Author Archives: lea

Mid-term break

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As I mentioned in my previous blog, the last few weeks have been very tiring and stressful, which is why everyone was very excited to be going on their first mid-term break and within hours the campus resembled an almost completely uninhabited area. At the same time, the train stations and the airport in Geneva became the new gathering spots for most of the students and you were certain to see a lot of familiar faces in these places, faces which belonged to people who were just as eager as myself to go back home and reunite with family or friends or to go on a different trip and explore new countries and cultures.

The very practical location of Switzerland makes it rather easy to travel to places such as Spain, France, Germany, Italy or other nearby countries, which is what many students actually decided to do for their midterm break. Some of my friends went to Spain, visited Madrid and Barcelona, others went to France, specifically Paris and enjoyed the beautiful monuments of this gorgeous city.  Some people simply had some fun at Disneyland, others went to Italy, mainly to Rome, and relished the very special atmosphere this city has to offer and the list goes on and on.

Many others, such as myself, went home for this one week of vacation and enjoyed some time in familiar environments and with their loved ones. I was very happy, when my lovely family picked me up at the airport, where I had had to say a tearful goodbye to them just two months before and it just felt very surreal, when I began to think about all of the things in my life, which have happened and changed over such a small period of time.

These changes were obviously and gladly all very positive, but nevertheless it felt a bit awkward to suddenly be back at home. After a short adjustment period however, I began my obligatory and joyfully anticipated journey through my local town and the surrounding area, such as Cologne for example, where I visited all of my great friends and my family and was able to give a very detailed report of what has happened over the last weeks.

I always love spending time with my loved ones; nevertheless, it did not seem like I had not seen most of them for two months because Skype and other modern technology really facilitates everything and makes it easier to keep all of the relationships alive, which is how homesickness is kept to a minimum. Of course, I do have to mention that I am very lucky and fortunate not to have any time difference between Switzerland and Germany, which makes everything a lot less difficult.

After the week was over, I happily returned back to Glion, excited to see my second family again, because, in my opinion, a strong bond is formed between students here very quickly, as most students are far away from home and you spend a lot of time with one another.

So I hope you are now relieved to know, that there is a break in the semester and you do not have to work straight through until your internship and you might even have the opportunity to see your family again quite quickly, travel or simply stay on campus and relax for a while.

Personally I am now ready for the next worked-filled half of the semester and I am excited to be able to keep you informed about any new developments, which occur.

Having said that, I once again wish you a lovely week!

Lea

A day in the life of a Glion student

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Hello everyone!

The last few weeks have been packed with many exams, projects, presentations and various other assignments, but I have now gotten used to this rather busy and hectic schedule and I am able to update you on my past two weeks at Glion and my life as a student in general.

As I promised in my last blog, I would like to give you a more thorough insight into everyday life at Glion in order to help you to get a better impression of what your life would be like here.
I am therefore going to illustrate one of these days with one of the busiest days we have had here, but le me reassure you that this schedule is not the one issued for every single day and the schedule generally varies from week to week, which is rather nice, because this way everything stays interesting and the variety is kept alive.

A normal day at Glion for me usually starts at around 6:30 a.m., where I have to finally give in to the irritating, and in my opinion quite evil, sound of my alarm clock after having already hit the snooze button repeatedly during the last forty minutes. After getting ready, breakfast then starts at 7:20 a.m. and my friends and I grab a seat near a window to be put into a better mood by looking at the beautiful scenery surrounding the school. Luckily, attending breakfast is on a voluntary activity. This is also why the restaurant seems like a deserted planet at breakfast in comparison to the very lively and vibrant atmosphere present during the other meal periods.

Courses then start at 8:00 a.m. with either Rooms Division, Introduction to Hospitality, PDAS (Personal Development in Academic Skills) IT or Food & Beverage, since my class always has language lessons in the afternoon. The next lesson then commences at 10:05 a.m. and usually runs until about 11:50.  At that time, everyone rushes off to have lunch in order to avoid the long queues that are usually formed by all of the hungry students. The lunch break normally lasts until around 1:45 p.m., but is sometimes also consumed by presentations of hotel companies and partially also with interviews, which you are able to have with these companies.

