Monday (6/29)
Today began our second week of our
management rotation, but this week we switched it up a bit. Sarah and I are
stationed at Findlay for the week to shadow Steve, and Aimme and Leah will be
over at The Mix (at Pollock) to shadow Kevin. It’s nice to switch it up a bit
to see how things operate in a different location, but the only downside is
that our hours every day this week are from 4:30 AM– 1:30 PM. Pretty early,
right? To get there on time we have to leave no later than 4:15 AM, which is
way too early for my liking! But hey at least we’re done very early and have
the whole rest of the day to relax or nap. Findlay isn’t open to students
during the summer, so the only people who eat there are the people
participating in sports camps, other camps, or tours of campus. Therefore there
aren’t very many people, meaning that there’s not much to do. Sarah and I spent
a good chunk of the day wandering around and looking for stuff to do, but
there’s really not much to do at 4:30 in the morning! When lunch started, we
offered (pretty much begged, actually) to help serve food, and luckily we were
able to do that. It’s so much fun interacting with guests and quickly chatting
with them! Plus it makes the time go by faster. By 1:30 we were done for the
day and since it was a beautiful afternoon and we still had the whole afternoon
free, we took advantage of that by going over to the pool. It was $5 to get in,
but it was totally worth it (and we both got a tan!)
Tuesday (6/30)
Today was a treat for me because instead of
starting my day at 4:30 AM at Findlay, I got to mix it up and spend a day
shadowing the dietitians, Melissa and Meghan. They were both so informative and
taught me all about how to use FoodPro (the computer system Penn State
foodservices use) and how to input allergens, input nutrition information, etc.
I don’t know how they do it – it’s so much tedious work! We also discussed the
entrée cards each dining hall uses when they serve food, and I got to see the
whole process of how those are made. Being a dietetics student, I’m really
interested in everything that they do and I loved getting a glimpse into their
daily routine. After I picked their brains with a bunch of questions, I went to
go hang out with the SNAs for a bit (Student Nutrition Assistants). There are 3
of them who are all studying dietetics and who will all be seniors next year,
so we are all in the same boat. After they briefly walked me through some of
their projects (they have lots of work they do!), we sat around and chatted
about a ton of different things – classes, professors, the dreaded process of
applying to dietetic internships, and other topics along those lines. We got so
into our conversations and time just slipped away, but I really enjoyed talking
with them and spending some time with them. After Leah and Aimme returned home
from their workday, the three of us took an adventure and walked around campus
a little. Unfortunately we got caught in the rain, but we just smiled and made
the best of us! Although we were all super tired from our long workdays and
early mornings, there was still work to be done. That night, we all sat down
and designed our menu and invitation for our farewell luncheon coming up in
just a few short weeks. It’s a lot of fun planning all the details, but now
it’s getting into crunch time!
Wednesday (7/1)
You’d think after waking up early for a
few days in a row that you would get used to it and that it would get easier.
Well, it doesn’t. Waking up at 4 AM is never easy, but luckily the long walk
over to Findlay helps wake you up. There were a few larger camps today, so the
number of people who came in for breakfast and lunch were a little higher than
normal. That kept us a little busier than normal, but still not very busy. In
our downtime, Sarah and I got a chance to work on one of our special projects
and also to just sit back and relax for a little. Then we sat down with Steve
for a while to discuss some of the items on our management checklist. We
discussed proper safety and hygiene procedures, proper food temperatures, and
all that fun stuff. Luckily Steve put us in as servers again for lunch, so we
got to go out there and interact with all the guests and serve them their meals.
That’s always really fun! At 1:30 our day wasn’t done yet – it was on to a
meeting with Maria, Aimme, and Leah about our special projects. Maria just
wanted to check in with us to make sure we were on track, and also to finalize
all the last-minute details regarding the luncheon. After we finished up, we
were all exhausted and immediately came back to the room to relax and nap!
Thursday (7/2)
Today was a long day, both because we
started at 4:30 AM and also because there was barely anything for us to do.
