now, lots of you are looking for your first internship, aren’t you? Well, I hope the search is going well so far. As promised, in my last post, I would like to share with you some more information about my experience in the One & Only Reethi Rah of the Maldives. For most of you, this is your first experience in a real working environment; there’s nothing to be afraid of, trust me. It might seem a bit scary at the beginning since you don’t know what to expect, but you will be fine.

My internship started in the fine dining Japanese restaurant, where I began learning all the basic procedures of the restaurant. Even if I was taught during CBL how to operate in a restaurant and so on, once in the real work space, everything is completely different. During my first night I was completely lost. I didn’t know what to do, where to stand, how the restaurant was run and I had the feeling of being useless. Pretty normal I guess, but then I got used to it.

After a month in the Japanese restaurant, I moved to the main restaurant, which operates during the breakfast, lunch and dinner times. It felt like everything was normal again. Since the restaurant procedures were much more similar to those we learned during CBL. Compared to the experience of the previous month in the Japanese restaurant, it was much easier to adapt to.

Just remember not to be afraid of making mistakes, we all go through our first experience. The learning process never ends. So if you have any doubts simply ask one of your colleagues or supervisors, they are there, ready to help you. You probably remember your first day during service at Hotel des Alpes? Were you scared of the other students? Did you feel nervous? Well, during your internship, don’t be. Although I am aware that is easier said than done! There is no reason to be afraid of the guests because they understand you. You will realize that you will feel more confident being in contact with a lot of different people everyday.

During my F&B experience I had the chance to move to the bar as well. Sometimes it was very stressful but I had a lot of fun. I learned to prepare several cocktails (which of course I had to taste) and other drinks. It happened once or twice that I was left alone behind the bar, with big responsibilities, but luckily everything went smoothly and I managed to have a nice time, especially interacting with the guests.

Did you enjoy or are you enjoying the Wine class? At One&Only I worked as a sommelier for a whole month. Of course there was a lot to learn about grapes, wines and I did lots of wine tasting as well. In my opinion, it has been very useful not only for my job at the time, but as well for my own knowledge about wines. It has been one of the best departments I’ve worked in.

Then, I moved to room service, which is probably one of the toughest departments in the hotel. This is where the most absurd requests and embarrassing moments take place on a daily basis. Guests opening the door half naked, those that shout at you because you woke them up having forgotten that they had called room service, guests ordering bottles of vodka at 9 am and so on. Room service in my hotel was completely different from what one expects: picnics on deserted islands, barbecues on the beach,…It was quite funny at times. To deliver the order, I had to use a golf-cart, as the hotel is an all-villa resort. Sometimes, I took the opportunity of driving around the island. Naturally, I only did that when we weren’t too busy!

Have a nice week and I wish you the best of luck for the upcoming interviews.
Enjoy your midterm break!

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