BMCC 2008 Switzerland Blog

Monday, June 9, 2008

(Day 11: Tour Guide – Liliana Munoz)

Swiss “Hospitality Operations” with Sophie – Itinerary

7-7:20am : Breakfast

8:15 am: Workshop Hospitality Operations (Sophie Blattmann) Rm 104

12:00noon: Planning of next excursions

12:15pm: Lunch

Afternoon: Free Time

6:00pm: Dinner in Dining Hall

Lessons Learned

1. Always be prepared for a medical emergency.

2. Utilized your resources when dealing with emergencies.

3. It is very, I repeat very important to work together as a team.

4. The Tour Guide is responsible for the keeping the tour on track during an emergency.

5. Always stay “Focused”!

“Coffee or Tea” Swiss Style

Written by: Shevarma Pemberton

I woke up today feeling rested – we did not have tours planned for today and we were going to have class with Sophie Blattman.

Now that the stagiaires (international students) are here, we operate on a fixed schedule: breakfast at 7:00a.m, lunch at 12:15p.m and dinner at 6:00p.m. That is not the only fixed schedule. It is evident by now, eleven days in, that breakfast will not change at this point. Every morning is the same thing: a selection of Swiss bread and rolls with ham and cheese or cereal, juice or coffee and pineapple and cantaloupe. I am just about sick of having breakfast now. It is just a painfully monotonous procedure.

Sophie Blattmann with the TTA 100 students in Beverage Workshop

With this part of the day – over – I headed downstairs for class at 8:15a.m. The first portion of the day was covered by Sophie Blattman, Junior Consultant at the SSTH. It was a workshop on Hospitality Operations in our designated classroom in room 104. A pretty interesting class. I was delighted that the first section of the workshop was on beverages: what they are made of, how to prepare them and how they are to be served. This also opened up an opportunity for comparison between the American and Swiss cultures.

Some of the differences that were pointed out included the following: the temperature of American coffee is generally hotter (the Swiss serve barely lukewarm coffee); while Americans generally get their coffee to go, the Swiss serve it as a sit-down drink; there is no skim milk with which the coffee is served here in Switzerland, much unlike the custom of the calorie counting American lifestyle; the Swiss coffee sizes are much smaller than those of Americans.

As the lesson progressed, it became a hands-on experience where I was actually able to witness the making of some of the drinks. I am not a big fan of coffee and I have neither made nor actually witnessed the making of coffee before so it was nice to see. Of all the drinks described, my favorite was definitely the latte macchiato. This point was only consolidated when I saw the making of it and what it actually looked like.

The process of making the latte macchiato is quite interesting. First milk is heated with steam and then the milk and foam is poured into a latte macchiato glass (it even gets its own glass!). Next the glass is slanted and espresso poured down the side. It is then served with a long spoon and sugar on a saucer. What I like the most about the macchiato lies in the fact that the finished product is layered. I just find that to be extremely cool.

Aside from coffee, also mentioned in the workshop were teas and alcoholic beverages. I learned about the ever popular Swiss beer, Calanda, which I had been seeing around town all the time never knowing exactly what it was. Anyway I did not find anything near as interesting to me as the latte macchiato. I look forward to seeing if it is made back in New York, and if so, if it is properly done.

Aside from drinks it was interesting to note some of the things not particular to the American culture but very much so to the Swiss. Among those things is the fact that they sell alcoholic beverages in vending machines that would make them easily accessible to children. Even worse were the vending machines with sex toys. So you know what it is that they do when they get drunk. I found that to be extremely outrageous and would not like to imagine anything like that ever coming to America. Let it stay over here with the Swiss where it is not apparent just how wrong that is.

The final segment of the workshop was on Hotel Organization. The structures between the American and Swiss are more or less the same, but there is not as much individualization of the various departments as is the custom of American organizations. Furthermore, it is evident that unlike America, the Swiss are very laid back with regards to security. It is obviously not as big an issue over here as it is in America and I happy for them in that regard. At least they get to save some money. One less thing to worry about.

At the close of the workshop at noon, it was time for lunch. The arrival of the stagiaires might not be such a bad thing after all. The food today was divine. It was a very formal setting in the dining as they were practicing their serving skills on us, the guinea pigs. I cannot even complain about that one because the food is just that much better.

Next on the agenda was a continued classroom session but this time with our Professors. In this session we covered the course text and discussed the chapter on working with hotels, quite fitting considering the fact that this is what we are currently doing practical’s in exactly that.

We moved from the text and into the planning of itineraries for the upcoming days. By the looks of it, the schedules are challenging, demanding and interesting.

Dinner was at 6:00p.m and once again I was very pleased with the delicious food and the lovely service. I think I am really going to enjoy my remaining ten days here. Just as long as they keep serving like this.

I was up late into the night but this time it was not blog based. Instead, I was busy preparing the itinerary for the next day. I am the designated Tour Guide tomorrow. Fretting over the intricate details of the day I was finally able to organize all the details and hopefully have a successful program. Finally, off to bed…just like that… day 11 was over.