From Singapore to Switzerland

Edmund Chan, 27th July 2011

As always, in any start of a class, there is a 'ritual' in which we will all take turns and introduce ourselves to unfamiliar eyes - this can sometimes be dreadful. However, as a hospitality student, I believe this somehow has to be born within our blood to learn to speak up and introduce ourselves, especially in front of our guests. So as it came to my turn. I projected my voice and said with jubilant, "Hi! I'm Edmund and I'm from Singapore(Proudly) and I'm doing Bachelors of Art in Hospitality and Events Management(BAHE)!".

Honestly, it was never in my intentions to take part in this blog. I had thought about the other commitment to school and my little private time to getaway and enjoy this beautiful country.But then it struck me! I can actually share my experiences, good or bad, with the people around me or who don't even know me. This was a chance for me to polish my writing  skills( yes the dissertation is on my mind!). 6 months on campus and another 6 months on internship, a year is all I have in Switzerland. I thought, "What a better way to spend my time in Switzerland!".

                                                    

Singaporean students taking a group photo outside school.

On top of Mt Pilatus !!!

From the time I stepped out of the airplane, till I set foot in my room in IMI, there were literally thousands of 'Woos!' and 'Wows!' that ran through my mind. Switzerland is indeed a beautiful country! After unpacking, we began to explore the area around our school. It was a cultural shock! Why?! Because the people here are so warm-hearted and friendly. We were greeted time and again by the friendly smiles and greetings from the locals while exploring the place. We learnt that Mount Pilatus was just behind the school. What a great view to have around our school! 

Trying to make 'contact' with the cows.

The nature, the view and not forgetting the cow bells which seems now to be innocent but  I am sure will be 'lethal' in time to come, will definitely bring about a whole new experience for me. As Singaporeans, we hardly have the chance to appreciate and feel nature in our bustling city-life. With another 6 months ahead, I'm sure that there will be tonnes of experiences right around the corner in this beautiful town just waiting for us to discover.

Human seating habits

By Ilse Joore

My first day of the MBA programme at IMI University Centre started as one of these days..I arrived back from Valencia, Spain the night before at 23.00 hours. So I did not have much time to prepare mentally for my course. My head was still in 30 degrees somewhere on the beach and in my mind I was still eating paella.

I live in the city and would go by car to our institute. My class started at 8.00 hours. I tried to start the car but for some reason the battery was completely dead… I was lucky that my husband decided to go to work later that day because of traffic, so he could bring me quickly, otherwise I would have been late on my first day. That would not make a good impression to my new programme collegues! When I arrived a lot of students were already there and even though I met a lot of new collegues every time over and over again during all my flights as a flight attendant at KLM (every flight we work with different collegues, as there are 9000 flight attendants at KLM, one friend that I know from Gymnasium is also a flight attendant at KLM and I never flew with her in the last 10 years…) still this is always a bit of a nervous moment. Will there be people I can get along with, will I make a good impression, where shall I sit and next to whom? Familiar faces always help in these situations. I knew one student and the teacher which was already a big help in feeling a bit more comfortable.

All these things in this regard might be crucial for the rest of the course, or not? After two classes I found out that I sat at exactly the same place every time. I always somehow have a seating preference, at least for myself. A bit in the back so I can overview everything, but not too far in the back cause I do not want to miss anything. Now, I know I never want to miss anything and I like overview which also presents itself in a lot of other parts of my life but wanting to sit at exactly the same place has another meaning as well. The reason obviously is, because we tend to exhibit territorial behavior when we take seats in public places. We limit ourselves to small areas so we don't have to "renegotiate" seating arrangements with other people, researchers say. In one study by Marco Costa of the University of Bologna in Italy, university students showed strong attachments to specific areas of a lecture hall; on average, each student made use of just 2.4% to 2.7% of the seating area (www.linkedin.com/news, May 24^th 2011). So if I start moving around to the other side of the classroom it is not because I like to, but just to break once the habit I obviously have and maybe even to make my territory bigger during this semester…