Before starting my bachelor degree in hospitality at Glion, I didn’t know if I should choose a single room or a double room. Since I was used to living with other people, having a single room without knowing anyone on campus seemed like an absurd idea. So I chose the double room with an unknown roommate because it was my first time living outside my country and I didn’t know anyone. The Glion Student Affairs department gave me the name of the girl I would be with and that was the only thing I knew about her before we met. Do not get me wrong, single rooms are nice, but before you decide, consider my experience of what it feels to live with a roommate from a totally different culture.
My Roommate experience
In semester 1, I was paired up anonymously with a French girl and she has become one of my closest friends and has stayed my roommate for 3 semesters. To live with someone from a different culture is a good experience that gives you an open-minded way of thinking. Hospitality management is about working with people from different cultures and so being paired up with Fanny was a good introduction to this multicultural world for me. I adapted to this new environment and learned to consider other people differently. I ran into some different culture shocks but I loved experiencing this.
In my opinion, having a roommate opens our way of thinking and helps us think about the different things in life. I never thought that French people would be the way they really are due to the typical stereotypes that I knew. Although I can’t speak French fluently, having Fanny has helped me in learning French a bit better.
A roommate really helps, especially when you are feeling down or sick, because they live with you and if you are lucky they will take care of you. They also care about the same things in school and studying together can be fun especially for food and beverage class in semester 1. Although we were never in the same class, we shared notes. Another point: they push you to do your best and cheer you up when you are sad. In conclusion, having a roommate will also help induce the stress of being lonely. Lastly, all roommates are different and it depends on the person, but this was my experience of meeting my room’s other half. (1st photo: semester 1; 2nd photo: semester 4)
The Glion Experience
The first time I came to Glion, there were people from different countries and I learnt and experienced a lot of lessons from different cultures. In my batch (our semester group), there are more people from the same country compared to other batches, but everyone likes to socialize with people from different countries. This is what is special about Glion, there are so many different kinds of people in such a small community. Compared to big universities, it is unique that we are a such a close-knit community and we get to interact with other cultures.
