As with all schools, associations, communities and families, EHL has its own language. We're not talking about the national language on campus, we're talking about a special vocabualary only acquired and understood by other insiders. For EHL students, using this specific language is part of everyday life but for other people including those just starting their career at EHL, some acronyms and names might ring no bell at all.
If you have been looking through the website or if you have already applied to our Hospitality Management degree program, you have for sure come across these words and phrases. Let’s see what each of them means, helping you get a head start on your journey through EHL. Learning this vocabulary quickly will surely make your first semester much easier to navigate, and you'll feel part of the family in no time!
I’m sure you’ve heard about this Introweek. As the names says it, it is a whole introduction week for AP students before they officially start the semester. During this week, they get the chance to know the campus better, get into the EHL spirit, meet hundreds of new people and creating fantastic memories.
This acronym is probably the one you’ve heard the most. It stands for Année Préparatoire, (Peparatory Year in French). This year is the first one of your EHL journey. For a whole year, you’ll be surrounded by the hospitality world, 6 months on campus discovering all the departments and 6 months off campus, during an internship in whichever part of the world you want.
You’ve probably heard this one as well as it stands for Bachelor of Science, the program you’ll follow at EHL after your AP year. The program lasts three years and includes a second internship of 6 months during the second year. Throughout these 3 years, you’ll have the most amazing time as BOSC student, growing through hospitality, taking part of the school life and learning about the EHL family.
If you’ve been scrolling through the Bachelor program, you’ve seen this acronym too. It is the Student Business Project. At EHL, for the final project, you have the choice between the thesis and the SBP. The latter is a group project during which you, with five other students, are confronted to the reality of a company’s project that they assigned to you. It is an amazing opportunity and fun way to conclude your studies!
One of the things that makes EHL stand out compared to all the other universities is the Alumni network. Did you know that it is one of the biggest hospitality networks with 25.000 alumni in 150 countries? Doesn’t this make you want to integrate the EHL family? It gives you a great sense of pride to know you’ll be part of it for the rest of your life!
EHL students are lucky enough to have a gastronomic restaurant on campus, the Berceau des Sens. This restaurant is taken care of by AP students both service and kitchen. It is a great experience for everyone: AP students learn a lot and have such a great time and other students simply enjoy a wonderful breakfast, lunch or dinner at a high-end restaurant. EHL students often go there to celebrate birthdays, end of exams or simply have a different night out with friends.
On the Lausanne campus, we have many food outlets: bars, cocktail bar, food court, and our newest addition the bistro-style restaurant called Brasserie1893, both open for lunch and dinner… Everyday we have the possibility to choose between a variety of food and drinks: coffees, smoothies and milkshakes, food types from all around the world: Mediterranean, Asiatic, English, Greek, Thai… we even have a Wellness cuisine that is gluten and lactose free.
The food outlets mentioned in this section all opened in the last few years. The Grab&Go, as its name says it, you can grab something to eat on the go. EHL students often use it before going home at the end of the day or before catching a train for a weekend getaway. They grab a sandwich or salad, fruits, coffee, and dessert and hop on the train. The Corner is a new concept where you can eat while enjoying a beautiful view of the Alps! Here, the menu changes every two weeks: it transforms into mozzarella bar, has poke bowls, dim sum… and even offers waffles and ice cream for a study break in the afternoon. The lastest addition is Brasserie1893 which opened this year in order to help teach bistronomy, offers light, contemporary bistro-style gastronomoy. The menu is developed by head chef Michel de Matteis and head pastry chef Julien Boutonnet with a shared desire to serve guests quality bistro-style cuisine using mainly local, seasonal produce.
You must have heard of the Fête Finale! This event happens twice a year and celebrates the graduation of final year students. This party is really special to all students. Around mid-semester, the Fête Finale committee releases the theme of the party (some of the last were le Cirque de Paris, Versailles, Ancient Greece…). Everything transforms and brings you right into the chosen era for a whole night! It includes tables, decorations, menu, music, costumes… This party firstly has a dinner and it is followed by an after-party, in which students dance their night away in their special environment with their friends.
Ok, maybe you haven’t heard this one (yet). But if you are on campus especially around exam season, well, you can’t miss it! It is a toast, usually with a drink in hand from the campus bar, that resonates all around the school as each group of students counts down the number of exams they have left. As you hear one, another one automatically generates and you can find a nice chilling atmosphere at the end of the day.
Along with the 5 main core values of EHL (excellence, family, respect, learning, and innovation), this is one thing common to all EHL students. A campus full of different cultures, backgrounds, personalities, visions, goals and so much more. Not only the students but the staff also contribute to this spirit by developing new programs to reinforce EHL’s position as a leading hospitality school. Does “work hard, play hard” ring any bell? Well, it is also part of the EHL spirit that students embrace daily with their active extracurricular participaction and social lives. EHL spirit is what makes EHL more than just a university, it is a school of life, giving you memories that last a lifetime.