Personally, I had two very exciting interviews, one with the Ritz Carlton Powerscourt in Ireland and one with Hilton UK and both were, as I can very happily say, successful. I received internship offers from both companies and now have decided to do my internship in the wonderful Ritz Carlton, which means that I will be moving to Ireland in about seven weeks. This news is immensely exciting, as well as frightening, but gives you a good opportunity to learn how to adapt to new surroundings and situations very quickly, which obviously is essential for the hospitality industry in general.

Returning to my daily schedule, the classes then, as I mentioned before, continue at 1:45 p.m. until 3:40 p.m. and the last course starts at 3:50 p.m. and ends at around 5:40 p.m.
After a long day of lectures, course work and other academic work, it is time for dinner.

Having gained new energy from the last meal of the day, most other students, as well as myself, then go on to participating in one of the various sports activities in order to destress a bit, spend time with friends or colleagues or simply to get rid of some of those nasty calories, which have accumulated throughout the day. Additionally, you might have, as I do on a regular basis, some volunteer meetings where new initiatives or projects are discussed. After any of these leisurely activities, you usually need to set aside a few hours to work on homework, group projects, individual projects or research essays, presentations or to study for upcoming exams, which take place on a somewhat weekly basis.

A long day usually ends at around 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. for me and a large part of the other students at the university, but fear not, because, as I said before, this is not the case every single day and on the plus side you also have the weekends, where you can refill your energy and relax a little bit.

I hope you now have a better understanding of what a day in the stressful phases of Glion is like and I wish all of you a very pleasant week!

Lea

Life on campus

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Before I tell you about the events of the past two weeks, I would like to take some time to express my deepest sympathy to all those affected by the catastrophic events in Japan. The magnitude of what has happened and of what is still going on is simply unbelievable and I urge everyone to help in any way they can.

Getting back to more positive occurrences, I have a lot to report about the last two weeks.
Regarding my academic life, the past weeks have been quite busy. We had our first exams in IT and in F&B, as well as a few presentations and generally a full schedule. This week is also going to be rather hectic, because we have our final exam in IT coming up and we have a language exam, which in my case is in Spanish, on Thursday. In regards to the languages, you are either placed in Advanced, Extension or Academic English, but you also have the possibility of getting exempted after a test essay, which luckily was the case for me. Although all of this work is a little tiring, it teaches you the basics of good time management and introduces you to having a busy schedule.

Apart from classes and school work, the lively and exciting search for internships is still taking place, although a large amount of students have already decided where they will be moving to in June. I have had a few interviews as well and they are always thrilling and at the same time, at least in my case, somewhat agitating events. No matter how prepared you are for an interview, there are always some questions, which you do not expect, such as “What is the most complex problem you have ever solved?” or “What is the best advice you have given recently?”. Although these questions might seem rather simple, you can believe me when I say that it is rather difficult to think about good and sensible answers on the spot. Nevertheless, the internship search is one of the most exciting aspects of life here and I am very happy to say that I have already found an amazing job for mine.

Although some of the time during the weekends is spent working on assignments, you usually have time to explore your surroundings a bit. Last weekend,  my lovely family visited me and I got to show them around my new home. We visited the Chateau de Chillon, which is a famous castle located along the lake, we explored the streets of Vevey, which is an idyllic little city not far from Montreux and we took a walk along the beautiful lake, which is my personal favorite concerning the natural surroundings of the area.

This weekend we had the Open Day at Glion, where I volunteered as a ‘tour guide’ for a very nice German family. You show these families around the campus and talk about the experiences you have had so far, it is a very fun activity I can really recommend.

Apart from the Open Day, there are a lot of other possibilities to volunteer around campus. In my case, this means being part of the Fire Officer program, which means that I am (most of the time along with other Fire Officers) responsible for the correct evacuation of our floor in case of fire. I’m also a part of the Inclusion and Diversity Committee, which has just been launched and tries to promote the intercultural relationships between students, because it is important to benefit as much as possible from being surrounded by so many different nationalities.

