June 6th -Luau

Aloha!

Today was the big Luau and I spent the day helping set up. We setup all the food stations and did all the decorating. I made sure all the stations had everything they needed before we started because once the students come to eat it is absolute chaos and there is no time to run and find stuff.

I had to help with a lot of decorating which I already have mentioned is hard for me but i am getting better. Half the day I spent following Kim around making sure she had her clipboard or phone or pen which was hilarious because most of the time she didn't and neither did I. So yea I am not the best intern.... ha ha.

The Luau was great and the food was delicious but I was exhausted by the end of it and so sick of being surrounded by a million people so I went and hid on break in the Junction. I also helped take down the event which I never usually do, I just set up and leave it so it was cool to be a part of it from start to finish. Taking down is a lot faster then setting up and its amazing that something that took us two days to do can be gone in about an hour.

June 5th

Today I was back at Segundo (yay!). This is my favorite place because I know the workers really well and we all have a good time when we work. We were preparing for the big Luau dinner for the next day. I was assigned to be Kim Evans little shadow for the day. Her and I make a bomb super team. By the end of the day we changed my name from Sarah to 'lil kim' because I was her trusty sidekick in fighting catering crime. Anyway, her and I worked on the equipment pull which is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Basically that means we had to gather all the junk we were going to use to set up for the Luau. So yea I didn't really know where everything was but half the time she didn't either so we had to go digging for it. It was good because it got me oriented to all the ins and outs of the unit.

June 4th

Well now I am back in California and I am actually happy to be here. Now that I am over the homesickness and have met some cool people I really love it here. The town is a small college town like the one I live in back at home and it is really relaxed and cool.

Today I met early early early at the coffee shop Brenan'a in the Silo. My friend Arbel that I met in catering works there so him and I had a good time just making coffee. He thought it was funny because at one point everyone had left me by myself and I really had no idea what I was doing but I pulled it off anyway.

I was supposed to go work at Taco Bell in the afternoon but I really didn't want to so I decided to take Richard's advice and make this internship what I wanted it to be and I stayed at Brenan's. Later I heard they needed help at Mondavi, the performing arts hall on campus, so I went over there to get the drink bar set up. Turns out they didnt really need me so I only worked for about an hour.

Weekend 4

Today I met with Richard who is the manager of retail at the Silo. We talked a lot about franchising. He also gave me a lot of general advice on pursuing a career in my future and also how to make the best of my internship. He was really cool to talk to but was very busy so I spent the next couple of hours going over the budget with his assistant. It was crazy to me that the retail side of sales actually loses money consistently but they still stay in business. The reason was it keeps the students happy. So they just rely on board side to make up the deficit.

I got to leave early today because I flew to Salt Lake to go to my friends wedding reception. It was awesome. I was so happy to be home even if for just two days. On Saturday I went up the canyon and did a ropes course for the first time. It was so freaky but fun. I went really slow while my brothers and dallas were just flying across the thing. I loved it!

May 31st

Today I got to work with Ruby Lozada who does the accounting for the retail side. This lady is the bomb. Even though we were doing basic number inputting I loved the day. I also helped Anna with payroll and learned all the headaches that come with their clock-in/clock-out machines.

After lunch I helped barb with the money counting for all the vending. It wasn't the most interesting thing to watch but I got to sit in the smallest room ever and talk to her for a while. All I know is I would never want to be in charge of that much money...

Tonight I played ultimate frisbee at a field by my apartment with some church friends. I thought I was semi-good at that game but as it turns out I am really not the best. I was dying by about half an hour through it but everyone wanted to keep going for about an hour more. They were intense. Afterwards I went out to ice cream with my friend Mark to Dairy Queen which happened to be my first job so it was fun to go into that place again. I ordered the most fun thing on the menu to make, not eat, just for the employee.

May 29th

Today I had one of those mornings where nothing would go right. I was supposed to work at the coffee shop in one of the biology buildings at 7:00 am. I of course couldnt find it and was riding my bike all over campus trying to find it. Someone told me that it was way out by the medical center so I went over there and it wasn't. Turns out it was back where I wasin the beginning so I ended up being an hour late for work. I am not a morning person! Working at the coffee shop was cool though because I don't drink coffee so it was quite a challenge trying to figure out the difference between a latte, cappucino, mocha, etc. I had fun with it and by the end of the day I could call out a drink like a champ.

Weekend 3

Friday I went to a church dance in Sacramento with a bunch of people which was fun. It became very apparent to me that people in Utah don't know how to dance which means I looked really funny and people could probably tell that I was an out of towner ha ha.

Sunday I went to a friends house for dinner. It was hilarious because she made salmon, rice, salad, cherries, eggs, potatoes, and cinamon rolls-the weirdest mix of food I have ever had but it was delicious and kind of a nice break from eating at the DC.

