 |
Kaisa wanted to learn Spanish and gain work experience, but also learnt a great deal more during five months in Spain.
As a student of European Tourism there were many different possibilities to choose from when deciding where to do my work placement. The most important factor which finally affected my choice was my desire to learn Spanish. This was the reason why I chose to do the placement in Spain. Another important objective was to be able to work in business closely related to tourism. This finally led me to work in a hotel of three stars situated in the Spanish cost of Costa Blanca.
My other objectives were to learn and understand how organisations in different countries work, to adjust in variable circumstances and to grow as a person. I wanted to learn to survive by myself in new situations that would come with the new country, work, culture, people, habits etc. In addition I was very interested to obtain new information especially from the tourism point of view. The town of Santa Pola where the hotel was situated is a tourism destination and more importantly, to me it was an unknown destination as well which made the experience even more interesting. By choosing the workplace from Costa Blanca also gave me the opportunity to look more closely to the whole situation of growing tourism in the area.
Two different jobs during the traineeship
The first two months of the placement I worked in the housekeeping department. This included cleaning the entrance and the hall, as well as the hotel rooms, meeting rooms and the ‘Crystal Palace’ when ever it was necessary. Duties of this department also included doing the laundry of the clients, filling up the mini-bars and informing possible damages found to the maintenance department.
I normally worked eight hours a day and usually with the chief of housekeeping who taught me to do everything. After learning the job I got to work by myself, and later when the hotel hired new staff I was given the responsibility of teaching them what I had learned.
During the first two months I also worked in the indoors swimming pool, an area of recreation with two saunas, swimming pool/Jacuzzi and a gymnasium.
In the beginning of June the Snack Bar ‘Pergola’ was opened and I got transferred and did the last three months of my practise there. Pergola was situated next to the swimming pool in the outdoors recreation area. The staff consisted of one supervisor/chief and five trainees from different European countries. We were all students doing the practical training, a part of our studies.
We were working in shifts always eight hours a day. Sometimes the shifts were done in one part and sometimes they were divided in two: four hours in the morning and four in the evening. I often worked the whole evening from 4pm to 12am or from 6pm to 2am depending on whether it was a weekend or weekday. This was due to the fact that apart from our supervisor I was the only person who had earlier worked as a waitress. This aws also thea reason why I had to teach the other trainees while working.
The workplacement was a success
My first and most important challenge when starting the traineeship was to learn Spanish and I personally think that I attained that objective really well. When I started my practise I could hardly understand the people - not to mention speaking with them. Now, after the five months I can say I have learned Spanish: I can communicate with and understand the people and more importantly I am able to work in a Spanish company with Spanish colleagues and clients without a language barrier.
My other objective was to work in a company closely related to tourism industry and I can not think of a better place than a hotel of three stars situated in the Spanish cost. Also the timing was perfect because I got to see the whole season from the beginning. It was incredible to notice how much a small quiet town changed during the busiest months (July, August) of tourism.
Because of the fact that I was working and living in the hotel for five months I got to know every person of the staff really well and this of course helped me to understand their ways of working too. Also the hotel became like a home to me and at the end I knew all the parts of it like my own pockets.
In addition to all this, I definitely grew a lot as a person and got more self confidence and courage to do things alone. I also learned a lot about the Spanish people, culture, habits and the country of Spain which I think is possible only by living in a country.
After the five months period of practise all the objectives and goals that were earlier set were attained. The work placement proved to be an excellent way of learning a language, learning to work in a new culture with unfamiliar ways of doing things and to obtain a great amount of information on tourism business.
Kaisa Leskijärvi, BA European Tourism/Restonomi Degree
>> Takaisin
>> Espanja-vinkkejä tässä palvelussa
[Julkaistu 5.1.2005 | JHA]
|
| |
|
|
|
Cimo.fi-verkkopalvelu