From Humble Beginnings

Last night, there was an extremely loud thunderstorm and lightning that preventing me from going to sleep before 2:00 AM, not that I was in bed much earlier. I woke up at 7:00 AM, very early for me, even earlier than when I wake up for school in Hercules. Beilul and I went to eat breakfast together. We then headed to class with a large group of people, all Hotelies and all from the same building, Mary Donlon Hall.

Jacky, Beilul and I were already breathless. We entered the classroom for the first time, at around 8:20 AM (class starts at 8:30 AM). I could already tell that I would like the professors, who actually advise us to speak to them on a first name basis: Mark and Reneta. For those students who were late, Mark jokingly, but unbeknownst to them, told them that as punishment that hey to sing their national anthem. It was very funny seeing them prepared to start until Mark told them it was a joke. Both Reneta and Mark are playful and display their affection for each other while sometimes joking about each other in class. In three hours we accomplished three things: introductions, student intros, and a lab exercise.

Mark and Reneta introduced themselves and the course, and then, we got into groups of 2 or 3. We had about 6 minutes to learn about someone and introduce them to the class and vice a versa. It was very fun to hear about everyone’s culture and hobbies and such, but overall it was actually intimidating. I was very surprised to hear that most students actually have parents who owns hotels in far-away places including Africa and who attended Cornell.

The vast majority has had experience in the business and is awaiting a summer internship, while only a few students, including myself, knew virtually nothing about the hotel business. However, I knew that I could master the material if I really set my mind to it. I am incredibly happy with my group. Although they are all girls, we get along really well.

I talk to them as I do with some students from Hercules. One of them is from New Jersey and another is from Connecticut. We had fun in the Lab room, where we had to complete our assigned readings. We asked questions and the TA helped the students with what she could. Earlier in the day, we took a Behavioral Analysis Quiz that determines what kind of worker we are, I ended up being a Stabilizer-Analyzer, so it varies among my group.

I am confident we will work well together with our group project, as they all seem willing to learn. I will make sure to take extensive notes tomorrow especially because it is not enough simply reading the material, although Reneta advises us to. I am trying to get the hang of this material, a lot of it is confusing, with the entire hotel lingo, but I’m sure that with time, I will understand. Overall, the first day went well!

Some videos from Yesterday!

During the crash course, the instructor woke us up by throwing beach balls at the students



This thunderstorm kept me up until 2:00 AM