Monday was Memorial Day which meant I didn't have to work so I spent the afternoon at Ross, the thrift store, and Walmart. It was this afternoon that I realize I don't love all three of these places and I shouldn't visit all three of them at once. On the upside though I got to go horseback riding in the evening at a friends house. I hadn't been riding in about 5 years so it was awesome. My horse was a little sassy and started running full speed and wouldn't stop so I thought I was gonna die but it was totally worth it. My back hurt for a week after that from trying to sit up straight and stay on the horse.

May 24th, 25th, 26th

For the past three days I have been working at Tercero, the second largest dining hall on campus. One of the days I worked on the taste changer which on this day was bread and cheese. Basically a taste changer is a way to mix up the daily routine of the meals and add something different. They do it every once in a while in the DCs and include things like fruit extravaganza, churro night, etc.

So for the bread and cheese I cut all of the bread and cheese into cubes. This sounds simple but I am pretty sure I developed bruises on my hands because cold cheese is not an easy thing to cut. Anyway I had to then make it look nice on a display for everyone and this is where I learned that I am not the best at making things look aesthetically pleasing all the time but I am slowly learning how to drape linens and add flowers to make something simple look a lot better. Kim has showed me her masterful ways in the art.

The other thing that I did at Tercero is work in the Pizza station with a guy named Danny who is the bomb and quite possibly the most interesting person I have met in California so far. Two people have never made a better team than us and we put out those pizzas like there was no tomorrow. It was great.

May 23rd

Today I helped out for the big BBQ held at Segundo. It was cool because they set it up just like a carnival, with big circus tents and games underneath like throwing ping pong balls into glass bowls or ring toss.

Once the dinner started I helped out mostly with desserts and it was absolute madness. At first no one was coming because they were eating their dinner but then everyone came at once. We were trying to cut watermelon and assemble strawberry shortcake all in the same place and we couldn't keep up with everyone. I was the runner going back and forth between the dessert table and the prep area and it was exhausting. I also spilled a ton of strawberry shortcake mixture all down the front of me. About a half an hour before we finished we ran out of dessert and had a lot of disappointed people. Lesson I learned from this event...it is always better to have too much than too little and to have a simple dessert when you have high demand.

May 22nd

Today was my last day at Oxford. Mike kept me pretty busy helping with employee appraisals and going over next years budget with me. This was very helpful but I was extremely sleepy and having a hard time concentrating on it.

After work I went with the UC Davis dietitian, Linda Adams to a cooking class they offer to freshman so that they can cook for themselves next year. Most of the stuff they made was pretty basic and easy but delicious. And of course I loved it because it was all pasta.

Weekend 2

Yay I love the weekend. On Saturday morning I went with my church group to the Ocean Beach in the bay area. I had been warned that it wouldn't be that warm there so I was prepared for that, but I wasn't warned just how cold it would be. I showed up in shorts and a sweater while everyone else came in pants and their winter coats! It turned out to be okay though because I found out if I layed on the sand, really close to the ground, then most of the wind passed over me and I was quite warm. Napping happens to be my favorite thing on the beach to do so I was quite content. I made it down to the water but it was freezing so I mostly hung out by the wall meeting people and eating. We also played volleyball and flew kites. It was great. We also got lost in San Francisco for a while which was cool because the houses there are awesome to look at. I must admit I wasn't expecting to be so impressed by San Francisco but I was.

After we got home a couple girls and I ate at Segundo and then went to an "Office" themed party. We dressed up in our office clothes, watched "The Office" had chair races, and danced. It was the funniest theme party I have ever been to. People were putting post it note memos all over the wall and we got awarded fake dollars which we could then cash in for office supplies.

At church on Sunday I met a bunch more people my age and then found out that a group gets together to play volleyball on Wednesdays in Vacaville so I am way excited for that. I also had another embarrassing moment when I was talking to a guy and then he pointed out I had frosting on my face and walked away....

May 18th

Mike and I went to help out at a catering event at the arboretum. I was put in charge of making the snow cone drink concoction thing which helped me to fulfill my childhood dream of working in a snow shack. Denise was there to help me and her and I had a good time trying to come up with a name for the drink...except I can't remember what it is now.

After that Mike and I talked for a while on labor unions in general. There are some issues that are happening right now with UC Davis and Sodexho employees and I don't quite understand how labor unions work because I haven't ever heard of them in Utah and only briefly learned about them in class.

May 17th

Today I started at a new dining hall called Oxford. Here I met the director Mike U which I would be working with me for the next three days. Mike gave me the option of cooking that day which I gladly accepted because I hadn't done any since I moved here and I had been missing it. I worked on the Vegan entree which was a grilled portabello mushroom with an anaheim pepper salsa on top. I think it turned out pretty good but I didn't try it, I am not sure why. I learned that it is really hard to make a portabello mushroom look good, no matter how you cook it, so its important to make it look nice with other vegetables and garnish.

