I Have the Most Amazing Job in the World

Today, as I am writing to you, I'm sitting in the most beautiful hotel room I've ever set foot in, looking out over the waters of this amazing Great Lake, with the outline of the bridge just visible through the fog. And you thought you had the dream job!
Really, there is no where in the world I would rather be than exactly where I am right now. I'm surrounded here by great friends, a loving and accepting church family, awesome co-workers, and of course the most beautiful "albergo" I've ever seen...sorry but I find that the english word "hotel" just doesn't fit this place! the Italian word is much more worthy of such an awesome and incredible property. Studying "La scienza di alberghieri" was the best decision I've ever made.
The backstory to my hotel stay today - Every once and a while when our hotel has a large number of unsold rooms, my manager will offer some of the employees to stay. Not only is it a great perk to working here, it also helps me do my job a lot better. Because I spend my day on the phone with potential guests, actually having the experience of staying in the hotel, eating dinner in the main dining room, and breakfast in the morning are all things that you really need to experience in order to describe. I wish I could share pictures on here so you could all see what I'm seeing, but I'll do my best to describe it to you.
The room is shaped like a half moon, curved on one side, flat on the other. (I'm on the left-most, curved corner of the hotel, if you were facing the hotel from the outside). The bed sits against the flat side, looking out through the curved wall of windows over the lake, with some trees and a beach visible to the right. In the left corner of the room is this adorable and extremely comfortable light-pink chaise. It looks like something Jackie Kennedy would have had in her home. Between the (king sized) bed and the chair is this cute little green and white desk, and to the right of the bed is a nightstand and a little wardrobe, all green and white as well. Off the bedroom area over by the door is the bathroom, and there's also a little sink area and chair for doing your hair, makeup, etc. There is a closet next to that, and what I assume to be a little mini bar/fridge. The walls are painted a cool mint green, the bed has a mint green and white striped comforter to match the walls, the carpet is a darker, solid green, and the window treatments are a flower pattern that bring all of the other colors in the room together.
I'm sitting on the bed, looking out over the lake and trees, drinking my coffee. Soaking it all in.
Who knows when I'll be back here? How could I possibly find a job better than this one after graduation? Is there any other place in the world I could be content in after experiencing all of this?
It looks like I may just have to come back.

I was almost ready to pack up and go home, and then..

This morning, after getting only a few hours of sleep last night, I woke up late, leaving myself just enough time to bike through the pouring rain and high winds up the hill to the hotel in time for breakfast.  Exhausted, soaked, and hungry I walked upstairs to the employee cafeteria, set down my things and went immediately to get some coffee...except there was no coffee. Just my luck. So, I grabbed some decaf just for the hell of it, and went and got my breakfast (the hotel's version of french toast...at least I think it's supposed to be french toast...) A few minutes after sitting down to eat, a woman walks up to me and says, "Hi. I just wanted to let you know that you have bike splatters all up your back from your bike. Your jacked caught most of it, but there's some on the dress too."

Fricken. Awesome.

I finished eating and went down to the bathroom to wash my dress and dry my still dripping hair, and then at 8 went into the office to begin my, oh yeah!, 12 hour shift.
So, coffee-less, wet from the rain, and still hungry from barely eating breakfast, I took a minute to ask God for strength to get me through the day, knowing it was probably going to be rough.
To my surprise, it was far from it. The phone calls I took were pretty uneventful, I didn't get yelled and once, and my boss gave me some extra, thankfully stress free, responsibilities.  Pretty much everyone in the office seemed to be in a good mood, and we spent most of the day cracking jokes and laughing. My favorite part of the day, however, started at 6pm when the phones went off. We all went up to get dinner for a half hour, and then stopped back down to chat with my friend who works at the news stand, and then back to work. But when it's after 6 pm...it's not really work anymore. See, after 6 PM, we're all in our element.  One of my good friends, a guy who works in my department, put on his "diva" pandora , and we spent the next hour and a half listening to the best of Whitney, Beyonce, Mariah Carey, and of course Aretha Franklin. Oh, Aretha. Yeah, about two measures before she went into the chorus of "Natural Woman" the girl who sits next to me let's out the LOUDEST burp...fitting, of course, that seconds later Aretha goes into "you make me feeeeel like a natural womaaaan."