That is all for my quick recap of the past two weeks and I will tell you a bit about a day in my life here at Glion in more detail  next time.

Wishing you all a great week!

Lea

My second family (part one)

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I hope you all had a very nice week and today I will tell you something about a few new people in my life, which have already turned into my second family.

I hope that the following introductions will give you a first impression of what the so called “Glion spirit” is all about. Unfortunately, I am not able to introduce you to all of the great people I am surrounded with simulatneously, but I am planning to continue with my introductions throughout the semester.

So I am pleased to introduce you to three wonderful people…

Louise Lienhart
Nationality: Swiss

Why did you decide to study Hospitality Management?
I chose this industry because I love to take care of people and help out wherever I can. Furthermore, I find the international aspect of this business very interesting because I love learning and speaking different languages and getting to know other cultures.

How do you like Glion so far?
I like Glion a lot, because everyone is very nice and helpful and we are very well integrated. The vibrant mix of cultures really contributes to everyday life.

Ela Swoboda
Nationalities: German, Turkish, Swiss

Why did you decide to come to Glion?
I decided to join the Glion community, because a friend of mine recommended the institution and due to my international background I found the multicultural environment very interesting. I also visited the university during one of the open days and I loved all of the friendly people I saw on campus.

What is your favorite aspect of life in Glion so far?
Friendship, talking to members of other nationalities and the feeling of being surrounded by my new Glion family

Liping Zhu
Nationality: Chinese

How did you like your first month at Glion?
I like it very much, because I lived each day to the fullest so far and I made a lot of different friends from various nationalities and we all care for one another a lot, since we are all away from our homes.

How do you like the academic aspect of life here?
I like it and find it quite interesting, because the school offers us many courses, which are closely related to the hospitality industry and through which we get a better idea of what this industry is about. Also we will get the opportunity to gain practical skills during our CBL (craft based learning), which I am really looking forward to.
So as you can see you definitely do not need to worry that you will not find new friends at Glion, because the campus is filled with lovely people, who always make you feel at home.

Lea

Insight into life on campus

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Hello everyone! I hope you had a nice and enjoyable weekend.

My last two weeks at Glion have been very interesting and exciting and I can honestly say that I feel more at home with every passing day.

To give you all a little bit of an inside look into life here on campus, I thought I would tell you something about my courses and the activities, which the university has to offer.

This first semester I have introduction to Food & Beverage, a course in Introduction to Hospitality Management, one in Information Technology(IT) and one in Personal Development and Academic Skills (PDAS). Throughout the semesters more courses will be introduced to our schedule though.

In Introduction to Food & Beverage we talk about, as you may have guessed, the main aspects of food and beverage preparation and service, such as different kitchen departments or issues regarding hygiene.

In Introduction to Hospitality Management, we have been assigned a group project on specific international corporations, such as Carnival Cruise lines or Hyatt, and in class we are learning a lot about the basics of the hospitality industry, which are really interesting and give you a first insight into the industry.

IT is a course about using Excel, Power Point and Office, which are obviously essential for our job in the hospitality field and in PDAS we are supposed to learn more about ourselves in order to be able to present ourselves better at interviews, for example. If you know who you are it is easier to find those jobs which are suited for you. So all in all, the first courses are really quite informative and well-suited to get a first impression of the workings of the hospitality industry. You should know though that within these classes and in school in general a lot of emphasis is put on group work, on a well-groomed appearance and also especially on punctuality, since some teachers even lock the door, if you are just as much as one minute late.

However this probably sounds worse than it is, because I can honestly assure you that these rules are easily followed and it is better to learn these skills now, rather than later, because they are some of the basic elements of the field.

Moving on to something more leisurely and enjoyable, I would like to tell you something about the different activities you can do at the university. I personally enjoy playing badminton, taking tango lessons and doing yoga, but sports such as basketball, volleyball or table tennis can also be found on campus. Furthermore there is also a gym here, which is very convenient, once you have figured out during which hours it is not completely full and also once you have figured out that the gym closes at 10 pm, so that you do not, like I had the great experience two days ago, stand on the stepper, when suddenly all of the lights go out around you.

