Greetings to everyone!!

My name is Leandros Pembos and I am from the beautiful country of Greece. I was born and raised in the capital city of Greece, Athens. Athens is such a wonderful place to live!! In Athens, a visitor can enjoy amazing local dishes, in restaurants called “tavernas”. On the other hand, the options and the range of entertainment facilities is huge, like access to vibrant restaurants and night clubs offering an experience worth mentioning by every tourist. The historic downtown of Athens is the most touristic destination here and the first place that everyone arranges to visit. Acropolis, Sydagma square, and all the small roads near the hill of Acropolis are fully occupied by tourists who have come to see this magnificent ancient temple. It is truly amazing for everyone to see all this ancient statues and the ancient architecture and design.

Some views of Acropolis, Sudagma Square and a city views of Athens

At the age of seventeen, I decided to join the IB diploma program (International Baccalaureat) and finish the last two classes of high school with extra knowledge and a competitive advantage for applying to foreign universities. My decision was to follow a business and management path of studies in University so I took several subjects related like Business and Management, Economics etc. This decision was important for my academic career. I improved my English language skills to the maximum point and also my business and management knowledge. Now the “story” begins, one day the educational counselor of Les Roches here in Greece came to my school, the reason was a brief session about the hospitality industry and the school. The session structure was individual interviews with every interested student. I decided to join the session and we had a very nice conversation about my future aspirations and also what Les Roches and the industry are capable of offering. I spoke with my family and they mentioned to me that a very good and close friend graduated from Les Roches and now owns a hotel on Mykonos Island. We arranged a meeting to talk about everything and the final part of the discussion was to offer me a volunteer job as a trainee host in his 5 star hotel restaurant Myconian Ambassador Hotel during the summer period. During that 2 month internship I developed higher interpersonal skills, increased my communication skills and most importantly, my team work skills. After that challenging experience I was mature enough to take a decision and develop my hospitality knowledge later in Les Roches International School of Hotel Management.

View of the restaurant and the pool of the Myconian Ambassador hotel that I was working as a host.

The senior year of International Baccalaureat was really difficult, a lot of assignments, tests and mostly a lot of stress. One year that everyone waits for summer to come and replace the hard work during the winter. I have to say that I was one of them…

The summer finally came and everyone had to decide what they are going to do now. I decided to spend one month on vacation around the beautiful Greek islands in order to relax and the rest of the summer to work in order to increase my hospitality knowledge. The only destination that came to my mind again was the island of Mykonos, a major touristic destination which attracts people from all around the globe.

View of the restaurant /bar that I was working as a waiter.

This time I found work as a waiter in Tropicana beach bar. Tropicana was voted the best beach bar in Europe and one of the most famous around the globe so I thought that would be a good experience for my resume. The experience was amazing, I met people from all around the globe and increased my service techniques knowledge. Additionally, I had the opportunity to collaborate with employees from several parts of Europe.

Tropicana beach bar

During this period, I had the ability to work in a fast service environment serving around 500 people over the day. I have to say that it was difficult but really beneficial to understand the hard working and motivation part that the hospitality industry wants.

Part of Mykonos city (chora)

All the experiences described above have helped me to decide the industry that I want to work for, they affect me in a beneficial way to develop several new abilities, put a goal in my career life which is to succeed and become a successful general manager of a hotel after years and finally to join the BBA/Hotel Management program of Les Roches International School of Hotel Management.

I can’t wait to join the school in January and with the support of my family I am ready to succeed and face the demands of the school. I am sure that’s it is going to be a memorable experience for my entire life both for my career but also as a person. Can’t wait to meet all you guys!! Hope you are having fun and see you soon all on campus.

Summer pictures of me in Greek islands

Leandros Pembos