Another awesome thing happened today! We had Christmas at the office! Well, kind of. There are 6 people in my department, and today 4 of us got packages in the mail. We all circled up and opened them together, it was very touching. My wonderful mama sent me my guitar in a box today! So happy to have it, now H and I can head down to the park to entertain some tourists.

So, I end by saying that I learned two things today. Number one: God listens. Number two: Don't lose hope in the end just because the beginning starts roughly.

Day off!

GREAT news from my boss... I get the entire day off on Tuesday! I can't tell you how excited I am. This will be my first day to just lay around and relax...Only one shift between me and Tuesday, and unfortunately its probably going to be a 12 hour, but hey..I'll take it.
A couple of days ago I was actually woken up by the sound of the island ambulance (one of the only cars here). It's really strange when you're pretty much isolated by motorized noise, surrounded by sounds of horse hooves and their carriages, to hear that early in the morning...its just weird.
Work has been going well, the days are starting to go by faster and I've definitely gotten the hang of what I'm doing. Today I spoke with a couple about their aunt who is coming here next week to celebrate her 90th birthday and they asked what kind of gifts/baskets we have that we could put in the room for her...I said, "Well...can she still, like...drink?"

Seriously, do 90 year olds drink?

This one apparently does, a lot! The guy says back to me "That's how she made it to 90!!"
You know what they say, a glass a day keeps the doctor away. As if I needed another reason to become a wine connoiseur.

So speaking of my date yesterday. I guess we weren't....but now that we are...! Yes I went on a dinner date yesterday... This guy who works at the front desk asked me out a couple of days ago so we went to a little restaurat downtown for pizza...It was a lot of fun and he was cute, but I'm thinking it'll be a one time thing...I've only been here a week and definitely am not looking to be "dating" anyone here. Working 12 hours a day, there's no way I'd have time for something like that anyway. I'm here to meet friends, have fun, work, and learn a lot! A cute island boyfriend unfortunately just doesn't look like it's going to fit into that picture.


And on that note, have a great day! Hopefully I'll have more to tell after my adventures on Tuesday!

The Tiramisu Dream/ FAQ's

So, the title of this post has very little to do with my actual post. Really, I just had the most amazing tiramisu today...went up to the cafe to get coffee with a co-worker and there it was. Just sitting there, calling my name. Ignoring it would have just been rude and I would certainly hate to be rude. I did what any other polite, courteous person would do. Devoured it. Yum.


Uh, yeah. That was about 5 hours ago and I'm still thinking about it.



Exciting news from yesterday! I got to eat in the main dining room ! My boss sent us up there so we could "know what it was about when people called and asked about it." Oh my goodness. Never in my life have I had such good food! (except mom's home cooking, duhh). Unfortunately, I ate lunch at 12 yesterday, stayed at work for a 12 hour shift, and then worked a 10 hour shift today, so I can't even brag about what I ate! I have absolutely no idea, I just know it was amazing, so take my word for it.

FAQ'S
Q: What can I expect if I'm working in reservations?
A: Getting yelled at.  From angry people with accents you can barely understand, to elderly people who can't hear you, to angry women waiting at the boat dock after they find out their reservation was never made, to someone in your own department who you've never met who is demanding information over the phone that you CANNOT give out over the phone. Yeah, expect to get yelled at a lot. Uhh, theoretically speaking, of course.

Q: What is an interior view room?
A: That's a room that looks out the back of the hotel?
Q: What's out there?
A: Trees and rooftops
Q: Is there a parking lot?
A: No ma'am
Q: Are you sure?
A: Yes ma'am
Q: How do you know there's no parking lot?
A: There are no cars allowed on the island ma'am


Q: Does John Stamos really work at the bar down the street?
A: Yes

Good news!

