And I on behalf of everyone here extend the warmest congratulations to us all on this winter's day.
HAPPY GRADUATION GUYS!! 16th December is finally here.

Looking back at the months gone by, I see that there have been feelings of excitement and disagreement, emotions of sadness and joy, reactions of disappointments and shock. However each day has been lived by us in a strive to attain that ultimate happiness and build on that distant hope.

Being here, in Luzern, at IMI, even a mere six months have proven to be a lifetime experience which some might want to forget while others can't. But even then I can say one thing for sure that if there times are looked back on in the future, a smile is for sure to emerge.
It has to be said that don't most of us here have more than a six month experience here. And in this period we have seen IMI change to great fold and we have changed and grown with it. We have developed our identity around the forte of its environment. We have lost and gained a lot, from relationships to knowledge to the sizes of our waists.

Some things don't change here, such a memories and anecdotes that carry on from semester to semester. This semester we had a hilariously memorable performance by Angel and Yoda teaching us the recipe of papaya salad at international night Or Jove walking around a telephone in an attempt to impart some knowledge about Copper...was it?

We have had achievements too, like our marathon runners led by Mrs.Bruelhmann were part of the Luzern Marathon this year. And even more, IMI had its first girl's football team and we only let the guy make one goal...or was it two? Doesn't matter!!

One thing that would never change and has become a tradition here is throwing the birthday girl or boy into the IMI fountain, especially during the winter months. When Kash was made the victim of this tradition, I was thankful to have been born in July.

No success or achievement can fully be attributed to that one person alone, for it's the hands and minds of many around us due to which we reach our level of contentment. It is them who we take for granted most often but always require as a constant support on a conscious or an unconscious level.

So in this moment I take the opportunity to thank all those individuals, for bringing us till this day. Our mentors and our lectures, who have dealt with our idiosyncrasies with a smile. The management for giving us all we have.

I would like to make a special mention and say the biggest thank you to the following persons without whom IMI and our lives on campus wouldn't run ahead. Our housekeeping ladies, who clean more than just the dirt and dust. Miro, our super duper handy man, thank god he didn't have to shovel too much snow today. Mira and Mrs.Burrie, for being who they are. Salvan who is most wanted during lunch hours.
And last but never ever the least Ms. Eva.Perrot, the first and last person we see when walk through the IMI doors. Danke vielmal for accepting us students, as we are.

On a personal note, I want to say Thank you, Spasibo, Muchas gracias, Terima kasih, Shukriya to my dear friends who are my family here, and for whom I became Maa. My sister, who raises my bar of achievement and is an inspiration, My grandmother and Acho for always giving me their blessings.

My heartfelt and soulful gratitude to two individuals without whom I wouldn't exist and be who I am. I fail to find the words to express my feeling truly. Thus I keep it simple and say Thank you Maa and Bapi for being my Maa and Bapi and my everything.

Life is actually better than where you are standing right now. Just grab it and keep going forward. Its true, we always face obstacles and hurdles in the moments where the feelings of giving up creeps in, but we have to realise while pushing that feeling aside that life was really meant to be lived and that too lived in a way which not only brings happiness to us alone but also the people around us. And that is when we would stand in a life that better and it will get beautiful eventually.

I hope and some where deep down I know if we all are to meet for a reunion in the decades to come, each of us will have brilliant stories of success to tell.

I wish each one of you immense immense Good luck and all the very best.

I end here with the words of William Shakespeare, who said the three sentences of getting success,
" To know more than the other, to work more than the other but to expect less than the other."

Complete Speech by Matthew:

Good afternoon, fellow graduates, teachers, friends, and guests.

I have a thousand emotions crowd in mind, so I do not think I can express my feelings of being a graduate very well.

It is a great honour for me to be here today. I know it is such a cliché, you are thinking every graduation speaker here says that it was a great honour, but in my case, it is really so deeply true.

I will tell you why. 3 years ago, when I came here first, I barely spoke English. Every class and social life of here was all made by English, thus if I wanted to survive, I had to learn more English. It was really tough to understand Mr.Caldwell's beautiful British accent as well as Mrs. Bruhlmann's beautiful American accent. And assignments, I got 25 marks from my first assay in IMI, it was from Mr. Frapin. And group works; I could not say anything during the group meeting in my first year of IMI, because I could not understand what they were saying. So I was just sitting down on the chair, and try to pretend to understand everything. I hope they might not notice my acting. But day by day, year by year, I was improved, and I had more passion to study. Therefore I have been through all difficulties; finally I am here to speak about my graduation, and our graduation. So, like I said, it is really a great honour.

I am not going to say really long for this speech. Frankly, I am not sure what I have to say even now. I have been thinking that what I should say for the graduation speech, what I have done and what I have still remembered. There were so many memories and experience of being at IMI. There were sports day which we have competed each other with fair play or not, international night which we have shared our culture, project week, every class, group works and so on. And sustainability, our theme of this semester, was also quite special for me. It is not just only about our tourism final paper; also it is nowadays current trend. We might have heard about sustainability in our life, every day and every time. But almost no one could feel that it was really important. It is now become our industry's trend where we have to be, thus without being noticed this concept, I am sure we are going to be failed. IMI was trying to teach this fact by semester theme. Through this, we all have realised importance of sustainability.

Well, I am feeling like this speech is just going to be quite boring. Then I will start what I really wanted to say.

Today, we finally got time for stepping forward. It is just beginning of our life. And I am really sure; we can be the best in everywhere. We can be more like Bill gates, Elbert Einstein, or J.W Marriott. They are all same as us. They put trousers on same way, had a girlfriend, say goodbye to them, struggling with group working, and assignments, just like we did right?
For this graduation, Firstly, I would like to thank especially our teachers. Mr. Caldwell, Mr. Frapin, Mr. Benetatos, Dr.V, Mrs. Bruhlmann, Mr. Ritzel, Mr. Currie, Chef. Leonard, Frau Huttmann, Bammert , and... my dean Mrs. Ross...and other teachers who I did not mention. They have helped a lot for our academic life, and they have indicated right way for being grown up. Without them, we cannot be here to have graduation.

Secondly, I would like to also many thanks to my BA graduates. Well, I want to speak all you guys name, but if I do that, this speech will never finish. So I will not mention everyone's name. But we all already know, we thank each other, and rely on each other. Without you guys, I could not finish my study and I could not do everything. You, Singaporeans, Chinese, Malaysians, Rumanian, Mexican, Koreans, Lebanese, Canadian, and Dutch, all BA, you are the best.

And lastly, probably, I will never have a chance to say this. My parents who are sitting over there, it is really hard to say that I love you as a Korean man. But today is special day, and they were supporting me unconditionally, and making scarifies. So I have to say that I love you mom and dad, and my little sister.

I have to finish my speech with my IMI life. I do not think it is end of our relationship. As long as people want to travel, we are going to be there. Promise me one thing. Later, if we meet again, we have to have a drink, and talk about our IMI life with big smile and laugh. Once, you were in IMI, and then you are my friends and brothers and sisters. Now time to move on another reality. See you later. Thank you.