Summer 2015 NACUFS Internship!: New State, New Friends, New Hampshire

Live Free or Die - indeed

Hey y'all, I'm Katelyn from the University of Texas (hook 'em) interning at the University of New Hampshire for eight weeks! I am now one week in and already have so many experiences to share with my fellow NACUFSians.
But first, I'd like to say that I'm now a senior dietetics major, born and raised in Dallas, and attending university in Austin. Now that you are aware of these facts, its safe to say that these last several days in the northeast have been a bit of a culture shock - namely the no guarantee of air conditioning and the glaring lack of authentic Mexican food. However, after almost a week, I feel like I'm finally starting to find my niche up here in Durham, and it involves a lot of ice cream.

The Work Stuff

After moving in to my cozy apartment near the woods, receiving a tour, and meeting my wonderful campus dining services team composed of Dahlia, Richard, and Kathy on Tuesday, I officially began my internship on Wednesday the 27th. My first week, as well as this coming week have been spent in the Union Court in the campus's Union Memorial Building which houses five different dining concepts. Of the five concepts, two were open during my first week - the Artisan sandwich counter and the made to order salad station called Creative Greens. I learned how to assemble different recipes on each of these menus, where ingredients are stored, and what prep is needed from day to day before the shift begins.

Practicing sandwich assembly

My first project for this dining facility was to create a new manual for Artisan that gives an accurate, visual representation of the assembly of each sandwich on the menu. On Thursday, I spent a few hours taking photos of every sandwich as every individual ingredient was added on. Proper measuring tools were used to add vegetables and meats/cheeses were weighed as they were added to ensure that the final product is true to the recipe. Then I spent most of the day on Friday taking those photos and assembling them into word documents with captions under every photo explaining what ingredient and what measuring tool should be used when building the sandwich. The finalized instruction sheets will be printed, laminated, and assembled into a binder and used for training and reference.

We weighed the assembled sandwiches to aid in standardization of the recipes

I was also fortunate enough to meet the campus's on staff dietitian who is a key player in recipe creation, review, and nutrient analysis. She gave me an overview of the FoodPro system which I will learn much more about in coming weeks. In this area, there is a widely used system called Guiding Stars. It is an organization that reviews recipes and individual ingredients and rates them on a scale of one to three stars based on nutrition content. Products that are high in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and whole grain, and lower in saturated fat, sodium, sugar, etc are given more stars. In the dining halls on campus, the Guiding Stars data and nutrition content of most of the food available is displayed on a card in front of the individual items. It provides students with a quick and concise way of assessing the nutritional value of the foods they choose to eat.
All in all it has been a jam packed first three days. We definitely hit the ground running and I'm pumped up for week two and my second week in the Union Court!

The Play Stuff

Even though I fit a lot of internship related stuff into my first week, I've still been able to experience a fair amount of what the seacoast has to offer. On Saturday I went for a run around this beautiful campus. The forested, nature filled New Hampshire scenery is a stark contrast of the high-rise filled skyline of Austin, TX. I believe everyone that I've been in a car with over the last few days has grown tired of my repeated "there's so many trees!" mantra. New Hampshire is beautiful, and I was lucky enough to have the perfect weather to enjoy my first Saturday here.

A few of the girls I work with at the Union Court and I went up to Portsmouth; a town on the bay that contains a vibrant night life. We checked out a few of the more popular bars that had patios to enjoy the warm weather. We also ate at a Mexican cantina right on the water. I have mixed reviews about their food - but that's my southern bias kicking in. I definitely enjoyed myself and my first meal off campus! I couldn't have asked for a more perfect first weekend up here!

I had my first dairy bar experience within an hour of arriving at UNH and it was incredible. In reference to the intro, I've had ice cream everyday that I've been here making those morning jogs around campus all the more necessary! I've had most of my meals at Philbrook hall - a buffet style dining facility that includes a jam packed salad bar that I tend to stick to for dinner. I haven't had a single item at this dining hall that I didn't enjoy! The dairy bar also has some fantastic sandwiches on top of their unbeatable sweet treats.

Gifford's famous ice cream aka the reason why I
feel the need to eat salads for every meal =)

I'm already planning on a hike up Mt. Major, Fourth of July weekend in NYC, and a day trip to Boston which must include a visit to Fenway (I may be a Texas girl but my family is from Boston so go Red Sox, Pats, and Bruins)!