Prestige And Why It May Be Overrated.

It's been three days into my week long hospitality internship at a prestigious international hotel chain. Reviewing my expectations before the internship began, I did not know what to expect. Would I learn something practical? Given that it's an "internship", I certainly hoped so. Would I interact with the guests? Maybe not. It's a leading hotel and I'm untrained. So interaction seemed unlikely.

After 3 days, I know what to expect. Will I learn something practical? Yes. Will I apply it in reality? No. All I shall do is listen to the masters' opinions of their respective areas of expertise. If I'm fortunate enough, I will be able to watch them at work. My much awaited internship ends at that - a heap of fallen hopes. Obviously, the hotel can not be blamed for this. They could not risk placing a layman in the presence of guests or guest-related areas. 

Conclusively, at the end of the internship, I will not have any practical experience in hospitality and I may not even have a positive impression of hotel management as a career. The hotel's efforts also go to waste as its attempt to initiate students shall hardly be fruitful. 

I can not help but wonder if things would have been different had the internship been at a smaller, lesser known hotel. Perhaps, I would have had a richer experience. Maybe they would have placed greater trust in me. I may have learnt more. Lived more.

Though this experience is not entirely ineffective. Part of my future plans has been to do a summer internship at Google. I'll be better equipped to judge the value of an internship at a start up versus that at an existing internet giant. I'm coming to believe that every seemingly wrong decision only helps me make a better one in the future.

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