If I knew then what I know now I would have never studied Hospitality Management. It is quite stressful and sometimes embarrassing when I think about the money my mom spent sending me to the university so I could escape into a career that is as terrible as every hospitality worker wants you to think it is.
Let's be honest, when the time came to decide if I wanted to pursue mathematics, arts, science or literature I chose the easiest: Literature... Which is as I see it now the emergency route for anyone too bad at numbers, physics or design.
If I knew then what I know now i would have chosen arts. First because I do have an inclination for design and I suck at mathematics and physics. At least the explaining bit. Mathematics make sense in my head. Do you need me to explain it to you? I can't.
So yeah, I studied Tourism and Leisure at the 2nd best school in the country. Brand new school. Enthusiastic teachers and a brave new world. I got in as option 3 out of 5. My first choice was something to do with administration. It would probably drive me mad eventually but it wouldn't be as stressful and nerve wrecking as hospitality, or at least I hope. The 2nd option was stage design which when I think about it would have been probably the most interesting one out of the 3. Can't recall what the 4th and 5th option were. All i know is that all of them were NOT in my hometown.
I didn't grow up in a farm in the middle of nowhere (no disrespect - only I know how much I would kill to be able to return to the middle of nowhere and wake up to the singing of cocks).
Back to the point, all the options were away. I chose the 1st one miles away mostly because there was this guy who said that he liked me and I was young and naive. The 2nd option was closer to home but would still mean to move there and I chose it because some friends were studying nearby (or so I thought). The 3rd option was miles away in the middle of nowhere. A place where the winters are as snowy as Siberia and Summers are as hot as Hell.A cool place actually.
I studied Tourism and Leisure for what would be 4 years. The Bologna treaty came along and it decreased to 3 years. The 3rd year I spent it in Poland in Erasmus. The course focused on Tour Operators and Travel Agencies. As much as I enjoy arranging friends' getaways I really don't see myself seating at a desk doing it for eternity. So although I studied Tourism and Leisure and I did quit well in terms of grades, I chose hotels. Why? Because it was easy!
I don't see myself as being totally lazy but some of my decisions in life show that I chose the easiest way out. Going into hotels was one of them.
Not going to bother you with the total mess my end of course essay was but by November 2008 I was having phone interviews for hotels in Spain, France and the UK. The applications for the hotels in Portugal got lost somewhere within the binary system because I got no reply.
By December 2008 I had a job offer from the UK and a couple of days later I was on my way to Bristol, UK. Have I ever heard of Bristol before? Absolutely not. But I was excited about this adventure. Myself on my own in another country. I was utterly excited and because I am a self diagnosed extroverted introvert I was also scared to shit.
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