SarahJane Whitehill

Final week and now back home...

My final week in Cayman was hectic and emotional!! I had to finish up as much as possible before I left the island and Tom invited to me to a networking event in the Ritz Carlton!! On Thursday evening I joined a group of Cayman Scholars at a networking event set up by the Cayman Islands department of tourism. It proved to be a very interesting and useful evening. The guest speakers focused on interview techniques and enhancing your CV with voluntary work. It was fantastic and I took pages upon pages of notes!! After the guest speakers we practiced our new interview techniques during organized speed interview sessions arranged for a pretend job. The feedback from the interviewers was fantastic and I was sure to take on board their comments, like having a firm handshake and maintaining eye contact. I explained to some of the scholars I met about my position on the island and how I had to go through the same type of interviews to be here. It was a fantastic evening, where I met loads of people from Cayman's tourism industry. I thought it was a fantastic opportunity for the scholars to have all the people form the tourism industry in one room, on hand to talk to about their career. On one hand I wish we could have something similar here, however the number of graduating students in Scotland is enormous compared to Cayman!

During my last week I also did a press interview with Tom. We were interviewed for an article in INFORM magazine, a publication of Scottish Enterprise. It was the first time since I started my experience that I was asked to reflect on my experience and when I did so, it made me realize how much I can actually take from this experience! I was asked my expectations of the internship before I left and whether or not they have been met. When I left I wasn't sure what to expect, but even if I did expect a certain standard, I am sure my real experience would have surpassed it anyway.

Finishing up all the work set proved to be difficult and unfortunately circumstances meant I couldn't see everything in place before I left. Although I am back in Scotland now, I am staying in contact with Tom at the Reef and I am going to finish my projects from here :)

Saying goodbye to all my friends in Cayman was so difficult! We have been together, partying on the island for 2 months and thinking about life back in Scotland without them is hard. There was a few tears and long goodbyes :( but when I got on the plane, I looked forward to seeing my friends back in Glasgow and of course my family.

I have had the most amazing opportunity of my life. I have met fantastic people, visited a gorgeous country and got to experience probably my dream job. I want to thank the Saltire Foundation for this fantastic experience and I cannot wait to become an ambassador for the programme when I return because I truly believe in the whole ethos behind the Saltire Foundation!!!

Thanks everyone for this amazing opportunity.

Pictures

Hi Everyone,

Hope all is well with your palcements. I have added a little photo album, full of all my fav pics from here. Some are really beautiful.

Hope all is well back home!

Week 6

Ahhh well at the moment I am writing this in the middle of the biggest storm I have ever seen! I love it here, I am having the most amazing experience ever imaginable and I cannot thank the Saltire Foundation enough! I have never experienced anything like it. I have adapted to a completely different culture and climate. I have learned how to communicate with locals and guests clearly (my accent seems to be a problem - especially with Americans for some reason!), and I have enjoyed the local cuisine (except turtle, I can't bring myself to eat after swimming with them!).

Last Friday Tom gave me the day off to go on the Stingray City trip. Oh my! I have never experienced anything like it. First stop on the trip is a snorkel site called the reef, which was just AMAZING. I have never seen so many different shapes, sizes, colours of fish!! My only regret is not having an underwater camera with me! Then we went on to Stingray City. I have never been in the water with any creature so huge! At first I was terrified and there was a LOT of squeeling but I did eventually hold and even KISS a stingray! It took me a good half hour of being in the water before I even got to that point!

I love my role here at theReef. I have the autonomy to work on my own and get the job done at my own pace. It has taught me about my self management, especially time management. This week I have been working with designers to design some marks (that is a logo to me and you, but mark is the marketing term so I learned from our designer in Florida!). I emailed him my ideas for the marks and when I got them back today they looked excellent. We created one to put next to our green policy and one for our new gym. This afternoon I made an in-house ad for the gym for our guests using our new mark and it looks great. I asked the front desk if they had more requests for the gym access since I put the ad up and they have! It just goes to show, my ads are working!! :)

Have been sharing Scottish traditions with everyone in the office today! We were talking about New Year’s and I said oh Hogmanay. Everyone looked at me as if I had three heads!! I explained the tradition of first footing your neighbour and then we got talking about haggis and ceilidh’s. Brian is coming to Scotland on an internship in August so I was giving him an idea of our sometimes forgotten traditions. It made me think about home, and about how we don’t really celebrate these traditions anymore which is sad because I love a good ceilidh J

Anyway must get back to work, only two weeks left!

Week 5 end :(

This has been an extremely busy week! The sudden realization that I am going home in 3 weeks kicked in towards the end of this week! I am beginning to see the results of everything and people are now beginning to get back to me on emails I sent at the beginning of the programme! There is a funny thing here on the island called Cayman Time, which means no-one can give you an answer immediately! It is the complete opposite from home, where everything is all go. It is cool though, everyone is chilled and stress doesn't really seem to exist here.

