Practicum - Day 11 (Final Day)

Today was my last day working at the Georgia Center so I really wanted to make the most of it. I went in a little early so I could be there during peak hours. During this time, I helped with making drinks and any other tasks they assigned. I made yogurt parfaits completely by myself. I even chopped the strawberries for them! I also made a drink (for myself) with no help and it was incredibly delicious! There were moments when working at Georgia Java was actually fun. I will definitely missed the people I have worked with but I'm not entirely certain I will miss the actual work. Good-bye, Georgia Center.

Today's completed hours: 5
Hours left to complete: 0 (!!!)

Practicum - Day 10

Today was my first day working with food and beverages. I worked at Georgia Java. As with all first days, I went through a mini orientation to become familiar with all of the equipment. And, like every other department, I was told that I wouldn't be working at the computer (cash register) because it was unnecessary to train me. There were many periods of down time so during those times we discussed how to make different drinks, different food inspections and regulations, and all things coffee. There wasn't much I could do so I helped out in every way possible.

Today's completed hours: 4
Hours left to complete: 5

Practicum - Day 9

It was my final day working at the front desk. There were a normal amount of check ins scheduled for today but for some reason nobody was checking in. Needless to say, it was a very slow day. We finished stuffing the envelopes with coupons. I think I stuffed over 1000 envelopes total. Other than that, it was very similar to my last day: I answered phones and courtesy calls to those who had checked in. I scheduled a time to work at food and beverages to get my last hours in for my practicum.

Today's completed hours: 4
Hours left to complete: 9

Practicum - Day 8

Today was my second day working at the front desk. I continued to shadow my supervisor as she checked in people. All workers were also given the task of stuffing key envelopes with coupons so I mostly worked on that during any down time. I also began answering the phone today. I was really nervous at first but I quickly caught on. I didn't know the answer to any of the questions asked but it was still helpful to have someone answer the phones during high traffic times. Also, 20-30 minutes after a guest checks in, the front desk will send out a courtesy call to make sure everything is alright with the room. I was also nervous to do this at first but after the first one or two I got the hang of it.

Today's completed hours: 4
Hours left to complete: 13

Practicum - Day 7

It's been nearly three weeks since working on my practicum but I started back up today. Today, I began working at the Georgia Center Hotel front desk. I was told that I would not be allowed to do check-ins because it would require too much training for the little time that I would be interning at the Georgia Center. Upon arriving, I did receive a basic training over all of the tasks a student worker. I was taught how to make keys, how to make parking deck passes, and received a very brief training of how to check in a person. For the rest of the time, I shadowed my supervisor and learned more about working at the front desk and about the check in process.

Today's completed hours: 4
Hours left to complete: 17

Practicum - Day 6

Today was my final day working with housekeeping. I worked with a completely different supervisor again today and, like the previous two days, it was pretty much exactly the same. She said she fell a week ago and was having back problems so half way through we had to take a break. During the break, she showed me the computer system and how to use it. Being a housekeeper (especially a supervisor) involves a lot of walking between the different floors; they are on their feet all day. It doesn't seem like something I would ever really be interested in doing. Next week I think I begin working behind the front desk.

Today's completed hours: 2
Fake hours completed: 1
Hours left to complete: 21

Practicum - Day 5

Today was very similar to yesterday. Except that the supervisor I shadowed today was a bit more... eccentric? We went from room to room after they had been cleaned to inspect the different rooms. Instead of inspecting them by myself, we did it together and kind of created a system to inspect the rooms. It went by pretty fast and I've learned a lot about the behind the scenes work as I mentioned yesterday.

