first day of school, yo
i don't even know where to start, there's so much whirling around in my head right now. sunday night i had a mild freak-out based on the fact that i haven't really been in *school* for a while now (grad school doesn't count, since i knew exactly what to expect and it was 90% lab work anyway).
so i woke up too early and got to school too early, and wandered around the neighbourhood until it was an acceptable time. today was just orientation, which consisted of meeting all the chefs, the administrative staff and taking pictures, as well as receiving course manuals, uniforms, and knife kits.
the course manual is in a giant 2" binder, and i have 122 pages of recipes for the first module (of three) alone. it's kind of crazy how quickly it progresses - tomorrow i have a seminar in pastry techniques, and on wednesday we're making shortbreads and crusts. in three weeks i'm making a black forest cake (excited!).
the uniform is more or less what i expected. there's an embroidered chef's jacket, a short hat (not a tall one, those are reserved for actual chefs), hairnets (so sexy), an apron, and high-waisted, front-pleated, tapered-leg houndstooth pants. let me just say for the record that no one looks good in high-waisted, front-pleated, tapered-leg pants. they're like grandpa pants, but crunchier. they didn't quite have my size, and of course the sizing is european and therefore confusing, and i had to cut off 3" and hem them, but they fit well enough. my chef's jacket is a size zero, and the chefs who were handing out uniforms kept saying "il n'y a pas de zero" which was not very reassuring. they eventually found the zero box and all is well.
my knife kit literally weighs about 25-30 pounds, and it's so expensive that i'm going to cart it with me to classes, rather than leave it in the locker. i own several spatulas (spatulae?), too many knives to count, pastry bags and tips, a turkey fork, and a giant meat cleaver. i also had to buy some extra things, like a decorating comb for cakes, some extra wooden spoons, and a whisk the size of my head that cost $50. included in the kit was an electronic scale, so good thing i didn't buy one when i first got here.
there were about 30 people in orientation, roughly split between cuisine and pastry. seems like pastry is largely populated by girls, which is okay by me as long as we don't get catty. most of the people are quite young (under 35, maybe even 30) and seem nice enough. the girl sitting next to me is a chartered accountant, so i figure i should be okay. there are a lot of cliquey international students, and one girl from hong kong who kept following me around everywhere. there are people from all over the world, but the americans outnumber canadians, which is unfortunate. i did, however, score a lift home with one of the americans, so maybe all is not lost.
classes run two days a week, 6 hours a day (split between a demonstration by the chef, and us repeating the recipe), plus some extra hours in prep or production kitchens. you have to help chefs in the upper level courses (basically being a kitchen bitch) which is cool because you get a preview of the next course. also, you get to work in the production kitchen, cooking meals for the 20 or so staff, and dealing with the shipping/receiving/ordering of materials for the restaurant attached to the school. all of this is, of course, unpaid. but would be such good experience. the school will also arrange two unpaid internships for you, wherever you want (provided that the place you want has space for you and wants you).
so yeah. things are pretty good. i'm excited and nervous for the next couple of weeks, which will definitely be an adjustment. i'll be busy, but good busy.
my only worry is money, since all the good experience is unpaid. which was highlighted today when i was purchasing aformentioned $50 whisk, and the guy in line behind me called his dad on his cell phone to get him to provide his VISA information. anyway, i've got the test prep job and hopefully some associated tutoring hours with it, but i'm going to have to get something else to avoid dipping into savings (or worse, going to the bank of mom and dad). i don't want anything too substantial because i want to leave my options open for as many internships as possible, so it'll likely be something academic. turns out ottawaU doesn't run summer chemistry courses (what's up with that?) but their exam period runs quite late this year so that's promising. or, maybe i'll be reduced to tutoring high school students until june. i suppose things could be much worse. academic whoredom, here i come!
so i woke up too early and got to school too early, and wandered around the neighbourhood until it was an acceptable time. today was just orientation, which consisted of meeting all the chefs, the administrative staff and taking pictures, as well as receiving course manuals, uniforms, and knife kits.
the course manual is in a giant 2" binder, and i have 122 pages of recipes for the first module (of three) alone. it's kind of crazy how quickly it progresses - tomorrow i have a seminar in pastry techniques, and on wednesday we're making shortbreads and crusts. in three weeks i'm making a black forest cake (excited!).
the uniform is more or less what i expected. there's an embroidered chef's jacket, a short hat (not a tall one, those are reserved for actual chefs), hairnets (so sexy), an apron, and high-waisted, front-pleated, tapered-leg houndstooth pants. let me just say for the record that no one looks good in high-waisted, front-pleated, tapered-leg pants. they're like grandpa pants, but crunchier. they didn't quite have my size, and of course the sizing is european and therefore confusing, and i had to cut off 3" and hem them, but they fit well enough. my chef's jacket is a size zero, and the chefs who were handing out uniforms kept saying "il n'y a pas de zero" which was not very reassuring. they eventually found the zero box and all is well.
my knife kit literally weighs about 25-30 pounds, and it's so expensive that i'm going to cart it with me to classes, rather than leave it in the locker. i own several spatulas (spatulae?), too many knives to count, pastry bags and tips, a turkey fork, and a giant meat cleaver. i also had to buy some extra things, like a decorating comb for cakes, some extra wooden spoons, and a whisk the size of my head that cost $50. included in the kit was an electronic scale, so good thing i didn't buy one when i first got here.
there were about 30 people in orientation, roughly split between cuisine and pastry. seems like pastry is largely populated by girls, which is okay by me as long as we don't get catty. most of the people are quite young (under 35, maybe even 30) and seem nice enough. the girl sitting next to me is a chartered accountant, so i figure i should be okay. there are a lot of cliquey international students, and one girl from hong kong who kept following me around everywhere. there are people from all over the world, but the americans outnumber canadians, which is unfortunate. i did, however, score a lift home with one of the americans, so maybe all is not lost.
classes run two days a week, 6 hours a day (split between a demonstration by the chef, and us repeating the recipe), plus some extra hours in prep or production kitchens. you have to help chefs in the upper level courses (basically being a kitchen bitch) which is cool because you get a preview of the next course. also, you get to work in the production kitchen, cooking meals for the 20 or so staff, and dealing with the shipping/receiving/ordering of materials for the restaurant attached to the school. all of this is, of course, unpaid. but would be such good experience. the school will also arrange two unpaid internships for you, wherever you want (provided that the place you want has space for you and wants you).
so yeah. things are pretty good. i'm excited and nervous for the next couple of weeks, which will definitely be an adjustment. i'll be busy, but good busy.
my only worry is money, since all the good experience is unpaid. which was highlighted today when i was purchasing aformentioned $50 whisk, and the guy in line behind me called his dad on his cell phone to get him to provide his VISA information. anyway, i've got the test prep job and hopefully some associated tutoring hours with it, but i'm going to have to get something else to avoid dipping into savings (or worse, going to the bank of mom and dad). i don't want anything too substantial because i want to leave my options open for as many internships as possible, so it'll likely be something academic. turns out ottawaU doesn't run summer chemistry courses (what's up with that?) but their exam period runs quite late this year so that's promising. or, maybe i'll be reduced to tutoring high school students until june. i suppose things could be much worse. academic whoredom, here i come!