Making everyday a beach day was the goal! 5 degrees hotter than the day before and I was loving every second of it, who wouldn’t? I was driving distance from the beaches and I was eating like a barbaric! Everyday I woke up with a new set of plans on my agenda, even if the first, last and everything in-between were the same I was at the beach having fun and a different beach every time at that. Here is a view from the car on looking the sand and the sun beaming off of the water edge. What a site!

At the beach we ran into this little guy who was caught in a neighbors back yard during the wee hours of the morning. We brought him to beach to cool off with us. Turns out the little guy I had been referring to was a rather pregnant female who was physically heavy. Despite her condition she was quite the climber to get away from all of the photographers inching to take her picture.

Here we were at a convention that had to do with the sustainability of the island and introducing ways to better support the beautiful island we were visiting. They also had recipients from the local schools there to educate them on saving water, promoting healthy flows of water and engineering techniques soon set in place to aid in current businesses. Little did I know I would end up on the newspaper looking on as an interesting convention with my family in tote. What an amazing day to be out in the sun and learning new things along the way. Hey ! did I mention the fact that I won a water bottle participating in one of the several engaging activities they had going on.

Unfortunately night was falling upon us and it was time to return home from a fun day at Hotel on the Key Resort. I had a splendid time here swimming in the water, catching land crabs and setting my land crab to compete with those of my cousin’s and fellow goers of the beach. Ultimately basking in the sun with sand between my toes and even in my hair, I was at peace with my surrounding and taking it all in. This is real

Every time I visit St. Croix my family and I always make a trip to a hotel located in town that is set on the beach and features a restaurant area that serves delicious food and offers shows at night. To get to the hotel you take a boat from the pier that goes from one end of the island to the next, I cant remember the fee at this given moment but the ride is inexpensive about 2 dollars for adults and I believe free for children under a certain age. The operating vessel controlee is quite the charm, he engages with the passengers and tends to make the ride smooth and delightful from point A to point B. Once you have a arrived there is beautiful white sand surrounding your every step and landing rocks guiding you to the restaurant and/or hotel. Watch out for the land crabs! Although I never gotten the chance to visit the hotel in its entirety, from the outside visual the hotel looks pretty nice with a clean cut and being that it sits right alongside the beach makes everything seem PERFECT!

What a breeze, well deserved after a hot day in the sun. The rustling of the palm trees was music to my ears. It meant that night was setting in and the nights equal a cooler atmosphere. The night settling in also meant dinner time was slowly approaching. A evening at home with family was an ideal way to end the day. On the ride back I surely passed out cold, wasn’t a shocker.

AHHHHHH ! the best part of it all the food! I can say that being on vacation reminds me of the reason I work and go to school, I definitely forget to eat or tend not to eat as much as I do while on vacation, there is just not a se amount of hours in the day to sit back and relax with a bottle of wine and a great steak. I indulge in everything outside of NY while I am outside of NY, why not? Here we have saltfish, with a fresh and warm slice of bread from the local bakery, pear as we know it here in the islands and avocado in the states and also fungi and cooked spinach.

My passion in hospitality has to be traveling. Despite the fact that I am prone to motion sickness, traveling is something I enjoy doing, something that allows me to break out of my inner shell and leave the nosey city life behind. When the dreadful flight or car ride is done and dealt with I feel as though I am a new person free of my worries from home, school and work. I tend to leave everything behind and focus on the beautiful sky in front of me, the beautiful people that look at me willing to guide me to my bags or help me explore the city. Traveling has been something I have done since I was a new born, of course with my parents. Being that my family is from many islands in the Caribbean I had the opportunity of becoming familiar with many islands out there and the different cultures, food and hospitality lifestyles embedded in each area. I also participated in many well known activities out there, for instance my trip to Ochos Rios, Jamaica allowed me to climb the famous Dunns River Falls with my family and create memories and stir up quite a few laughs.

As a City Tech student I was given the opportunity to join the National Leadership Society and expand on my developmental path. Many students from different majors, ethnicities and educational backgrounds are apart of this group. This weekend I was selected to be apart of a group of students and it so happened to be that a fellow hospitality student is apart of my group. She is well spoken and gave a great deal of advice for the hospitality industry and for life itself. I initially entered the society as a way to meet new people and build my confidence in myself to speak up more and voice my opinions. Networking is all around us whether it be on a commute home, in your neighborhood or even in your school . You may never know who is behind you or in front, or directly right beside you.

What drives people to want to become apart of the hospitality industry? is it the pleasure of helping someone , is it the adrenaline to cook , to be out there in the world making a difference, For me it is about building on my weaknesses and perfecting my strengths. To me communicating is key, being able to converse with others and get their opinion on a topic. Being able to engage in hospitality at its finest is what brings me here and I will continue to prosper.

In class tonight we were able to expand on our career goals by making broader decisions about them. I enjoyed this piece in the class because although everyone had their very own ideas the class was more than willing to relay a few ideas here and there to assist others. My passion is not necessarily in the hotel industry but I am interested in food and everything that comes along with it. My passion is to travel around the world and experience quality foods from different areas without the high market prices. My idea stemmed off of being able to travel and still enjoy the best of local foods around town, most likely through food carts and side owned family businesses. Another suggestion made was to compare the food I ate out of the country and try and locate places here in NY that serves a similar product around the same price. Being able to expand on my ideas is my main goal.

Hi there, my name is Shania Benjamin and I am a current scholar at New York City College of Technology here in Brooklyn, NY. I am in my third year here and studying in the Hospitality Management field. The Hospitality atmosphere here is something you cannot find anywhere else, here I am able to take on different focuses ranging from being a Culinary Arts class to sitting down in a classroom with fellow scholars learning about the distilled wine and tasting wine from different regions and building my palate of taste. Although at this moment I am uncertain of what I plan to do as an ultimate goal here in the hospitality program I do want to share with you my passion of traveling and being able to experience different cultures of the world and the pictures I’ve taken outside of New York. Helping people was always a quality trait of mine and for that reason I am pursuing the educational background as a hospitality management student. My passion for learning and being able to apply my knowledge outside the classroom is what drives me to take on different opportunities in my field and maybe the reason why I haven’t chosen a specific focus. All in all I am excited to see what this semester has in store for me.