One Week Down...and so are the Decorations!

It's official!  I have successfully survived my first week of culinary school.  I would have thought that a sense of calm would have swept over me and I would have been doing back flips to have made it through the week (thankfully uncut, unburned, and unhurt...so far).  But it's really made me take a big GULP!  Yep, I am officially back in school, which comes with...homework.  A LOT of homework!  I would guess about...oh...3-4 hours a week per class...if I were being nice.  Times that by 3 classes and, well, there goes all my "free" time (as if I had any of that before!)  Now I have to find a way to change loads of laundry between reading chapters, somehow entertain my little one while sprucing up my resume, and cook dinner while writing out recipe cards for class.  Good thing I've got a good handle on the multi-tasking thing or I would have really pulled my hair out by now.  The good news is...it doesn't last forever...it's an incredible opportunity...and I better make the most out of it while I can.  So, now I'm going to shut up, suck it up, and constantly remind myself of the end goal I have in mind here.

On the actual class side of things, I'm pretty siked about how things are going so far.  With the things that I learned in only three days of class, it's pretty awesome to imagine how much I'm going to know at the end of all this.  I find myself reviewing things for class as I'm playing with my daughter...multi-tasking...see?  My husband thinks it's funny that I use her to help me study.  But, hey, every one year old needs to know the correct procedure for making a stock...right?

It has been quite a shock to me to see how many students in my class don't seem to want to be there.  Not all by any means, but there are a few in each one that appear as if they would rather watch paint dry than be in a kitchen.  I don't get it.  The school is not cheap, by ANY stretch of the imagination, and what else can you really do with a culinary degree but cook?  I'm not saying that I'm going to be running to class every day all bright eyed, eager, and smiley...but if you're not at least excited on your very first week...what are you here for?  Sure, getting out of class at midnight two nights a week is not the most ideal thing in the world, but hey...we're cooking...you should like what your doing...quit your whining and let's do it! 

Monday classes were out for MLK, and I got the chance to get in the kitchen with the director of the department and two other culinary students to cook for an open house.  From listening to the other students, those complainers in my classes aren't going to last long anyway, which is good for me.  It was nice to be in a kitchen with people who are enthusiastic about what they do.  That's what I'm here for!

On a completely different note, the Christmas decorations are finally down...well...most of them.  The only ones left are the ones in the spare bedrooms, which we never go in anyways, which makes it very easy to just pretend they just don't exist.  I'm sure I'll get them down eventually.  Perhaps by the time this quarter is over...or the next time we have overnight guests.  Which ever comes first!