Lots of stuff to talk about = loooong blog
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Anouk
26 Februari 2015 | Finland, Helsinki
Actually, I already wanted to post this on monday, but unfortunately there was an error the entire week. So the rest of the text is from last monday, which was my first day at reception.
We have passed the two weeks! The teachers at school said during the preparations that this would be the time to get a breakdown and start being homesick... Well, luckily I have not (yet) experienced this! I'm still as happy as always, even though I wouldn't mind cuddling for a bit...
Sooo I have finished housekeeping! :D I didn't mind working in housekeeping, but after two weeks I had seen most of it and I got bored. Today was my first day at Front Office, but more about that later on.
This weekend was quite a good weekend! On friday I went out with a nice colleague of mine, Ajit. He's from India, but has been living in Finland for quite some years I believe. He also speaks Finnish. We wanted to go to a bar with live jazz music, but it was still a bit early after his shift (around 22:30), so we decided to first have a drink in a so-called "Aussie Bar" (yep, Australian bar, you got that right). Eventually we didn't go anywhere else anymore :) Most awesome thing? They have Longero from the tap here! Woohoo! (for the people who have never been in Finland before: Longero is the Finnish word for long drink. The basic version, which I until now like the most, is a combination of gin and grapefruit soda)
We had a blast :)
The next day I blissfully slept in. After that I washed my clothes (yeah, I've found out that two weeks is the maximum before I need to wash clothes again, or at least underwear (I know for sure there are people who are reading this blog who really do need this information...)). I did some groceries shopping and that was about it for saturday. On sunday I got out of bed quite early for a sunday, at 10 o'clock I was having breakfast :) After that I went for a quick swim (10 baantjes, mam!) and then I had breakfast again :) And yes, that was it for the sunday. Didn't feel so good and did certainly not feel the need to do anything useful.
Today, as I already said, was my first day at the Front Office. I was reaaaally excited about it and have been looking forward to it. It was, how to put it... interesting. I received a LOT of information, but I don't have the feeling that I've actually learned anything. I'm sure that will come this week. I did receive my login information for the Reservations system, which means I can now work in it myself (as soon as I know how to... The system is really exhaustive: you can do almost anything for the hotel in it).
Today, I also learned how to manage the breakfast in the club lounge on the ninth floor. The club lounge is for people who are staying on the ninth floor: I don't know if they are special members or just pay more to stay there :) They don't have to sit with the "regular" guests in the restaurant on the first floor, but they can have their own exclusive breakfast. Reception personnel needs to take care of this. I also moved luggage from one room to another and had to go up for some personal wake up calls (wait, what? That sounds a little.. odd.). Guests can get a wake up call from reception, but if they don't respond someone has to go up to knock on their door. I also needed to check if someone was still in their room, because at one o'clock they still hadn't checked out... The only personal belonging in the room was a pair of jeans, there was no suitcase or whatsoever. We concluded that he walked away without paying... Great first day!
That were the most exciting things to tell you, I think. Furthermore I am in my free time mostly skyping with my beloved parents, sister or boyfriend or I am watching Netflix. Every time Tijs puts me down on the table (wait, what? I mean the tablet or phone, which means I'm staring at the ceiling) I get scared for a moment because in a flash it looks like there is a giant spider on the ceiling, but it's just the lamp which seems to have eight sticks with lights on it. I am getting used to it, but it takes some time ;)
I think that is about it. Well, about it? This blog post has become a long one! Sorry that I've taken up so much of your time. Even though you decided yourself to read this...
Love,
Anouk
Ps. at the moment it's already thursday evening. I've had four days of Front Desk so far and I like it more every day. Yesterday I checked in guests on my own and today I did a few check outs on my own (and yes, I'm really proud of that, it's more difficult than you think)! I had to start at 6:00 today instead of 8:00, to set up the lounge breakfast, all by myself! :) I basically managed that today, really awesome that I already get that responsibility. They asked me if I could do that tomorrow as well and of course I said yes. Which means my weekend starts somewhere between one and two o'clock! And no, no plans yet for the weekend, except for sleeping longer than until 5:00...