The green policy is coming together and we have tonnes of fab practices here in the resort which are green, but no-one knows about them! I would love to stay here longer and work on it in more detail but I am beginning to miss home, and can't wait to see my friends and family. I have looked into changing our take out boxes and cups into something more environmentally friendly than Styrofoam and discovered an amazing range of Eco-friendly take out stuff made from bamboo and corn. It is strange the cups are made from corn but look and feel like plastic. They are very popular on the island already! The take out boxes are made from bamboo which feels like a thick, heavy duty cardboard. It is all really strange but good for the environment! :) Now I have to try and convince them to take it on board :)

Still having a great time here. I have the day off on Friday, and will be going snorkeling with the Stingrays. Can't wait!!!

Beginning of week 4!!

So at the end of this week I will be half way through my internship and I can't believe it! I feel like I have been here for a week. This has to be the most amazing opportunity I have ever been lucky enough to have. I have met loads of fantastic people, I have a great job and I get to do all this in the Caribbean.

I have been very busy the past few weeks and now I am beginning to see the results of my work here. One of my main jobs is to revise all communications with guests here and update them with new wording and company logo. At first I thought this should take a couple of weeks but it has proved to be an enormous task! There are loads of forms, menus, signs, letterheads, in-house ads. I have come up with a new format for our activities calender, started work on a new guest folder, and created an in-house ad for our guests advertising the opening of our new spa. I have also been busy creating a green policy for the resort.

But it has not been all work! I have met a really good group of friends here. I am going to start diving soon with my mate Laura. I spent the weekend at seven mile beach and rented the wave runners. I am going snorkeling with stingrays either this week or next and taking a trip to see the world famous blue iguanas! Tonight I am going to a beach party in Georgetown which will be fun and this weekend I will going to another party on the beach for Laura's birthday.

Week One

Well it is Tuesday morning here and I have already completed my first week! Time is flying by!

I have learned so much and tried loads of new things.

My first week was about getting to know the resort, and how everything operated so that meant spending a day at the front desk, a day with concierge and the most tiring was the day spent with housekeeping! For my 8 weeks here (or rather 7 that is left) I have been given a number of projects to work on. First is to make all in-house communications consistent with the new logo. I though that would be easy, but there is so many signs and pieces of paper with the old logo on it!! A bigger job than I first thought. Then I have to look at guest touch points and see if any improvements can be made there. I am also going to look at designing a key card holder for our guests here, with a map on it because there are 5 buildings which make up the resort. I am also going to be looking at guest information in the rooms and updating it. Then I am going to think of a few 'green rules' guests should follow while staying here in order to help us become more energy efficient and green : ) All of the projects are geared towards marketing communications which was my strong point at university this year, so I am really looking forward to getting into them.

The island is beautiful and because of the long weekend we had (Monday was a public holiday) I took the opportunity to get out and about with the car. On Saturday I was invited to a party where I met loads of people living at this end of the island. It was a great night! On Monday I went into town with one of the girls I met on Saturday and we went jet-skiing, that was amazing! I have never done it before. I have also been snorkeling here at the resort and I have talked into learning to scuba dive while I am here.

Anyway I should get on with some work, I have loads to do!

Made it!

Well I made it here, at last. The longest journey of my life!!

Stepped of the plane and the heat was immense!!

Met Brian at the airport (he works for the resort) and he showed me where to pick up my car. Along came the kia picanto left hand drive automatic! Never before have I driven an auto let alone being on the other side of the car. Brian led the way until we pulled over and I was on my own for the rest of the journey - good job it was just a straight road! Took an hour but the views were stunning all the way.

Unpacked and Brian called at half 8 asking me to go out into George Town, by this point I was extremely tired as I had been up for almost 24 straight! Was sad to miss out on the clubbing but I just needed some sleep!

Have the weekend to myself and glad to report that my tan is coming along nicely : )

Here is some pics:

Leaving Home

Well after a frantic week of preparing for my journey, the night before is finally here, and I have to say I am super scared :s but really excited at the same time. I am glad to be leaving this depressing weather (although I am likely to experience tropical storms out there!).

Had a night out with all my friends last night to say goodbye, which was sad, but then I remembered - I am going to be in the Cayman Islands for the summer!!!!! :D While they are stuck here! It made me realise how amazing this experience is really going to be!

Spoke to (Tom) the director of the resort today on the phone and he was really nice. He has arranged for someone to pick me up from the airport. We had a laugh on the phone talking about Scottish accents and how people can never understand us! He told me about all the projects he has in mind for me and it got me really excited about the whole trip.

Well thats enough for tonight, I have to be at the airport for 5am tomorrow!!!