Week One (5/20-22)

…well, it was really more like Week 0.5. I drove ten hours up from Oklahoma on Wednesday morning and arrived at UNI around 3 pm (yes, you did your math correctly, I left at 5 am). I stopped in Bethany, Iowa at this unassuming Mexican restaurant (Mi Mexicana) around noon to fuel up for the home stretch. The first thing they put on my table was a bowl of refried beans to dip chips in. Judging by this and the presence of a healthy choices section on the menu (which included vegetarian enchiladas!), I deduced that I'd crashed my car on the way to Iowa and was in heaven. Fortunately (or not, depending on your relationship with refried beans), this was not the case, and I arrived safely at UNI.

Corn tortillas topped with a cheesy carrot puree and filled with peas, broccoli, shredded carrots, and beans. Lettuce with vinegar and sugar, rice, and black beans on the side. NOM.

The internship director, Lisa Krausman, had me sign some basic paperwork and helped me get the keys for my room, a spacious studio-style apartment in Panther Village, the residence hall closest to the dining offices (literally a 50 second walk between buildings). I spent the rest of the afternoon moving my stuff from my car to my new third floor residence (a lot of 50 second walks). I took the stairs because I'd been sitting for ten hours straight and really needed to reinvigorate my joints.

The next day (Thursday) was my first official day as an intern. I met with Lisa and Susan, one of the kitchen managers, and we went through an intern binder they made for me. Just as I suspected, I’m going to be doing a lot of exciting things: working the commissary/ bakery night shift, a catering rotation, recipe testing, food shows, and tours of other campuses to see if we can improve the facilities here at UNI. I got a tour of the building and was pretty excited when we got to the Piazza, one of the main dining locations on campus. Oklahoma State, my alma mater, does not have all-you-care-to-eat dining, so the whole system was totally new to me. You swipe your card at the door and then can just order whatever you want from one of a plethora of different concepts. You get one swipe per dining period, so as long as you stay in the dining hall, you have unmonitored, unlimited access to a plethora of provender. They are closed until June 1st, but when open, they have pizza, pasta, salad, comfort food, a grill, sandwiches, soups, and dessert/ fruit stations. They even have an automated beverage dispenser for chocolate AND vanilla Silk. They also have an allergy/ special meal section that caters specifically to those with allergies or a food limitation such as veganism.

Throughout this facility tour, I met a ton of people. Remembering names is a challenge I gladly accepted; we’ll see how that pans out. We walked over to the parking and payroll offices and handled those sorts of things and ate lunch at recipe testing. Foods included salmon burgers, white bean and turkey chili, orzo with salmon bits, and Bavarian cream with strawberries, so I left full. Susan gave me a campus tour, including the other dining locations on campus besides the Piazza. There are a few small food concepts on campus, but Maucker Union is the only one that will be open this summer. This facility is more like the food court in a mall.

For all that, my day still ended around 2:30. Since I had to wait a full day for my ID to be created and most of the dining facilities are closed until next week, Brad, the motor vehicle operator for the dining department, took me shopping for groceries courtesy of the Department of Residence (DOR) credit card. Thank goodness, too. I could not have survived another night without some peanut butter. I went running at the Cedar Falls Industrial Park afterwards and even made use of the workout racks along the trail for some pullups! I was exhausted after my long day and hit the sack pretty early.

Lisa gave me a driving tour of Cedar Falls and Waterloo on Friday morning; everything is within a half hour or so of campus, which is stellar, and there are a TON of parks with trails and lakes to explore as well as museums and other urban sights and hot spots. I spent the rest of the workday in the main office of the DOR with Cathy Wylam for my “Computer Systems/ Technology” rotation. I learned all about how to make and edit meal plan programs, enter recipes into FoodPro, and about the scheduling software UNI has to track all student hours and ensure proper payment. I even made some student ID cards and set them up for meal plans (feeling professional, aw yeah). Cathy took me to lunch at the Barn House for a lovely rustic meal around noon. The building is a restaurant, antique mall, and Crackerbarrel-esque little shop all in one—very cute, very delicious. If you are in the area, you should visit! I didn't get any pictures today, so I'll try to remember to take some in the future.