Seven o'clock on the morning I open my eyes, look at the clock and I close my eyes again with thought that I can sleep twenty minutes more. At seven thirty I dress up fast and run out of my room. Yesterday evening I was thinking about the task which our teacher gave to us. We were supposed to write an article about Generation Z. What do I know about it ? To be honest, nothing. Actually it's funny and strange to know nothing about the generation which you belong to. By the way, I forgot that my teacher gave us a topic as well. I need to write about how this generation is educated. While I was smoking my morning cigarette I was reading about Gen – Z. For example they really like and enjoy technology. “What a surprise!”, I said to myself. When I came to class, the teacher was introducing a new topic to us but after few minutes I found myself not listening to him and my thoughts were far away. However, the lecturers in Hotel Institute Montreux know really well how to get our attention. Some of the teachers joke with us or ask us questions during the class, others show us interesting videos or give us some tasks which need to be done while the class is ongoing. But the best tool which is used by the all teachers is a magic phrase : « This is what you will have for your final exam. » At Hotel Institute Montreux, in the first year of education we had a practical lesson. We were doing restaurant service and by doing practical activities, it is much easier to grasp information for Generation Z ,as it hard to remain focused sometimes. In addition, we had a lot of projects. This is good because we can show our creativity and also it's a better way of learning for us.
After class, outside, I was sitting with my friends and thinking about the task. I found out that Generation Z are focused on there career but they have a tendency to change their place of work. Why ? Because Gen – Z want to have a work which is interesting for them and they can't do work which they are not passioned about. While my friends were posting pictures on Instagram, I started to think about one more fact that being unique and different is very important for Generation Z. Firstly, I didn't trust this information but then I started to think about me and I looked at my friends who post original videos each week and I realise that yes actually it's true.
So why Hotel Institute Montreux is fitting for Generation Z ? To begin with, this university has a lot of different master classes and outside of school activities. Why it is important ? Because for Gen – Z, it is important to find themselves creatively and also Gen – Z are sociable and they like to be with people. Besides, people in Hotel Institute Montreux are very kind and they really care about us. Moreover, they are always ready to answer all our questions and they are always here to help us. For Generation Z, it's perfect atmosphere in Hotel Institute Montreux because for them personal relationships are important.
While I was thinking about it, my friends and I went to have a lunch. And we were talking about the projects and deadlines. Apparently it's a lot of things which we need to do and we were nervous. One of my friend asked me how it's going in SAF ( this is one of our outschool activities there a lot of different ambassadors and I'm the green ambassador) . It's very hard to convince people to change something and to go green in this school. But I like the idea that I'm actually having the opportunity to change something and make our school better.
After lunch I came back to my room and started to write an article about Gen – Z. It never was so hard for me to write something as now. While i was writing this article it was visible on my face how much I was struggling to get enough amount of words. Also as I'm part of Gen – Z I wanted my article to be original and creative.
What is more, I was stressed because of internship. Of course I wanted to find a place where I will feel happy and where I can contribute to development and see that my work is giving results. However, it's not so easy to find the place like this. In the evening I had a lot of different meetings about group projects and SAF. I really like working in a team where everybody is free to share ideas and opinions and I like that in my group there is always a friendly atmosphere. We were discussing our project and joking and all of us tried to make our presentation different from others.
At night, I came back to my room watched a movie, changed to pyjamas and switch off the light. I was laying in bed and thinking what I want to say in this article? What is my message? I have no idea. I always wanted to create something bigger with a strong message and make people change their way of thinking and to look at the world differently. The world is so small and now we are making it even smaller with all these social networks and smartphones. We are creating a new extremely little world on which we are looking through our screens or cameras. In my room it was very dark. The window was open and I heard the birds singing and quiet voices of people who were sitting on the terrace. I put on my headphones, switched on Jefferson Airplane and I was going far away into another world...In my dream I saw a magnificent sky and a beautiful sea shore and I can not not asking YOU who are reading this article now and who managed to read it until the end, “what do you see in your dreams?”
Author: Ms. Zinaida Voropaeva, Hospitality Bachelor Student at HIM (Hotel Institute Montreux) from Russian Federation