Our first week as Huskies!

Hello, everyone!

My name is Kelly Speck and I will be beginning my senior year at Michigan State University in the fall of 2013. I arrived in Storrs, CT at UConn last Monday after a longer than expected drive from Michigan in a car that couldn't possibly hold one more thing. I was greeted by my internship coordinator, Carol Cronin, and my fellow intern, Hasbrouck, as well as a fully stocked kitchen and gift bags (from the delightful Tracey Roy!) so needless to say, I was a pretty happy lady.

Our first week working at McMahon Hall got off to a busy start. We began by working in each station to familiarize ourselves with how each operates. We also became acquainted with the staff who have been an incredible resource in so many areas, from better methods of food preparation to places to go on the weekends. We took a tour of each dining hall we will be working at in our 8 weeks, as well as the Union Street Market and the UConn Farmer's Market. We were also put in charge of planning a theme meal for McMahon Hall. Eric Janssen, Derek Carlsen, and Rob Landolphi have been helping us plan our menu and are very enthusiastic about our event!

Hasbrouck and I with Beth learning about the omelet station!

Hasbrouck and I decided to make the most of our 8 weeks in Connecticut, so with suggestions from the staff, we embarked on our New England Memorial Day weekend adventure! After getting briefly lost (which is a recurring theme) we visited the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford, CT and got an unexpected private tour from a security guard. Dave Barbera, the area manager of South, suggested we visit Hampton, NH so after a quick trip up to Maine for some lobster, we dipped our toes in the Atlantic Ocean.

Connecticut State Capitol - Hartford, CT

Memorial Day Parade in Kennebunk, ME

Hampton, NH

I bet you're thinking, "There's no way their first week could get any better!" Let me tell you, it did. Tuesday, we took a tour of Beltane Farm to learn about the cheese and yogurt making process.  In addition to sampling a variety of delicious cheeses and learning about the hard work that goes into producing them, farmer and cheesemaker, Paul Trubey, let us each hold one of over 90 goats they had running around on the farm. Niki Tourigny, who helps out on the farm, explained each of the different breeds of goats, as well as the other animals that lived on the farm.

Hasbrouck and I with our 2 week old goats!

Baby goats having breakfast!

Cheese tasting!

La Mancha was immediately drawn to our amazing internship 

coordinator, Carol Cronin. She stood in that exact spot for about 3 minutes.

Our first week has been incredibly busy and full of new experiences. We can't wait to see what the next 7 weeks bring us!

-Kelly & Hasbrouck

Mountains and Minds

Today, Callie and I, officially, became Bob Cats! check out our Cat Cards :)

Tomorrow we start bright and early with a breakfast meeting at 7! 
More orientation.

In the afternoon, we head to Yellowstone Park - first time going, super excited!

It's POURING in Bozeman at the moment, p.s.

Wish us luck! 

The Adventures of a Penn State Intern: Week 1

Hello everyone!!!

My name is Betty Antwi.  I am currently a senior at Purdue University studying Dietetics/Nutrition, Fitness, and Health with a minor in  Organizational Leadership and Supervision. This summer, I am a NACUFS intern at Penn State University. 

I arrived here at Penn State University on Wednesday carrying my entire life and wardrobe with me (inside joke). So far, I have really enjoyed being at Penn State. The campus is really big and beautiful. It has a variety of stores, restaurants and amazing artwork displayed all over.

The beautiful view from my room window!!!

It has been great getting to know the other interns (Ali, Elise, and Sinan). They are really amazing people.  Two other people that have made this internship fun are Marianne and Maria. They have been so welcoming to us and are very entertaining. 

Penn State Interns!!!

During week 1, we received more information about the internship and discussed our goals and expectations. I thought this really helpful to me because it put into perspective of what skills and abilities I would like to gain from this internship. Marianne also made us do a scavenger hunt that identified important buildings and landmarks around Penn State, which I thought was really fun to do.

Scavenger Hunt!!!

This Memorial Day weekend the other interns and I have been working at the Findlay Dining Commons by prepping and cooking for thousands of high school girl volleyball players and their families for the Happy Volley competition.  Even though the shifts may seem exhausting at times (5 am -2 pm), it has been very rewarding and I have met some great people on the way.

Overall, Week 1 was great and I can't wait to see what else the internship has in store. Once again I would love to thank NACUFS for this wonderful opportunity. I feel truly blessed to be given a chance to do something that could change my life forever. 

