Don sent us our cohort’s contact information a few
hours ago and I was immediately reminded of my ILC journey thus far. The
contact sheet was a part of the application and we’re already headed off to
Chicago tomorrow morning! The moment that we’ve all been waiting for is finally
here. Since we leave so early, we all need to get our sleep, but at the same
time, there’s so much excitement keeping us up.
So far, we’ve gone through the process of applying to
the ILC, applying to the school, and making it to the different ILC events. In
addition to that, the Hotel Management group had to read Four Season’s: The
Story of a Business Philosophy. My first impression of the book was that we
would be reading about how he was able to maximize profitability, but that wasn’t
the case. It was about Isadore Sharp’s ethics, values, and the decisions he
made that helped him become a hotelier. I learned that focusing on money isn’t
always the solution to making money. The book also talked about the different
charities that Mr. Sharp has supported, which emphasized the need to give back
to the community. We also had to learn hotel terms and we’ll be receiving our
course packets shortly. This is only the beginning of our learning experience.
After touring three different colleges, I hope to get
a better understanding of how college works, what schools on the East Coast are
like, and what makes each of those campuses unique. Most importantly, I’ll be
able to feel what each campus is like and hopefully portray each university in
a way that people reading my blogs will get a better picture of the school too.
I’m exited to learn about the people who live in these areas or go to these
schools too. What did they do in their high school careers? How has the move
from their homes affected them? And from the dinners I’ll be given the chance
to ask all these questions and hear about interesting aspects of each school.
From my course, I hope to learn all about the hotel
business. After telling my friends and family about the course, they all had
different visions of what the course was about. They wondered if I was learning
to be that person standing in the hotel lobby ordering other employees around
or whether it was how to be a CEO of some sort. They thought maybe she’s going
to learn about what rugs to pick or how people in a hotel communicate. My
understanding is that I’ll learn about how hotels make profit and participate
in a simulation to test how much I’ve learned from the lectures and readings. I
don’t think it’s so much of who to be or what to do, but how to do it. All
of this will be answered soon!
And lastly, I hope to learn about myself. The ILC
encourages us to venture out into East Coast schools and I’m glad that I have
this opportunity to explore them before I start applying for colleges. I know
that from this program, I’ll be able to exercise both my mind and body. I’ll no
longer question whether I could realistically keep up at an Ivy League pace or
survive the harsh weather. I’ll learn to be an independent person from living without
my parents. I’ve never been apart from my family for so long, so it’ll be a
good time to experience college and post-college life. I’ll realize what I am
interested in and what I’m not interested in. There’s so much to learn from
this experience and maybe I’ll come back learning even more than I thought I
would.
All of my bags are packed and I’m ready for a
productive summer. The trip will be about a month long, but I don’t even want
to think about the day that I’m back in the Bay Area. Our first stop is
Chicago! My cohort has already e-mailed each other regarding the places we want
to visit so hopefully we’ll get to see them!
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