First of all, sorry I took the weekend off! Not much happened and I figured that writing about nothing would just turn people away, but today I'm back! I went in at 9am, and I'm officially on my own on the phones! I got a compliment from a woman today (who just so happened to be from northeast Ohio) who said I did great and couldn't believe I was in my first week. I got the OK from my manager to do a different job which they generally don't give to people who have been there less than a year (one week, people). Plus, being on the phone for 9 hours straight made the 11 hour day fly by. I'm really starting to love it.
In other news, I'm meeting lots of new people, have a pretty promising love interest, and am having a great time. The only thing missing is a nice winter parka, some mittens, and a hat.




IT SNOWED THIS WEEKEND.











IT'S MAY.










That's all for today. If you have warm weather, enjoy it for me. I'm currently sitting outside an inn stealing internet because I got out of work after starbucks closed, and I think if I stay out here any longer I'll lose at least one finger...frost bite is making some serious plays at my extremities.

Living on an Island isn't always sunshine, clear skies and hot guys

Like when it rains.
Its about 40 degrees here, windy, rainy and miserable. Not what I was expecting with island life, but I am up north so I suppose that was my mistake. Had to ride to work this morning through pouring rain with no umbrella, couldn't sit on my bike seat because it was soaked so I got a good workout\!! Definitely felt like I almost lost a few fingers to frostbite in the process! OK that's a little dramatic. But it was cold.
Also, I finally started training on the phones today! The guy training me tried to hand me the headset after I listened in on two calls. He goes, "If I just put you on the phones now you'd probably be fine." That was really nice to hear, since that's pretty much how I'm feeling. Answering phones is pretty much the same anywhere you go...not difficult stuff. Anyway, had a very boring day other than that, but things should pick up when the weather gets better. Hopefully this will be one of very few boring blog days!

My parting advice for the day: If you have warm weather, go for a bike ride. If you don't have a bike, "borrow" one from the guy down the street (they do that other places than here, right?) and if you have cold weather, snuggle up under a blanket and watch a movie with your puppy.

John Stamos

That got your attention, didn't it ladies. ;-)
No, John Stamos didn't come to the hotel, sorry to disappoint. Although if he did I wouldn't be allowed to tell you, so I guess you'll never know! There is a point to this though. I went out with some friends (when i say "out" I actually mean "next door" to the little bar down the street) to watch the Red Wings game. And my waiter looked EXACTLY like John Stamos. I will be returning to this bar quite often I think...


My friends and I also discovered (well...they discovered, and then invited me...) roof access in our house. Spent some time up there last night playing guitar and jammin out having a little concert. My friend H (name omitted) and I were singing together a little bit and may be going down to the park with an open guitar case for a little supplemental income...tourists love that stuff anyway. Updates soon to come.



In other news, there was a huge power outage on the island today, almost the whole place lost power!
I never thought about it, but I guess when an entire island loses power, its kind of like being in a third world country. You know, the kind with generators to keep your third world computers and refrigerators on, and emergency lights to illuminate the third world hallways of your luxury hotel.
But yes, we lost power! Lasted about 4 hours? Very interesting experience on my second day of work.  Unfortunately, I'm going to have to keep it brief today...suffering from a bit of a headache from combining staring at a bright screen in a dark room all day AND wearing my hair in a bun. Not a good combination.
If you ever wondered how a hotel operates when the power is out, let me tell you it is NOT FUN! For me or for you! We kept all the vital things operational...computers for reservations and checkins, cash registers and the like. Elevators? No. Which, as you can imagine, is a pretty big problem for some of the elderly guests. Definitely not an ideal day in the hotel world. You never want your guests to leave unsatisfied!

You know what else sucks about power outages? Bathrooms. More specifically? Bathrooms in a hotel that is pretty well known to be haunted.

Yes I had to go to the bathroom in the dark.

Yes there was a ghost.

Yes I screamed and ran out when it GRABBED ME WHILE I WAS WASHING MY HANDS.

NO this is not made up.

Ok. Yes, I PROBABLY imagined it, but who knows. That's probably what the ghosts want you to think.
Guests don't have to worry about that though, we keep their bathrooms illuminated so the ghosts can't get to them. I think people would be tentative to come back after having an interaction with a ghost in a dark bathroom.
The bright side of all this was that my day FLEW by. Time to go swimming! Have a good night everybody!