The Lion's Den

Hey Everyone,

My name is Sinan and I attend Rutgers University in New Jersey with a focus in nutrition, food, and business as well as environmental and business economics and I am currently an intern at Penn State University, home of the Nittany Lions. I want to start off by talking about how welcoming everyone here on campus and in town is and due to the tremendous hospitality, I feel like I am at a home away from home. Moving on to the workload, the internship program thus far has been very hands-on and within just 4 days, has taught me very valuable lessons within campus dining services.

As I post more about my experiences as well as the experiences of my fellow interns, I will try and log as many pictures as possible to give y’all a better understanding of how colorful things are at State College. I hope to see pictures from other host schools and interns as well. 

Starting my journey on a good note, I hit absolutely no traffic on my road trip to State College and was able to enjoy the agricultural scenery and surrounding changes as I crossed the NJ/PA state border.

When I arrived on campus, I was greeted with this lovely and easy to understand campus map.  Fortunately, coming from an enormous campus like Rutgers New Brunswick, I was able to break the map down into regions and figure out where I was going.

The comfort of home set in as I stepped into my room. It was a corner room suite with sunlight pouring in. Towels were all clean and ready and the brand new sheets were folded under the towels, ready to be slept on.

If that wasn't enough, PSU was kind enough to fill our fridges and a goody bag of treats to last us days. We were also given an assortment of tees and polos as well as name tags for our shifts.

Once settled in and unpacked, I cracked open a cold water, grabbed my Kashi bars and organic banana chips from my goody bag and enjoyed the view of State College out of my window until the other interns' flights arrived.

The icing on the cake was spread the second I found Crossfit LionHeart on campus. Thank to friendly staff and members, I received permission to train on premises for as long as my internship lasted. This is what put me on track.  As addicted to fitness as I may sound saying this, there is nothing in this world that puts my head and body at rest after a long day except for a good workout and a post-workout feast.

Finally came the feast! Trying to follow a paleo eating habit away from home,  I had no trouble gathering a tray full of healthy and extremely delicious meals almost every 3 hours of the day. I've yet to have one bit of complaint about the food here and I think I can honestly say I am in love with the food their dining services offer. 

Summer in State College

Hi everyone!

My name is Elise Denning and I am interning at Penn State this summer. I am from Lawrence, Kansas and attend Kansas State University, majoring in Hotel Restaurant Management.

Some fun facts about me:
-I have webbed toes
-Elise is not my first, and legal, name
-I will put Nutella on just about anything
-If I am not napping, watching Netflix, or playing with my dog outside, I will be reading

My love for food started around age 14 when I began to watch the food network religiously. My parents were all too happy to start buying ingredients for me to make new recipes. For Christmas dinner that year I made my first "fancy" dinner for the family - stuffed beef tenderloin with herb butter by Cooks Illustrated.

Doesn't look too bad huh?

Okay back to the internship. I am now in State College, PA and it is beautiful here. Surprisingly cold weather, it was 39 degrees when we went to work at the dining center this morning! Granted, it was 4:45 a.m. I have really enjoyed being here in a completely new place. I have never been to this part of the country, excluding one trip to NYC at age 13.

Our first orientation day for NACUFS had our group of interns do a scavenger hunt around campus and downtown. We had a nice time walking around and even interacted with a few locals on some harder-to-find items. My favorite stop was a mural called "Inspiration" by a local artist named Michael Pilato. We were lucky enough to catch him working on the mural and he offered to give us a "tour" of the huge painting. It was hard to wrap my brain around all of the detail involved in each person depicted in the mural. There are so many faces who have positively impacted the community and Penn State. The artist painted for 48 hours straight on 9/11 and has continued the tradition each year. He also features many servicemen in the painting.



There is an incredible amount of detail, including hand prints all over



The artist in action



Just for some perspective - this thing is HUGE!



I think Penn State is going to be a great fit for me. And if I had any doubts, they have campus-made ice cream... that is incredible. More to come!

Penn State Week 1

Hello everyone! My name is Ali and I am an intern at Penn State University. I recently graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Dietetics. This is my first time in Pennsylvania and I am excited to explore the many outdoor activities it has to offer. When I first arrived, I was warmly welcomed by a wonderful bag of snacks and a fully stocked fridge by the intern coordinators, Marianne and Maria aka M&M.

