Boy, is my head spinning! Yesterday I started orientation for culinary school. This was an interesting experience, because the majority of the orientation events are designed for new Freshman, and the folks in my program (GYD) already have a bachelor's degree.
Yesterday was a lot of hurry up and wait. I began the day (after a lousy night's sleep) by arriving at motor vehicles at 7:15 to renew the tags on my car, one of those adult tasks that's a pain in the you know what that I've been putting off for six weeks. For those of my readers not in Colorado, here you get a 30 day grace period on your tag renewal. So, while mine were up at the end of August, I actually have till the end of September to renew them. Yeah. I figured I'd have little time once school starts, so off I went first thing yesterday. Then I headed off to campus. Stood for 45 minutes in line to check in, 'cause you know the line for end of the alphabet names that's never long anywhere else was the longest one at check in! Waited in line for 20 minutes to get my student id. Schlepped down to the student union to wait in line to get a parking pass. $225 and a parking pass later, took myself over to health services to find out about the hold that was supposedly cleared in July (which kind of was/kind of wasn't). I'm still not entirely sure what is going on with that, since the guy I talked to seemed kind of clueless. Back to the Financial Services building to get a bookstore voucher, and then over to the bookstore to get my uniform.
Talk about an odd experience. The uniform process felt vaguely army-like to me, in that once you were appropriately sized, someone walked you down the line of supplies and checked off your form as you were given: 3 chef coats, 2 pairs checked pants, 6 side towels, 4 aprons, and 2 hats. And shoes. I told Other Half last night that I kept expecting to get sent for a haircut! The folks in culinary get additional gear for front of the house classes, but BPA people get standard chef-wear. I did pick up an extra coat and pair of pants, though I think I'll get another pair of pants on Monday when I go to pick up the pairs that got hemmed. I really don't want to be worrying about laundry at night during the week. And, I think, another package of aprons and towels, and an extra hat. They recommend commuter students carry an extra shirt, hat, apron, towels and socks in their cars in case they forget. Sounds like a plan to me. The only thing we didn't get were neckerchiefs and slides because they were out of them. There will be ironing. In the afternoon, we had an orientation specifically for transfers and GYD students. That was incredibly helpful, as it answered a bunch of my questions. Chefs C. and P. are the advisors for the GYD students, and I've kind of made two friends already. M. and K. are also in BPA, and we'll all be in Bread Production together first rotation.
Today was a specific culinary orientation with all the students who'll be majoring in BPA and Culinary Arts. I felt very old. One girl sitting way in the back got called out by a chef for texting on her cell. People weren't paying attention, especially with regards to the uniform policies, and kept asking the same questions over and over again. Oy.
Nothing tomorrow. I get to go out for breakfast with Other Half and all the in-laws, and then the "girls" are buying, cleaning, and dividing up 4 bushels of green chiles. I won't be partaking in that fun. Instead, I'll be coming home and cleaning in the basement. I need to clear the area near the ironing board so that it's free of pet hair, and I need to deal with some older clothes that I'll never wear again to make room for my uniforms. I need to wash everything (coats, towels, aprons, socks, shirts, hats) and iron the coats and aprons. That's at least two loads of laundry in addition to the other regular laundry. Monday I'll do the same with my pants. I also get to watch/listen to my Patriots play the Chiefs tomorrow! Yay!! I've been so not invested in anything football this year. Maybe I just need a good game to get me in the mood.Wow, that was a long post! I'll try to update more now that things are getting interesting.
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