Most of the sports camps that were here earlier in the week finished up last
night, so today there weren’t very many people coming in to eat. Therefore I
kept myself busy by finding things to do – organizing tea bags, napkins on the
tables, arranging papers on tables, etc.
After I had enough organizing, I went
into the kitchen to watch the Chefs prepare the food for today’s taste testing.
During the summer the Chefs order products from a variety of companies, and
then they hold taste testings to see which product is preferred. For example
they may test 6 brands of chicken tenders, 6 types of feta cheese, etc. and
then you rank which one you like the best. It’s a great way to get people’s
opinions on different products, and once the results are tallied up it helps
determine which ones are “Acceptable” products and will therefore be served in
the fall semester. In addition to testing products by themselves, sometimes the
Chefs prepare different meals to see if they go over well. Same thing – if
people like them, they may consider serving them in the fall and adding it to
the cycle menu.
To keep myself busy, I chatted a bit with Chef Stefan as he
prepared some of the foods to be served today. Once the foods were ready, we
all sat at a table and relaxed a bit, which made the day go by a little faster.
The only good thing about starting at 4:30 in the morning is that we are done
by 1:30 and still have the remainder of the afternoon to do whatever. After we
all rested up a bit, it was back to work at finalizing some of the details for
our luncheon… only a couple weeks away now!
Friday (7/3)
Today
was a very special day… the last day we had to wake up at 4 AM! Woohoo! When we got to Findlay things were extremely
slow, and there was barely anything for us to do the whole morning. Therefore
we were extremely bored! However at 10:30 after Chef Mark’s taste testing was
done, Steve (our mentor) told us he was done for the day so we were free to
leave as well.
We were very happy about that and I know I definitely took
advantage of our extended weekend by getting a nice nap in! Later on in the
afternoon I decided to walk around and explore campus some more since it was a
beautiful day out. I’ve been here for 7 weeks now but I’m still amazed by how
beautiful Penn State’s campus is! I’m definitely going to miss it when I leave
in a couple weeks. I made my way over to The Creamery to get some souvenirs,
walked downtown College Ave., and then went inside the Palmer Museum of Art.
I’m not a big art museum person and don’t know much about them, but I was
definitely impressed by this one and I enjoyed just strolling through!
Saturday (7/4)
Happy 4th of July! Unfortunately
the weather wasn’t being very cooperative and was cold and rainy, but that
didn’t stop me from going to check out the 4thFest Heroes Parade that went
through downtown State College. It was fun watching all the floats go by and checking out the fun entertainment, and I personally enjoyed watching all the little kids run into the street and collect all the candy that the floats were throwing out. They were having such a good time! At night we decided to skip going to the fireworks and instead watch them from right outside our dorm (we didn't want to risk getting rained on!) Fortunately the view was just as incredible and we enjoyed watching the beautiful fireworks display.
Sunday (7/5)
Today was another relaxing day, but after a week full of waking up at 4 AM it was exactly what we needed! Since the weather was beautiful outside I decided to go to the pool again. Warm weather, sunshine, pool, a good book.. it doesn't get much better than that on our day off! Unfortunately tomorrow won't be a pool day again because it's back to work, but I'm excited to see what's in store for us. This week Sarah and I will be back at Pollock to shadow Amber, and Aimme and Leah will be at Findlay. Stay tuned for updates on how this week goes! :) Hope everyone else is having an awesome time at their internship just like we are here at Penn State!
Sunday (7/5)
Today was another relaxing day, but after a week full of waking up at 4 AM it was exactly what we needed! Since the weather was beautiful outside I decided to go to the pool again. Warm weather, sunshine, pool, a good book.. it doesn't get much better than that on our day off! Unfortunately tomorrow won't be a pool day again because it's back to work, but I'm excited to see what's in store for us. This week Sarah and I will be back at Pollock to shadow Amber, and Aimme and Leah will be at Findlay. Stay tuned for updates on how this week goes! :) Hope everyone else is having an awesome time at their internship just like we are here at Penn State!
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