The First Mellow Monday

As far as a hotelie day goes, today was pretty easy. The morning and afternoon portions were filled with two guest lectures (one concerning business etiquette, and the other discussing the hotel school admissions process), two quizzes, and one brainstorming session about service mindset. The first lecture was okay, but I didn't learn anything new; the second lecture also didn't contain any new or unusual information, but we did get free water bottles. The quizzes had some difficult questions and some easier questions; Mark is more detail-oriented, so sometimes I can't answer a question or two because my brain naturally remembers the main ideas (for instance, I know that the Ritz-Carlton is customer-orientated and treats its line-level employees with respect; I didn't remember that their service credo: "We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen."). Thankfully I am not the only one who has trouble with the detail-based questions, so I don't feel too guilty. The other quiz was math-based, and I always forget the equations for contribution margin and contributions before other commitments - alas, math will never be my strong suit. During lunch I stopped by the post office to mail my postcards, and we got out early from class.

During office hours, my group discussed our final plans for our hotel simulation. The final for this class is a group-written report that once again analyzes our strategy, though this time in greater detail (it will be about ten pages long). We all agreed to focus on one budget, except Alva, who wanted to try running his own strategy through once. We agreed, and it turned out that Alva actually had the better strategy.Tonight Colleen is going to organize the data, and together we will start writing tomorrow. Ideally, we can finish by Wednesday night so that Mark can go over it with us and point out mistakes on Thursday. A lot of work needs to be done, but I feel like it's all possible (though stressful). I will be glad when it's over with.

Alva and I walked back from class together; he decided he wants to apply to the hotel school and focus on food management, but he's worried that they won't accept him. I advised him to have confidence, and include his statistics from his last hotel simulation (he has the necessary average department income of $70,000 per week, which is actually really hard to achieve). I'm an optimist, so I don't think he has anything to worry about. Every student worries about college, but we all find a place somewhere. Until then, though, I am going to relax (no homework!) and maybe ice my foot; this morning my roommate pulled her chair out and I walked into it barefoot. The bruise is starting to look colorful.