112109 Saturday

THE TOUGH LIFE OF A STUDENT

Exams are round the corner. Actually they are up on Monday. Its going to last till the 8th of December. Then, I get my results on the 10th of Dec. Pretty fast eh. This is the one time that a system in Malaysia is actually efficient. I get plenty of questions from everybody on what I study. When I say hotel management, they go oh, so you have to clean tables, polish cutlery and shit. No I don't need to pay the same amount of money you are paying for a Perodua Myvi to learn that. Heck the same server that stole my Pushmore shirt near my college does the same thing. And he doesnt have to pay that amount of money and plus he gets free t-shirts on certain days. Hence, I'm going to tell you what I do in this "hotel management" course of mine.

In a year, I have 3 terms plus one term of industrial training. Each term consist of 8 -9 subjects of which some are progressive such as Rooms Management, F&b Management, French and so forth. We progress just like any other course out there. In my first term of my first year, for three months I was taught on how to fold napkins and shit. My test was to fold 6 types and yes for those with their eyes open and jaw hanging, I can do swans, lotus and sexy elephants. I indeed possess big hands and at the same time I know how to use them ;) We have all the normal hard subjects that you guys probably dont know how to do such as economics, sales, statistics and so forth. Its difficult. Who ever said running a hotel is easy.

So in my finals this year for Higher Diploma, I would have 8 different exams altogether that consist of what I have learn so far over the course of 3 years. Let me put it in numeric form for those who struggle with systematic thought process. The 8 different exams are :

1. Technical Case Study ( 2.5 Hours )

2. Hotel Communications Paper ( 3 hours )

3. Hotel Management Case Study ( 5 hours )

4. French Intermediate

5. Technical Industrial Training

6. Sales & Negotiations

7. Training, Meeting and Briefing

8. Bahasa Malaysia.

The first is a combination of Rooms Management, Purchasing and Food & Beverage. In this we have to learn how to calculate on setting the room rates that you people out there usually buy. I guess you never wondered why you pay 500 for a room. Second, The Communications paper would be an essay. The third, HMCS that is 5 hours long consist of 5 subjects together. We are given food and drinks during the exam. So far, the failing rate of this paper is 35%. Shitty scary!

The rest of the others are all practical exams that test your knowledge on the products and techniques related to this industry. Lastly, Bahasa Malaysia.. I wont even bother trying to explain to you why we have it in our exam. Its because the government would want you to learn a language that only two countries are using. In that exam, we are suppose to debate with 2 other candidates on certain issues like . . . Apakah faktor-faktor kecerdikan remaja zaman ini semakin cetek ? ( What are the reasons for the shallow mentality of teenagers in this era? ) They are not squating, deadlifting, power cleaning, bench pressing, strict pressing and front squatting. Thats why.

Anyways thats the write up on what I will be going through for the next 3 weeks. I hope I didnt bore you but Hotel Management is certainly more than just polishing glasswares, cutleries and crockeries.