Close to Home

Nov. 23

Hm.....why is everything in English? People here speaks English, too. Am I dreaming? *pinches myself* "OUCH! That hurts." (T.T)  Does that mean we are back home? Nope! Not even close. We are in London!

Arriving at Stansted Airport in London, Patrick and I took the bus to Victoria Station. It is took approximately 2hrs. for us to reach our destination. We checked-in at the hostel where we will be staying at for the next 4 days and decided to head out for dinner. 

We went to Garfunkel and I had the soup of the day follow by dessert. It was delicious. :)

Soup of the Day ^^

Strawberry Sundae

After dinner, it was around midnight and we were both tired from the trip so we went back. At the hostel, we met some really cool people. One guy recommend that we should head to Piccadilly Circus. To get there all we had to do is take the London Underground from Victoria Station to Green Park and change train to Piccadilly Circus. 

Arriving at Piccadilly Circus, we had breakfast at McDonald. I know what you are thinking..."they are in London and they are eating McDonald?!" Well, the only thing that was open at the time there was McDonald so we didn't really have a choice. But to my surprise, it was really good.  

Big Breakfast in London

Woh~la!

After breakfast, we walked around and took pictures before going on the "Original Tour."

Center of Piccadilly Circus

The Original Tour is London's most famous and oldest double-decker bus sightseeing company. The thing I found neat about this tour company has a hop-on, hop off feature. An example is that we can get off at Buckingham Palace, walk around for half an hour, and when we return a bus there to pick us up.  

Her Majesty's Theater

National Gallery

Entrance to Buckingham Palace

Justerini & Brooks - Scotch Whisky

For the Economic Professors at CBU

Marble Arch

Channel 4 - In honor of the Paralympics

Westminster Abbey

 Parliament

Big Ben

The London Eye

The following images are taken when we were on the London Eye :)

London's Sea LifeAquarium

Royal Courts of Justice

St. Paul Cathedral

Tower of London
This concludes the end of day 2 in London. I can not wait until the next day because Britney is coming! She is studying in Barcelona and we decided to meet up!

She is here!

Lunch at TGI's Friday

The classic telephone booth 

Help! Britney is going to attack me because I took too long.
 Just Kidding!

This concludes day 3 of our trip. 

Our last day in London, was spent at Piccadilly Circus. I thought to myself, "this trip was too short! I wish we could of spend more time here." That is until ..... we started souvenir shopping. I didn't realize the extent of how expensive the £ is compare to the $ until I actually started spending. 

Before heading back to the hostel and pack for our return, we wanted to try London's pastries and enjoy some coffee. 

Cafe Latte and Cake: Bittersweet Ending

London Underground : Until Next Time :)

Gina Bui

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A Day in Vienna

Nov. 19

Time for some fun!

Train ride to Vienna

Close to the City Center

Building in the City Center: Nice Architecture

St. Stephens Cathedral

Find Gina! 

Patrick and Gina: Top of St. Stephens Cathedral

View from the top of St. Stephens Cathedral

Victoria, Patrick, Gizem: Going down St. Stephens Cathedral

Cake!

More Cake!!

Yummy Cake!!!

Beethoven's House

Statue that Symbolizes the Black Plague

Gina Bui

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Park Inn Hotel: Analysis

Nov.19

The Park Inn Hotel, a chain of Radisson, is a four stars hotel and spa. It costs approximately 120 - 140 Euros per night for the room. Anything related to the spa is added separately to your account. The nice thing about this hotel is the modern architecture. The conference rooms are nicely decorated with good amount of space and most of the rooms have a balcony view that overlooks the garden. They also have a play room for the children to play when the parents are in the spa. The spa facilities of the hotel are not very appealing but the pricing is reasonable.  Most of the people who visited the spa and reside in the hotel the week that our group visit were mostly older people.     

The staffs are informative and knowledgeable but they are not very friendly. It is important since the hotel is a service orientated industry for the staff to be as cheerful and friendly as possible. The receptionist at the front desk did not smile when she greeted the guests and seem somewhat annoyed. If this is the greeting I get when I first check-in, they could guarantee I will not come back. 

Overall, from a management prospective, I will give them a rating of 2.5 stars. They had great location and ideal rooms but they lack in services and facilities. 

Gina Bui

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Excursion to Hungary: Summary

Nov. 15

There is only roughly about a month left before it time to leave. Time is flying by so quickly. This past Monday, Jim took us, as well as all the other GMT 12 students, on an excursion to Hungary for three days. There we visited the Park Inn Hotel, the Spirit Spa Hotel, Hungary's National Park, and an open-air museum. It was a wonderful experience and I gain so many insights on hotel and spa management.

Gina

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What is Hospitality Management?

Nov. 2

I would like to take a some time out and give you all a brief overview of what is hospitality and tourism managment and what types of position are avaliable in the fields of hospitality management.

Hospitality and tourism managment is a specific type field of business management. Instead of learning how to manage a business in general, it is gears more toward managing hotels and traveling agencies. These areas of managment require the manager to posses a stronger interpersonal communication, critical thinking and problem solving skills. The reason so is because this industry is guests orientated. It is all about making a profit while retaining high level of guests' satisfaction.

After completing this degree works, available jobs includes but not limiting to:
hotels, travel agencies, cruise agencies, casinos, companies relating to sports managment, and many more.

Gina

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Graz, Austria (Part 2)

Oct. 24

Overview of Graz

Overview of Graz

L-R: Gina, Michaela, Eileen

Patrick and I

 

Clock Tower - Most Romantic Landmark in Austria

Eileen and I - Murinsel Bridge

Michaela and I - Murinsel Bridge

Ice Cream!!!

To end our day in Graz - Gelateria Italiana. At this famous ice cream parlour you get to pick up to 10 different flavors. How awesome it that?!

Gina

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