Furthermore, many excursions are offered for the weekends, such as ice skating or tobogganing for instance and I will definitely take part in some of these as well and tell you about them first hand, once I have settled in a bit more.

I hope this gave you some useful information on what to expect from the curriculum during the first few weeks and I will keep you updated on any new occurrences.

I wish you all a great week and please wish me luck for my first exam on Wednesday!

Lea

My new home

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After weeks of anticipation I  finally, along with over a hundred other new students, arrived at Glion Institute of Higher Education, which has already started to become and will continue becoming my new home.

Even though the process of adjusting to this new environment, far away from my oldest friends and my family, is a little overwhelming given the large amount of new impressions and information you have to take in during your first week (and also during the weeks to come I assume), it is a very exciting and amazing one.

The first week is mostly designed to introduce all of the new students to the main aspects of life in Glion. Upon arrival a lot of the formalities and administrative issues are dealt with (receiving your student ID, visiting the school nurse etc.) after which you get to see your new room. I personally share mine with a very lovely Chinese girl, so I am indeed immensely lucky to have someone like her as a roommate.

After the first introductions were made, I went to dinner with some of the friendly people who I had met throughout the day. And I can honestly assure you that from the moment you arrive at the airport, everyone is very kind and welcoming.

During the next few days the so called ‘induction week’ took place. This induction includes getting an introduction to all of the main aspects of campus life, taking a Math and perhaps also an English test, learning about the university’s rules and regulations, getting an introduction to your courses and having the first meetings with the internship department. One of these days is preserved for an integration day, where you gather in small groups and play different games, reaching from karaoke competitions to anagram solving, in order to explore the campus and to get to know more people. It really is a very enjoyable day. Then starting from Thursday the courses began and we got to know some of the friendly teachers, who really make an effort to interest you in their course and who help you to feel at ease about taking these courses, because a lot of support is offered.

Furthermore, we have to start revising all of our internship documents directly during the first weekend and we get to select four of the amazing job offers for which we would like to apply.

So to sum-up, I can honestly tell you that I have definitely made the right decision coming to Glion, because from the moment you get here you are welcomed in a very open way, you are informed about everything in detail and I personally feel at the end of this week that I am surely on the right path and I would like to thank Ms. Anika Gaudian very much for helping me to get here.

I wish you all a very pleasant week and I will be sharing new information with you in a week’s time.

Lea


Two weeks before take-off

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Hello again to everyone, I hope all of you had lovely holidays and I also sincerely hope that a good year is waiting for us all.

I myself just got back from a wonderful holiday in my beloved South Africa and now that I have returned home, it has definitely hit me that there are only a mere two weeks left before I (and all of my future colleagues for that matter) have to leave home and face our new life, which is in fact, however dramatic it may sound, the beginning of our future.

What to pack ?

Now it is time to say all of my goodbyes to my amazing friends, my incredible family and my lovely dogs, time to check off my Glion pre-arrival list and time to take care of any last-minute preparations. It is much like opening your Christmas calendar (if this is a ritual you do in fact have), counting down to the big day, only that in this case every little door opened does not contain any chocolate or similar surprises, but a rather dreaded farewell to someone you love and of course the last ‘door’ opened in two weeks time will not present me with a holiday celebration, but with a much more exciting, all the while quite intimidating occasion, namely the one of joining the excellent Glion Institute of Higher Education.

I cannot wait to explore the university and its surroundings, to start learning all about the world of hospitality management, to meet everyone on campus and of course to get to know all of the other surely fascinating people joining Glion.

Our future home

Since I honestly do not have any other exciting things to share with you, I would just like to say that I look forward to joining Glion with a lot of excitement, anticipation, joy and a little fear and uncertainty and I simply cannot wait to start this new journey.

I really look forward to meeting all of you very very soon and wish everyone a safe journey!!

Lea

Season’s Greetings

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Lea student at the glion hotel school Hello again and happy holidays to everyone!

My name is Lea Rettig and I would once again like to welcome all of you to my blog and hope that you will find it helpful to look at my journey throughout the next year.

