“Are you serious?” This is what my parents said when I mentioned to them a month ago that I would be coming home for only 15 days. Yeah well, “that’s what you get for working in a people’s industry”, is what I replied to them. After travelling for more than 18 hours from Marbella to Malaga, Malaga to Madrid, Madrid to Dubai and Dubai to New Delhi, I finally hugged my parents after 4 months of an excruciating semester at Les Roches.
A human being is a funny animal. I say so because I am a living example of not living in the present. Having said that, I have come to realize that a human being never lives in the present and doesn’t always appreciate what is in front of him. He always, by default craves for something he hasn’t got at that moment. And once he satisfies that craving, he immediately moves on to the next thing he doesn’t have.
My colleagues and I during service class in El Olivo
When I was in Les Roches, all I really dreamt of was being home with my parents and cherishing my mother’s home cooked food, but the moment I landed in New Delhi, all I could think of was how much I was missing my Les-Rochesites! Yes, in the middle of writing this article, I coined a name for every single Les Roches student: Les-Rochesite. And why not? If it is a way of life that an LRM student is living, it better be the Les Rochesite way of living.
Anyway, I will try my best not to deviate. In the last twenty days I had enough time to throw light upon the four months I spent as a first year student in my college. And I very vividly remember Mr. Soler’s words at the induction ceremony, “Guys, these 20 weeks will be the fastest weeks of your life! Make the most of it!” I could be the alibi for his words, because before I even knew, I was standing at my last roll call in Marché with Mr. Soler, giving us a farewell speech.
Final Roll Call 2013 at Les Roches Marbella
From writing my first blog post for Les Roches before even entering the campus to being honored with the title of Student Ambassador and working with some amazing lecturers; my first semester has been quite a journey so far. I have often heard that we don’t get to choose our family, but we get to choose our friends. Four months later, I can confidently say that I chose my second family here. I met some of the most amazing people and connected to them like lightening.
If I sit down and jot every single quality or benefit that studying in Les Roches has given me so far, I would exceed a couple of pages and probably kill you of boredom. But one very important thing that I would take away from this college is discipline. Coming from a country where most of the things are taken care of by your domestic help and parents, one of the major skills that we lack is discipline. And it is the discipline that I lacked that separated me from many of my fellow mates in the beginning.
Every single day, our teachers would never fail to remind us that, “It is the attitude that matters in this industry. Learn to exceed expectations.” We are often imparted with an education that is seldom followed by the institute and the professors themselves. But Les Roches as an institution and its lecturers have never failed to set an example to everything they taught. It’s rarely seen that teachers care about every individual’s needs but, in LRM the teachers are always there for you. They customize themselves to every student’s whims.
As I said, I could go on about how greatly my college changed me in just a few short months but then I could only say so much. To be able to know it, one has to experience it.
Upon my arrival in Barcelona
It is very rare that people get to do what they love and in my case it would not have been possible without my family’s full support and Les Roches’ unwavering dedication. It’s New Year’s Eve and I am sitting at the airport waiting for my flight to Barcelona where I start my in-training at Hotel Arts in two days. I couldn’t be more excited to be living this moment. How many of us get that? To do and live what we love?
Cherish every moment. Live in the present. Be what you want. Happy New Year.
It’s official! I am working at Hotel Arts Barcelona!
