Last day & story!

Bonjourr!

I'm back in the Netherlands again! Had a really good journey with the train for 8 hours and saw my family and friends again! So, I'll tell you the experience of my last working day at Sofitel as 'Page'. Friday morning I had to be there at 7 AM (which was actually quite late compared to the other days). So I put on my uniform again and walked to the reception (for the first time I was allowed to cross the lobby as bellboy). I introduced myself to the other men, who were dressed like a proper page (a beige uniform with stripes and at the ending buttons) and got a booklet of information about the job of a page, which I had to read in the personals canteen. When I read it, there were some points I worried about, because (of course) I didn't know all the rooms and places of the hotel and I supposed that I was not able to give the guests all the information they wanted. But still, they wanted me to stand directly at the entrance of the hotel; so when the guests came in through the big glass door they immediately saw me standing and coming to them to say good morning or help them with their luggage. At the same time I also had to pay attention to the other side where guests passed by or were looking around or couldn't find their way. Besides when the reception ranged the bell, I immediately had to come, to for example show the guests their room, give them a cart for their luggage which I had to bring upstairs or bring the luggage to a store room so they could easily go out without worrying about their luggage. It was a little bit strange because the guests actually thought I was a real worker at the hotel and so I can imagine that they were surprised when I referred to the reception with certain questions or asked colleagues. The two men I worked with were really nice, they constantly asked how I was and one of the pages knew a Dutch sentence: "Alles goed met jou?" and so he said that very often ;) After a while (3 hours standing in the hallway) it became really busy and some guests were complaining that the luggage was brought too late or that they didn't like their rooms. It was actually quite weird to see that most guests weren't even happy or excited when they came in to the huge hotel, I think it is due to the luxury they are used to. However, not all guests were like that; I loved it when people came in and looked around like "wow it's grand" and you could see on their faces that they were looking forward to a great weekend or holiday in this very comfortable hotel. That gave me a boost to be even more friendly and helpful to them and I really enjoyed that they were so grateful for that.

This Friday I thought it was quite busy because there were 140 check-in’s (while the reception man I had lunch with didn't think so) and so there was a lot of luggage to be brought. In the morning only the pages were doing that so actually I didn't know how to do it (riding with the luggage car), but when it became busier I also had to.. The head porter apparently thought I was able to do that, but for me it was quite hard because I'm not that strong and to carry the car (without looking like a girl who is having a difficult time carrying it) was quite problematic actually. So what I did trying to look very smooth for the guests was; constantly when someone passed by I stopped, smiled and said hello, putting the luggage car on the side and let them through the hallway.. This was kind of my own version but it helped and it didn't look ridiculous ;) That’s why I do have some funny stories where I had problems and fixed it in a charming way and I think this belongs to my experience and that it's something to remember, laugh and learn from.

My peak of the day was that I got 20 euro’s tip (fooi)!! It was great because I earned 10 euro’s by just being careful and neat. For example; I brought luggage to a room and instead of just dropping a jacket and some umbrella’s in to the guests arms (which the pages normally do), I carefully put the umbrella’s on a rack and with the jacket I wiped up some dust and put it well-mannered on a coat hanger. Still, I think it’s a lot of money to give 10 euro’s just for this but on the other hand, the people who stay at a five star hotel are rich and this shows also how they take care of their money. The time flew by that they and I could go home at 15:30! First, I gave back my uniform, nameplate and key, then I hugged and said goodbye to the housekeeping girl and then I went shopping! I bought some souvenirs and typical Munich food for my family; an ‘Oktoberfestherz’, the ‘Weißwurst mit süße Senf und Breze’ and for my brother and father a typical beer from München. Also, I bought some presents for my host family; for the girls I bought bracelets and for the host mother a good motto she could hang up in her house (see pictures below). During the shopping I passed by some nice and political buildings and when I came ‘home’ in Allach again with the subway and S-Bahn, there was a great meal prepared and I had a lovely evening together with the host family! The following day I had fresh self-made bread for breakfast, I took leave of the girls, was brought to the S-bahn and said goodbye to the host mother. At the station I took some coffee to go, bought the fresh Breze and some lunch for in the train and then left off! When I arrived at the station in Utrecht I was warmly welcomed by my loved-ones!! :)

Today my family and I actually ate the Weißwurst and all thought it tasted like a ‘frikandel’ when you closed your eyes. Because I think the Weißwurst doesn’t really looks tasty at all but always try something new! Just like my internship, which was definitely very useful and interesting!!

Thank you all for reading my blog and reacting! It was a great support and I enjoyed to share my experiences with you!

PS: have a look at the other 'reisverslagen' because with some I updated some extra pictures!

Goodbyee!! xxxx