Personally I am very curious and excited to see what this great experience, which will start in only a few weeks time, is going to be like, as I am sure everyone joining Glion is.

During this festive time of the year, which is currently filled with magical snow-covered landscapes, luminous Christmas markets and beautifully decorated houses here in Germany, it seems rather easy to forget about the life-changing event, which is going to take place in only a few weeks time.

However, even though I am a declared Christmas enthusiast, this is not the case. I already find myself lying awake at night, thinking about the weeks to come. Having dreamt of joining Glion for a long time now it is quite difficult to grasp the fact that this dream is actually about to come true.

I wonder about what the New Year is going to bring, especially in terms of new experiences regarding new practical, as well as new educational knowledge, meeting many new people, getting used to living away from my family and gaining a lot more independence. All these things are very exciting, but also very frightening at the same time, because you can never know what exactly to expect.

However I do believe that all of my interests, reaching from languages, over management, to traveling and experiencing new cultures, are combined in the field of Hospitality Management, which is why the joy and positive expectations definitely outweigh the fear.

Therefore, I will just cherish the time I have left with my friends and family and will not obsess over all the excitement that is about to begin.

With this thought I would like to finish by wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and also, even though this is a bit in advance, a wonderful New Year filled with joy, happiness and many great new experiences.

Joyeux Noel, Frohe Weihnachten and Merry Christmas!!!

Lea

Hello everyone !

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My name is Lea and I will be joining Glion at the end of January next year to start my studies in the Bachelor of Hospitality Management program.

Throughout the next year, I will be telling you all about my experiences at Glion Institute of Higher Education and I will do my very best to keep you informed as well as I can.

I thought I would begin by telling you something about myself and my life’s journey up to today, which ultimately led me to Hospitality Management and with this, to Glion.

I was born in Germany, in a city called Essen in western Northrhine-Westphalia and then moved to a smaller and quite idyllic town near Münster, where I went to kindergarten.

Instead of continuing my education in this town though,  my life changed a lot when my parents revealed that we were going to move to South Africa. Shocked at first to be so far away from the rest of my family, this amazing country turned out to be my second home, which I will always be in love with and which I could imagine returning to in the future. South Africa is an immensely beautiful country, which has a gorgeous landscape and very hospitable, warm and friendly citizens and I would urge anyone to visit it at some point in their life.

After about five years, we had to move again, this time to Tokyo, Japan.

Living in Tokyo was another fascinating experience, especially because, as I am sure you know or can imagine, the Japanese culture is very different from the German and the South African one. In Japan, modern lifestyle and tradition meet, because you have the big metropolitan regions on the one hand, while the full range of Japanese culture and tradition is represented by certain sights and attractions on the other hand.

During my time in Tokyo, I went to Seisen International School, which turned out to be very important for my future. In Seisen I got the opportunity to improve my English and get it to a much higher level and apart from the great education I got there, the school greatly reflects multiculturalism and tolerance for one another, which broadened my own horizon immensely. I made friends for life at this school and I will always think back to my time there with great joy.

Unfortunately, my Asian adventure ended after three years, when we had to move back to Germany.

I have to admit that it took some time to get used to my old home again, because it simply was so different from my previous years of upbringing and kindergarten was rather a long time ago. I grew to enjoy living there over the years.

In the end, I appreciated my time at my German High School a lot because I gained a broad range of knowledge and got to learn French and Latin, which helped me broaden my linguistic abilities. I happily and successfully graduated from this High School with my A-levels and then had to start thinking about which path I would like to take and follow for the rest of my life.

I have to admit that this decision was quite overwhelming at first and took a very long consideration process, because my interests are so varied and I couldn’t decide what to do for a while.

In the end, I discovered that Hospitality Management was the best subject for me, because it combines all of my interests in a great way. Then, when I got accepted to Glion Institute of Higher Education I was immensely excited, because it is one of the top hotel schools internationally and renowned for its excellence worldwide. I am therefore truly happy and grateful to be getting this opportunity and I am really looking forward to pursuing this path and joining Glion very soon.

Lea