The first couple days included orientation and an overview of what our internship will comprise of. To familiarize ourselves with the campus, Marianne created a Penn State-themed scavenger hunt for us to complete as a group. This was a lot of fun and a great way to get to know the other interns and attempt to learn our way around the gigantic campus. I am definitely still working on that last part. One of the locations on the scavenger hunt was a mural of influential people from Pennsylvania. We were lucky enough to be there as the artist was painting and he offered to give us a tour of the wall. It was amazing to see all of the symbolism behind each piece of the artwork and to learn about each person memorialized in the painting.

Our first real day of work started bright and early at 5:00 am working in the dining halls. Penn State is hosting a volleyball tournament over Memorial Day weekend for over 300 teams and we have been helping prep food and serve breakfast and lunch for the teams and their families. So far everyone has been very friendly and eager to help us get the most out of our internship. I look forward to what’s in store for us next week!

 

Welcome to Big Sky Country!

First weekend in Bozeman, MT! so many lovely things to say already :)

the people are by far the kindest.
the scenery is indescribably GREEN! 

NO sales tax :)
delicious, local, sustainable food!

I'm excited to start work in a couple of days. Looking forward to all the wonderful opportunities and learning experiences MSU has to offer. 

Stay tuned.

- Qundeel Kh.
B.S. Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Science

A Little Bio About Myself, MacKenzie LeBeau.

The University of Richmond, my internship host school, asked me to provide them with a bio about myself and my interests so I will in return share it with all of you.

My name is MacKenzie, I am a junior at Syracuse University where I major in Nutrition and Dietetics as well as Public Health. I was born and raised in a small town in Vermont, which is where my love and passion for food began based on the high quality of food my parents produced in our garden, from small local farms, and the weekly farmers market. As a child I never realized how lucky I was to have fresh fruits and vegetables whenever I pleased. I have worked in the restaurant industry since I was 15 years old at a local French restaurant, Tourterelle, where my interest in classic and modern food system in America intertwine. I think in modern society with the development of “fast food” we need a way to return to our cultural roots and see the importance in harvesting our own food or by better supporting local agriculturalist that are growing our food. Rather than relying on imported foods of lesser quality because of the economic value, but relying on local food because of the added value to our health, by focusing on quality not quantity.

Last summer, I worked at a children’s camp where 90% of the students attending were on free or reduced lunch subsidizes. The head chef and I prepared close to 300 meals a day between breakfast and lunch. All of our food was from local sources as well as an onsite garden. This experience has been the most influential in my life so far. One day we had an excess of basil which we turned into pesto. The children thought we were trying to poison them with “green goo.” We bribed a few children to try the pesto by offering dessert, which was a banana muffin. We had a few brave souls and over time as we continued to reintroduce the pesto the number of kids trying it would increase. By the end of the summer they were asking when we would have pesto again. Many people could not believe it, these kids had never been introduced to fresh fruits and vegetables, but as they learned to trust us they began to expand their palette, which was really validating.

In my free time I enjoy hiking and running, attending sporting events, trying out new restaurants, attending farmers markets, cooking and traveling to new cities. Last summer I hiked 3 mountains, in 3 different states, in 3 days. I also enjoy the rush of taking risks and doing fun, but sometimes crazy things like going skydiving and cliff diving. 

Welcome!

Hello!

I’d like to introduce you to the NACUFS Foodservice Management Internship blog for 2013!

This blog is a space where interns can share their experiences at their host school – both their official work duties as well as events outside of official duties. This blog then becomes a record of the summer, which can be shared with friends, family, professors, other interns, host coordinators, potential employers, future hosts and future interns!

Interns: This is an official record of your internship. We hope that you’ll share the things that you are doing both at work and outside of work. Pictures are great – so take some and share them with the rest of us! We also hope that you’ll read and comment on the entries from other schools. Our goal is to create a community among interns who are not only learning from their hosts, but also from each other. Even if you choose not to write posts, we hope that you’ll participate by reading and commenting often. Please share your experience honestly and openly, but this is a professional space- this is not an area for you to air any problems you have with the host school. If you feel that your goals for your internship are not being met, it is your responsibility to address those concerns with the internship coordinator, and work to have the best summer ever! Also remember that this is an open forum – anyone wandering around ye olde internetz can read it. For that reason, you’ll want to keep any private information about yourself or your host to yourself. Please tag your entries with your host school name.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this summer... are you?