Today's completed hours: 2
Fake hours completed: 1
Hours left to complete: 24

Practicum - Day 4

Today, I began working with house keeping. I shadowed one of the supervisors mostly. We would go from room to room checking to make sure the housekeepers did what they were supposed to. Each room should be cleaned in less than 30 minutes they said. It was very interesting to get to see the behind-the-scenes work of hotels. I even got to watch someone clean a room. The precision, dexterity, and skill were pretty incredible. After that, the supervisor took me around the hotel and showed me the different suites (the Uga Suite) and all of the little cool things that many people don't get to see. There were times when she would even let me inspect the room by myself. A little over halfway into it, though, there was a VIP emergency. The Vice President of Uganda was staying in the Georgia Center so the supervisors and the housekeeping manager were checking his suite to make sure it was better than best. It was pretty interesting but I'm not sure I would want to do it for a living.

Today's completed hours: 2
Fake hours completed: 1
Hours left to complete: 27

Practicum - Day 3

Today was my last day working with Guest Services. My supervisor gave me more information about the job and even provided me with a job description. It was very similar to my first day at the Georgia Center in that I would help people with their luggage and greet them at the door. It was raining so we also had umbrellas in hand to meet guests at their cars if necessary. I enjoyed working with guest services. My supervisor told me that I would either be working at the desk or with cleaning next so we will see what happens. (In all actuality, my supervisor let me go two hours early because it was completely dead. I only worked a total of ten hours but he said it would count it was 15. Score!)

Today's completed hours: 2
Fake completed hours: 5
Hours left to complete: 30

Practicum - Day 2

Today was very similar to my first day at the Georgia Center. Since it was a Sunday night there was only one person scheduled to work and he was not expecting my arrival. There was a lot of time spent waiting for something to happen. Occasionally, there would be someone wanting to be picked up/dropped off and my coworker would tend to them while I manned the desk. Alone. I was apprehensive at first but then I realized I would rather be at the desk then driving a large van around. Plus, I was trusted to be left alone so I felt like I could manage. I answered a few phone calls and chatted with waiting clientele but nothing too spectacular. Towards the end of my shift, I took out the recycling, vacuumed, and learned how to polish a cart. All in all it was a pretty relaxing shift.

Today's completed hours: 4
Hours left to complete: 37

Practicum - Day 1

I began my practicum today at the Georgia Center. For this part of the practicum I am working within Guest Services as a bellboy. It went pretty smoothly. I shadowed one of the current bellboys to get a feel for everything. Guest services is the first thing people see when they arrive at the Georgia Center and the last thing they see when they leave so it is imperative to make a good impression. One minor bad experience with Guest Services could prevent a client from ever returning even if everything went right during the stay. Basically what my job entailed was greeting people, offering to take any luggage to their rooms, answering any questions, and showing them to their destination if need be. Since the Georgia Center also offers a shuttle, we would be the ones to drive the vans to transport any guests staying at the hotel. Everyone was very friendly and answered any questions I asked. The whole atmosphere was very laid-back.

Today's completed hours: 4
Hours left to complete: 41

Many Blogs and BEP

For two of my classes this semester (both within my major) I have to write blogs. One class is about event planning and the vibe I got was that the blog was a way to professionally bitch and complain about the people I will be working with. The other class involves me gaining 45 hours of volunteer work within a leisure service agency and I will have to blog about the activities I perform. I will probably have to reread both assignment descriptions before I begin (aka tomorrow) so I don't end up failing such lame assignments.

In other news, yesterday I won two tickets to meet the Black Eyed Peas this Thursday then see them in concert. Ludicris and LMFAO are opening so I'm pretty excited. I'm taking my boyfriend, Matt, and he was a little beyond excited as well. The whole story is pretty interesting. Matt was going to buy me tickets to see them for my birthday but we decided against it because the concert was in Atlanta and I didn't want to miss class so I would literally just be going to Atlanta for the concert. Prior to all this I entered into a sweepstakes online through a radio station to win a pair of tickets. I tried once but was denied because I wasn't 21 yet but the day after my birthday I entered (completely forgot until now) and apparently won. The guy called me Monday while I was in class so immediately after I listened to the voice mail. I'll admit I might have let out a small scream and then proceeded to hyperventilate. Needless to say, I canceled everything for Thursday and will not be attending class on Friday. I'm going to meet Fergie. NBD.