We have passed the two weeks! The teachers at school said during the preparations that this would be the time to get a breakdown and start being homesick... Well, luckily I have not (yet) experienced this! I'm still as happy as always, even though I wouldn't mind cuddling for a bit...
Sooo I have finished housekeeping! :D I didn't mind working in housekeeping, but after two weeks I had seen most of it and I got bored. Today was my first day at Front Office, but more about that later on.
This weekend was quite a good weekend! On friday I went out with a nice colleague of mine, Ajit. He's from India, but has been living in Finland for quite some years I believe. He also speaks Finnish. We wanted to go to a bar with live jazz music, but it was still a bit early after his shift (around 22:30), so we decided to first have a drink in a so-called "Aussie Bar" (yep, Australian bar, you got that right). Eventually we didn't go anywhere else anymore :) Most awesome thing? They have Longero from the tap here! Woohoo! (for the people who have never been in Finland before: Longero is the Finnish word for long drink. The basic version, which I until now like the most, is a combination of gin and grapefruit soda)
We had a blast :)
The next day I blissfully slept in. After that I washed my clothes (yeah, I've found out that two weeks is the maximum before I need to wash clothes again, or at least underwear (I know for sure there are people who are reading this blog who really do need this information...)). I did some groceries shopping and that was about it for saturday. On sunday I got out of bed quite early for a sunday, at 10 o'clock I was having breakfast :) After that I went for a quick swim (10 baantjes, mam!) and then I had breakfast again :) And yes, that was it for the sunday. Didn't feel so good and did certainly not feel the need to do anything useful.
Today, as I already said, was my first day at the Front Office. I was reaaaally excited about it and have been looking forward to it. It was, how to put it... interesting. I received a LOT of information, but I don't have the feeling that I've actually learned anything. I'm sure that will come this week. I did receive my login information for the Reservations system, which means I can now work in it myself (as soon as I know how to... The system is really exhaustive: you can do almost anything for the hotel in it).
Today, I also learned how to manage the breakfast in the club lounge on the ninth floor. The club lounge is for people who are staying on the ninth floor: I don't know if they are special members or just pay more to stay there :) They don't have to sit with the "regular" guests in the restaurant on the first floor, but they can have their own exclusive breakfast. Reception personnel needs to take care of this. I also moved luggage from one room to another and had to go up for some personal wake up calls (wait, what? That sounds a little.. odd.). Guests can get a wake up call from reception, but if they don't respond someone has to go up to knock on their door. I also needed to check if someone was still in their room, because at one o'clock they still hadn't checked out... The only personal belonging in the room was a pair of jeans, there was no suitcase or whatsoever. We concluded that he walked away without paying... Great first day!
That were the most exciting things to tell you, I think. Furthermore I am in my free time mostly skyping with my beloved parents, sister or boyfriend or I am watching Netflix. Every time Tijs puts me down on the table (wait, what? I mean the tablet or phone, which means I'm staring at the ceiling) I get scared for a moment because in a flash it looks like there is a giant spider on the ceiling, but it's just the lamp which seems to have eight sticks with lights on it. I am getting used to it, but it takes some time ;)
I think that is about it. Well, about it? This blog post has become a long one! Sorry that I've taken up so much of your time. Even though you decided yourself to read this...
Love,
Anouk
Ps. at the moment it's already thursday evening. I've had four days of Front Desk so far and I like it more every day. Yesterday I checked in guests on my own and today I did a few check outs on my own (and yes, I'm really proud of that, it's more difficult than you think)! I had to start at 6:00 today instead of 8:00, to set up the lounge breakfast, all by myself! :) I basically managed that today, really awesome that I already get that responsibility. They asked me if I could do that tomorrow as well and of course I said yes. Which means my weekend starts somewhere between one and two o'clock! And no, no plans yet for the weekend, except for sleeping longer than until 5:00...
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