Spanish ^{1}

Just a quick update, today I will start with Spanish lessons given by the Hotel which will be held two times a week until the end of my placement. This will hopefully improve my Spanish a bit and allow me to communicate with my non-English speaking colleagues.

Had the weekend off with a lot of sun on the beach at Playa de las Américas, please find some pictures below:

Work has been pretty quite yesterday due to the low occupancy (56%) but we did finish an hour earlier which was nice.

By: Dennis Category: Tenerife

The Oasis ^{1}

Just a small update from the Oasis called Abama, the Hotel is like a luxury Oasis in the middle of nowhere.

The Beach at the Abama Hotel

Abama is a 160 Hectare luxury resort property from the Ritz Carlton with 9 Swimming Pools, Private Beach, 10 Restaurants, Spa & Fitness Center, 18 Golf Course with much more. You can find more information on the hotel on their website: http://www.abamahotelresort.com/

Pampa / Verona Restaurant

I am working at one of the Restaurants (Pampa / Verona, Wine Bar) in the Hotel as a waiter, with everybody speaking Spanish it can be quite a challenge but most of them speak English. My working times are always the same with two days off a week with work starting at 4pm until around 12 – 1 am with an half an hour break in between.

The Wine Bar

Having two days off per week allows plenty of time to explorer the beaches and other areas of Tenerife. Transportation here is very cheap with a taxi for around 3-4 EUR and the bus between 1 – 2 EUR.

On the 10th of April I will be leaving this warm weather behind as I will be heading back to Holland to do exams for school until the 25th April then I will head back to the warm weather in Tenerife.

For more photos please head on over either to Facebook or The photo section for Tenerife

By: Dennis Category: Tenerife

Tenerife ^{2}

It has been a long time since I have updated this website, in 2010 I have still been busy with Hotelschool.

Yesterday I flew out to Tenerife to start my Practical Placement  at the Abama Golf Resort from the Ritz Carlton, I will be here for the next 4 – 5 Months enjoying the sunshine and learning the Spanish language. Once I arrived at the Hotel and checked in to my own Hotel room (with room service and housekeeping) I then got a small tour of the hotel and got introduced to the team I was going to be working with. Today and tomorrow I have the day off to explore the island and enjoy the sunshine.

Will be posting some photos soon, with another update about my placement.

Also for those you wish to receive emails about new updates:

By: Dennis Category: Tenerife

Happy New Year ^{{Comments Off}}

First of all Happy New Year,

Its been a while since I have updated this dusty blog, but as you can see I have updated it with a new look and added some new stuff to it. Among some of the new features is the new photo section that automatically imports my photos that have been uploaded to Facebook and other social network sites. To access the photos you can use the link above “photos »”

Over the last couple of months I have been busy with School. In the last block (Sep-Dec) I have been in a practical block which requires me to work in all the practical outlets at school for at least one week. After completing your 5 days (8.5 Hours per day) you get a grade based on your performance and also on your technical knowledge, this grade is assessed by a older year student then approved by an instructor of the school.

I started with Room Service in week one which required me to setup coffee, tea and small snacks for small conferences/meetings, ensure that the staff room and the villa are in order with regards to beverages. It also required me to serve special lunches for VIP’s or the school’s director. Our school also has open days every few weeks which also requires the service of room Service to setup and serve the coffee, tea and other beverages for the guests. During this week we were also required to help setup the school reunion for older graduates which included ensuring that 1000 glasses were all clean and fingerprint free.

In week 2 I was placed in the Sandwich section in La Mangerie. La Mangerie is based upon the La Place concept from V&D, a self serving buffet style with different sections:

• Juice Bar – Freshly squeezed fruit juices and also desserts ranging from apple pies to Tiramisu
• Salad Bar – Different salalds and full meal salads
• Pasta Section – All sorts of different pastas can be found here with different pasta every day
• Grill and Wok Section – This section has your steaks and other grill meats with noodles and other Wok dishes made every day.
• Fish Section – Most days fish dishes are served with dishes ranging from salmon to tuna steaks
• Pizza Section – Four days a week pizza is available baked in a traditional pizza oven
• Sandwich Section – In this section a variety of different sandwiches are prepared daily it also allows students to create their own sandwiches from freshly baked bread.

