Weeks 9 and 10

Traditionally, the internship only lasts for 8 weeks, but we have the opportunity to stay a few more weeks to see all of our projects come to life with the opening of the new Miller Dining Hall. At work these past weeks, we have worked hard on getting all the menus for the dining halls updated accurately so that students can access them online with the web menus. From Computrition, to Excel, to FileMaker, we accumulated many hours to ensure that menus were displayed accurately, that forecasting and ordering would go smoothly, and that the students will have an overall great dining experience.

As we moved out of the dorms this week, we talked with our RA, who was excited for the opening of Miller Dining Hall. It was cool to not only excite him about the new dining stations, but also to tell him that when he dresses his salad, eats his fresh baked cookie, pumps ketchup onto his burger, and consumes a bowl of General Mills cereal at midnight, that we had a hand in the procurement of all these small details that comfort students at their home away from home.

A lot of the preparation we have done this summer will all culminate in our final weeks at Montana State. We are excited to see how it all comes together, and our muscles are ready for unloading all the new products and putting them in their respective storage areas.

Binders with menus and station instructions for Miller

New lights and flooring at Tamari

As our summer is quickly coming to an end, we have kicked our exploration up a notch. Our hikes ranged from extreme snow to extreme elevation and heat. We hiked up to Emerald Lake in the snow-capped mountains-our natural habitat (choosing a bad day to hike in sandals). We have also decided to hike up the "M" trail once a week to improve our time up the steep path. Corbly Gulch provided an unexpected butt-kicking, but also a delicious treat of wild raspberries. We emerged happily prickled by surrounding bushes with mitts full of raspberries :) Bears got nothin' on us. 

Emerald Lake

Chloe's handful is much smaller due to the fact that she shoveled most into her mouth straight off the bush :)

As wanna-be Montanans, we joined the locals in floating down the Madison River with coworkers Rose and Sydney. 

Precarious tube tower

Pine Creek Lake was a hike that many people recommended to us. It gained 3400 feet in five miles. Our backpack straps had white residue from salt stains from our sweat. Little to our knowledge, the first lake we came to was not our final destination as we had hoped. Gasping for breath, we threw ourselves on the ground where we were approached by a friendly fisherman asking where the lake was. We replied shortly, "This is the lake dude." He responded that Pine Creek Lake was up above the daunting cliff and waterfall that loomed above us. Begrudgingly, we dragged ourselves up and over that cliff to the beautiful lake where we promptly laid down and took a nap in the sun. 

It was worth it!

We were kicked out of the dorms this week due to the need to prepare them for the new load of freshmen coming in the fall. We moved into a very cozy studio apartment in town (Thanks Rose, great pick!) We are most excited to be able to cook again.