‘Five years ago, I moved from America to Germany for love. I love it here, although I do miss my family of course. But luckily, I have a very nice in-law family. They give me so much love, that it makes it easier to be far away from home. When I came here, I didn't speak a word of German. That was very difficult at first, especially for finding a job.

Through a friend of my husband Andre, I heard they were looking for a receptionist at the hotel here. After I had an interview, I could – despite only speaking English – start quite quickly. I remember how nervous I was the first time I had to answer the phone in German. Even something as simple as saying “hello” was scary. But since then, I've learned a lot and have now grown to front office manager. I am very proud of that, and also proud that I can now make myself understood well in German, which makes me happy. I didn't take classes but learned the language here at the hotel by talking to guests and colleagues.

It's the little moments throughout the day that make my work special; just asking how someone is doing, or recognizing a regular guest. I love that personal connection and really consider myself a people person. In addition, I enjoy the atmosphere in the hotel. As soon as I walk into the lobby, I think: this is my living room. I regularly tell my colleagues: “You feel like family.” That's not because we see each other almost every day, but just because it feels so familiar. I am perfectly at home in Germany and at the hotel.’

‘At the moment, I am in secondary hotel school. After participating in a few practical days as a front office employee, I realized that I really enjoyed it. I wanted to know more about it, so I started looking around in my area. I saw that there was a vacancy at Hotel Leusden as a front office employee. I thought: well, then I'll go over there to introduce myself. That went well, and not much later I could start working. I really enjoyed the work, and it was easy to combine with school. When I was looking for an internship, fortunately, I could also go here. In my case, it went a bit differently; I worked here first and then I did an internship here.

The social contact, helping guests, meeting new people every day, and having a chat with them really appeals to me. At the front office, guests see you first and you are essentially the hotel's business card. That suits me well because I'm really a social guy. Generally, I work from 3:00 PM to 11:00 PM. I find that shift the best, because before that I can nicely do my own things, like working on school or exercising.

After secondary hotel school, I'm not sure yet what I want, I'm still undecided between the higher hotel school in Maastricht or the police academy. I would find both cool. They seem like two very different courses, but there are certainly similarities: social contact, helping people, and no day being the same. After the summer I will take a gap year and go to Spain for a few months to travel around, enjoy the weather, and think carefully about what I want to do eventually.’