La Mangerie is open daily from 11:30 – 14:00 and 16:30 – 17:45 for students and staff to enjoy a lunch / dinner.

The sandwich section required tasks to be carried out such as baking bread everyday, preparing sandwiches, ensuring food and safety rules were followed with regards to food on display, ensuring that the right ingredients were ordered for the next day.

Week 3 I was placed in another section of La Mangerie, the Juice Bar consisted of preparing all the juices (basically squeezing oranges for a long time), also it included more intresting activities such as preparing deserts ranging from Apple pies to Tiramisu.

Week 4 was my last week in La Mangerie in the Salad and Pasta Section, the salad section required us to make the different salads for each day and also I had to prepare the pasta for lunch and dinner. Pasta was cooked on request of the guest wishing to have Pasta, this is done with Induction style cooking to ensure a fast and reliable cooking method. During the practical block if you are late to a shift (even by only a 1 minute) you have to work an extra shift (an extra 8.5 Hours)  this also applies to being sick or not showing up at all (this however requires two shifts done). This week required me to work an extra shift because I slept through 3 alarms (apparently I got up for my first alarm and turned it off then went back to sleep although I have no memory of this) which made me late by about 2 and a half hours which meant I had to work an extra shift.

I was glad after 3 weeks to be out of the kitchen and to be doing something else, this week I was in front office / back office (basically reception with some extra tasks). This outlet was quite easy with many different tasks to do which made the work enjoyable. Some of the tasks included greeting guests, answering the phones, ensuring all mail is sorted and delivered and writing emails.

The last week before the Christmas holidays I was in Housekeeping Skotel which was the worst outlet so far I must say. Tasks included cleaning hotel rooms, bathrooms, toilets, kitchen and cleaning general areas of the hotel while wearing my 3 piece suite (that was out uniform).

In the Christmas holidays I spent time just relaxing and visiting some family while enjoying the many Christmas dinners.

Back to school on Monday to start with Skotel Reception for one week.

By: Dennis Category: Hotel School, Misc

Photos ^{1}

Here are some photos, full summary will follow

Here is a really quick video:

By: Dennis Category: Hotel School

Server Problems ^{{Comments Off}}

Sorry but I cannot upload any content today due to server problems however this should be resolved by Friday 18th September2009.

Once these problems have been resolved I will upload some pictures and a video from the last 2 weeks here in The Hague.

By: Dennis Category: Misc

Week 3 ^{1}

This is my third week here at the International University of Hospitality Management here in The Hague, the introduction week has finished and the real study is now starting.

My timetable for this week is quite busy with is filled up almost everyday.

Monday we had some lectures and were introduced to our personal / group tutor that will be available throughout the year. The tutor is there to help us and check our progress towards our EC (European Credits) goal in order to go on practical placement. Getting up early is not really my strong point (I am working on it though) as on Tuesday we woke up a bit late so we rushed to the bike shed and biked as fast as we could to our BS (Basic Skills) class which starts at 08:00 skipping breakfast altogether. After running through the school we arrived at the designated class at 08:03 (which normally they don’t let you in if you are more than a minute late) however the lights were off and the door was locked to the restaurant and nobody was there.The reception told that our group / team weren’t scheduled for that class today, after a quick check online we went to the scheduling department which couldn’t tell us anything useful either.

After waiting in the class for around half an hour another teacher walked in and told us that he would take the class as he wasn’t sure what had happened exactly to the scheduled class. The teacher however doesnt teach in the subject of BS (Basic Skills) so we did some alcohol testing. Basically we smelled every alcoholic drink from Whiskey to Gold Label in and were told how and where it was made.

In the afternoon after lunch we headed to the NovoHotel in The Hague were had a guided tour of the hotel and asked our questions  about the hotel for our assignment which was quite interesting and also fun. The assignment is a poster presenting all the information we found important about the hotel and its guests. The poster has to be presented in week 9 or 10 by our team.

Today we started of with a lecture for BS Teamwork (Basic Skills) which was very interesting and also very enjoyable. After lunch we had another team building exercise which we had several activities to do. For one of the activities we where split up into groups and we had to debate about random topics with summaries during the debate to show our listening skills. The afternoon went by quite quickly and was fun to participate in.

