Week 8

Monday

                It was a little strange sleeping in on a Monday since I’m used to getting up for class, but I won’t complain about a chance to sleep more. Once I finally did get up, I took a stroll through the shopping district to see if I could happen upon a white shirt since I have to wear white shirts every day while at work. I did find one that was cheap but isn’t very dressy looking and is more of a t-shirt material, but when I wear it with my black sweater it is passable. By the time I returned to the apartment it was time for me to be getting ready and heading out to meet Audrey to go begin my first day of work at the hotel.

                The hotel is called Murillo and right next door to it is another building that houses a set of apartments that are also part of Murillo. After meeting with the director of the hotel, I went off with the head of reception, Juan, to get an idea of the hotel and see some rooms and such. Then I met David, the receptionist that I would be working with. I started apparently on a bad day, since they had no admittances the whole afternoon so there was basically nothing much to do. David showed me some basic things on the computer and we did some credit card payments for upcoming guests and walked back and forth between the hotel and the apartment reception desks a few times. I also learned how to answer the phone. “Hotel y Apartamentos Murillo, buenas tardes, le atende Emily.” I answered the phone once, but had to pass it immediately to David since I couldn’t quite understand what the caller wanted. Probably the best part of the day was when David showed me the coffee/hot chocolate machine and I got some hot chocolate. I’m hoping that as the days go on, things will become a lot less intimidating, especially as I become more familiar with hotel terms in Spanish. I was pleasantly relieved to find out that I could leave in between eight and nine, so I left at eight instead of remaining till nine like I thought was the original plan.

Tuesday

                I went with Concepción to Cortes Ingles where she needed to get a replacement key since hers was bent and wouldn’t work. However I discovered she really enjoys shopping because along the way we stopped a good ten times so that she could look at clothes and spray herself with some sample perfume and such. I didn’t have anything much planned for the day so I didn’t mind at all. After we eventually replaced the key we went grocery shopping. This was fine with me, but we got a little carried away with the grocery selection and the short walk back to the apartment seemed to take forever with the heavy bags.

                Work Tuesday was an improvement from Monday. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I would be working with Jorge instead of David for the day. David was fine and all, but Jorge is a bit more relaxing to be around and when the boss isn’t around he is a little more laid back. I had to do more answering the phone this time but it wasn’t all that terrible. It was nicer working Tuesday thanks to increased activity in the hotel as a result of a large group checking out and a bunch of people checking in. There were mostly French and Italian people entering and leaving, but I was really excited when three elderly men from Ireland checked in and had the loveliest Irish accents. Right at the end of the day a large group of students from France came in but thankfully the chaperones spoke English. When they realized that I spoke English and was American I learned that a couple of the chaperones were Canadian and one of them even mentioned the Cornhuskers when they found out I was from Nebraska. I definitely enjoyed the interaction of Tuesday especially after the boring passing of hours on Monday. As long as there are things to do this internship will be bearable, but the sitting around awkwardly waiting for something to happen is kind of painful.

Wednesday

                After going to Mass at one I went on a walk in the general direction of the Plaza de España. Since it is such nice weather now, I feel like I should spend a good portion of time outside enjoying it. I walked through Maria Luisa Park on the way to the plaza and stopped to eat my lunch near a little pond that had several mallard ducks swimming around in it. I made friends with three of them by tossing some of the crusts from my sandwich and then sat down on a bench a little ways away to eat while the ducks swam off. However, about five minutes later all three ducks hopped out from the water and waddled over to me clearly wanting more food. I was out of bread so they got a little bit of a granola bar as a reward for their bravery in approaching me.

                After a quick stroll to the plaza, I headed back since it was about time to get ready for work. I was surprised to find that instead of either David or Jorge, it was a new receptionist called Jaime. I don’t know if they are just faking sick so that someone else gets the pleasure of training me or what, but I don’t mind because so far I have liked each one better than the previous one. Jaime had me do a lot more things such as put reservations into the computer system and be left alone to man the desk and that helped to pass the time. He also doesn’t speak English very well so he had me write an email to a client confirming their payment as he told me what to say in Spanish. I felt like I actually was helpful Wednesday which was a good feeling after the first two days being mostly just observing.

Thursday

                I went book shopping Thursday because I figure reading a book in Spanish is good practice and also it will help pass the time when there is nothing for me to do at work. For the previous days I’ve been reading my Spanish dictionary while at work because I’ve already read all my travel guides and so the dictionary is preferable to doing nothing. I was a little discouraged when at first the majority of the books I found that sounded appealing were close to twenty euros and I wasn’t about to spend that much on one book. Finally after an hour and a half of searching I was super excited when I found a Mary Higgins Clark book for just 7.95€! That is definitely a more pleasant reading option than the dictionary.

                Work Thursday was even better than Wednesday and I was excited to see that I finally was going to be working with the same person, Jaime, instead of a new receptionist. However, when I walked in and met another receptionist, Javier, I thought I’d be working with yet another new person until he told me he only worked mornings and Jaime was just a little late. I learned how to add information to clients’ reservations on the computer and was kept busy at that for a while and was also left in charge of the hotel office a few times and the nearby apartment office once as well. Each day that goes by it gets a little easier and I’m starting to get used to switching back and forth between English and Spanish depending on the language used by the clients.