Inauguration
Never thought that I would do this but hey, I'm blogging! ;D I'm doing this so I do something creative when I have time for it, and for people so they can follow what's happening in my life. I'll do my best to put some pictures here so you can see how my life is developing. I have to force myself to be better in this though, because I hardly ever take any pictures...
Background
Tomorrow (Wednesday) I am leaving for the Dominican Republic to do my internship. 5 months of work in a 5-star luxury resort, exclusive for adults, and I really look forward to this new experience! The hotel Excellence Punta Cana (http://www.excellence-resorts.com/) is located in Punta Cana, at the end of the island in the east, supposedly by one of the finest beaches in the Caribbean. Could it be better...? The hotel offers 8 different theme restaurants, 10 different bars, a full-service spa and a casino, among other things. Apparently most of the guests are honeymooners. Don't know what to say about this yet. I will let you know after some time.
Already in the beginning of the semester of HO1 in Switzerland I decided to see if there were any possibilities to work for this chain and they accepted me immediately. Ever since I worked for Viva Hotels & Resorts in Spain I was interested to work for their sister-chain Excellence; with two luxury resorts in Mexico, one in the Dominican Republic and about to open another resort in Oyster Bay, Jamaica. Although I didn't hear much from the hotel after they accepted me I wanted this all the time, unless something better would come up. I turned down offers from Ritz-Carlton in Barcelona and Hilton and Radisson BLU in Brussels. I was considering to accept the offer from Radisson, since they offered me an internship as the e-commerce manager, in charge of everything on their web page, setting the hotel's prices according to the market and time of year, "spying" on other chain's prices etc., plus reservations and other things. After long talks with my mom and friends I decided to turn down the offer. Mostly because Excellence were great with me and accepted my request to do cross-training in different departments of the hotel, they offered me accommodation, meals, laundry and money on top of that. Another fact that was in favor of the hotel was that I've never been in the Caribbean. My idea all the time was to find a good place to work but also have a decent life when I'm off duty, so this was the best choice. The island offers lots of things to do and I will try as many water-, land- and aerial activities as I can during my stay; such as visiting the capital Santo Domingo, walk in rain forest-like regions and maybe climb the highest mountain apart from laying by the beach. Another thing that I want to do is to visit other countries nearby, such as Cuba, Puerto Rico, (maybe) Haiti and Turks and Caicos Islands, where Mattias is doing his internship. Hopefully I manage to do at least some of the things that I want to do.
Preparation
Today I'll pack, get the last things that I need for the trip and just relax. My flight is at 06.35 so I'm thinking of not going to sleep so I easily pass out when I cross the Atlantic ocean. First I'll fly to Frankfurt and wait for 2h 30 min, before my flight is bound for Punta Cana airport. The flight is around 10 hours so I'll have plenty of time in the aircraft... I bought a Lonely Planet guidebook which I will read from the beginning to the end, and back, before I arrive in the DR at 15.10 (local time). Someone from the hotel will pick me up, but after that I have no idea of what's going to happen. Maybe they drive me straight to the hotel or to my apartment... I don't start working until the 6th, so I'll have time to get familiar with the hotel and the island, get my uniform and buy necessary things.
Well, updates coming when I'm on the island!