The school provides us with a very nice lunch and other meals at school, we have a sort of “La Place” which has many different sections for different types of food ranging from a salad bar to a cook while you wait pizza bar with juice bars is well. Everyday is a different menu with many different items and choice. At the other side of the building there is also a coffee / snack “station” where you can get freshly made sandwiches,  fruit smoothies and juice, this “station” is open most of the day with many seating areas where you can study / work.

By: Dennis Category: Hotel School

Hotel School The Hague ^{7}

Last week I started the Hotel School in The Hague ( http://hdh.nl ). After checking in and meeting everybody in my “house” we all had dinner together at school with our whole year group followed by a cocktail party organized by one of the schools organizations. After the party we all headed to bed around 2am with our breakfast followed by a introduction lecture the next day. We also had our uniforms fitted and got our school “smart card” ID photo taken.

The “smart card” allows us to access the school, use the printers, it also acts as an ID card to access the accommodation where all the first year students life in the Skotel. For lunch we get a small amount of money added to our balance to spent on food or drinks in the schools lunch buffet with food ranging from fresh fruit smoothies, salads to full meals and oven baked pizza all prepared while you wait.

In the weekend we had some more party’s organized by the schools student organizations at the beach as this is only a five minute walk from our “house”, the party was well organized to start with large fireworks displays on the beach in Scheveningen.

On Saturday we had the day organized by one of the student associations, the day consisted of a group competition followed by a dinner at school and a beach party afterwards. The “group competition” was very fun as each group has to make photos from a list throughout The Hague. Questions consisted of some very random and funny locations / activities such as fit your whole group into a phone box (group size was around 8 people) and take a picture of it. Another task was to find a busy place and make a human pyramid.

Sunday we had the whole day to do as we pleased and get organized, Monday we had two lectures about what to expect at the school and some introductions which finished around 10am so we had the rest of the day to goto the beach and just relax (good old student life). Tuesday we had our first BS (Basic Skills)  Session which was in the service, we were told on how to set a table, open champagne and wine bottles and how to talk to customers.It was very interesting and very enjoyable.

Wednesday we were all at the fire and safety lecture and all extremely tired from the night before as most of us got to bed around 4-5am with a party organized by “La Conferie” one of the student associations at the Hotel School in The Hague. However the lecture was quite interesting. Later that afternoon my team had a class on formal communication which consisted on manners and formal behaviors, gestures ect.

Today (Thursday) I only had one lecture at around 5pm so I slept in then we went out to buy some items for the “Toga Party” which is on tonight. After the lecture we had dinner with a small group of us at one of the schools restaurant with a very nice three course dinner with a very nice desert. Afterwards we got busy and prepared for the party with cutting up our newly bought blankets.

Tomorrow I have two English classes then weekend. Below are some photos of the last couple of days. The photos of the in check day will hopefully be available in the weekend at some point.

By: Dennis Category: Hotel School

Incheck Day … Day 2 ^{{Comments Off}}

The check-in day started around 11:00 with paying your security deposits, getting your keys and getting some information on the school. We left Hoorn at around 9:00 however after driving for about 20min I  had forgotten some stuff so we went back for it, there was more that we had forgotten which we only knew about when we arrived at the Hotel school in the Hague.

After bringing my items we then proceeded to the school “hall” for a welcome speech which lasted until around 3pm. I had some free time between 3 and 6pm so we went to the beach which was quite busy with not much room anywhere.

At 6pm we had dinner all as one large group which was followed by an organized evening by 2nd year students, aftr getting to sleep around the 1:30 mark.

I was woken by an loud annoying sound of my room mate’s alarm clock which he set a bit too early (6am) however unable to sleep afterwards I got up at 7am and got my suite on and joined the rest of the school for breakfast.

After a quick breakfast we walked to the school which we sat through a introduction mini-program update lecture followed by morning tea. We then fitted our new uniforms (one chef, front of house and formal). After a 2 hour lunch we had our photo taken for our ID cards followed by a quick tour of the school  and some of the surrounding “shops”.

Due to the weather later in the afternoon our BBQ was canceled which was replaced with eating indoors while a huge downpour went on outside, after dinner we headed to the beach for most of the evening.

Tomorrow we have language selection buying our remaining books and picking up our ordered ones. Also pictures are on the way.

By: Dennis Category: Hotel School

Incheck Day ^{{Comments Off}}

I Will post the full review tomorrow but here are some pictures from the beach

By: Dennis Category: Hotel School