Today I also learned that safety shoes are required for a reason because I fell completely on my face while rounding a corner. Miraculously I didn't get hurt, just felt really stupid.

May 15th and 16th

So I have still been at Castillian these last two days. Because it is almost the end of the school year the directors need to work on their budget for the next year. Colin explained this to me and showed me the very complicated spreadsheet that they use to keep track of it. After going through it, it looks like the process is pretty simple, but takes a while to complete.

We also went over financials and employee anual appraisals. Colin was very thorough at explaining things to me which was good because I had no clue how anything worked and because I had a lot of stupid questions that I didn't have to ask because he would answer them as I was coming up with them.

Oh and while I was serving dinner one night a big stack of about ten plates fell off all by themselves and broke right next to me. And no one was there to witness that it wasn't my fault. So I felt dumb but I am starting to get used to it.

After work I went to a student nutrition association club meeting with all the dietetic girls here on campus. They had a girl come and speak who had graduated the year before and just finished her dietetic internship in Sacramento. She answered a lot of my questions and made me slightly less nervous about applying for mine.

May 14th-Day 8

So I forgot to mention this but I am writing this blog about a month and a half after all these things happened and I am going off of memory because I was not smart enough to write it down as it was happening. That being said, I can't remember everything that I did each day.

Today I started working at Castillian, the smalles dining hall located just off campus. When I say it was small I mean it was itty bitty. I was very surprised by this because I was used to Segundo which is huge. As it turns out I really like Castillian because it was a more relaxed environment and I felt very comfortable there. The unit Director is named Colin and is the person that will be guiding/teaching/working/putting up with me for the next three days. We sat down and made a rough outline of what we wanted to go over the next three days. I appreciated this because up to this point I had no clue what to expect or what was coming, and yea I will admit sometimes I like a thought out plan.

Mostly today I found out about the structure of a unit and the hierarchy of all the managers which helped a bunch because I was confused up to this point. I followed around the supervisor Sarah and found out her roles, we did some inventory, ordering, and watched the unit during meals. I helped a little bit serving for dinner and just observed how everything works. It was nice because it wasn't so much chaos as the last week.

Weekend 1

I wish I could say I did something really exiciting this weekend but I didn't. I will get out and see California starting next week I swear....

No really I did find the church here in Davis and went which was cool because it was the only thing that reminded me of being back home in Utah. I met a ton of people my age and found out about all the many activities they had coming up.

May 11th-Day 5

Tonight was the Teaching Prize Gala. I spent hours going over the tables that we had set up the night before, resetting a lot of stuff, and switching out alot of things that needed to be cleaned. The thing about catering is you work really fast and then wait forever which is exactly what the whole night was about. The event was simultaneous plate service so we divided into teams of four so that we could serve everyone at the table at the same time. Somehow I got called to be team leader which is funny because I have only served a few times and I didn't even know what simultaneous service meant.

Fortunately I got an awesome team-Jason, Arbel, and Saw yeo. Jason was a pro at serving so he talked me through it the whole way. I asked him if he wanted to be in charge but he kept telling me I needed to learn it and so he taught me everything. He is very good at making someone feel confident. The event started and things went pretty smoothly. For the most part we did the service right-having a few slip ups but the guests were really nice. The room between the tables was so small, I had to suck in a lot and pray that my butt didn't hit someone in the head as I was going around the table.

Tonight was my first really good night because I met a lot of cool people and started to feel really comfortable in my surroundings. Most people were surprised to find that I had just moved to Davis and had never worked in catering before. I also met some really cool people like my team, and a girl named Julia who lives in the dorm next to mine and wants to hang out while I am here.

May 10th-Day 4

Today I helped prep at catering for the Teaching Prize Gala, a huge fancy dinner for the next night. In catering they do this thing where they hire clubs and fraternities/sororities for a couple of hours of work and then they pay the money to that organization. So a bunch of these people and I were left to set up the tables for the event. We were supposed to have someone directing us but they kept getting called away so we ran into a bunch of problems and made mistakes when they werent looking. First of all we were given the wrong linens so after we set all of them up, we had to take them off and redo it. After that we set up the tables which took forever because it included about 4 different kinds of drinking glasses, coffee service, dessert, bread, and so on. We kept setting this up wrong, finding dirty dishes, and no one really knew what they were doing. It also was hard getting people to work especially since they weren't real employees. After eight hours of this we finally got a semi-finished product and left it alone for the night. It was exhausting but it feels good to get something done that big and it did look amazing.

So far I haven't really done much around the town of Davis. Denise gave me a bike so I am able to ride around campus and look around. I also have been going to the gym and reading at the library. Mostly it is just nice to relax and not worry about homework.

May 9th-Day 3

Today I went to help out at the TGFS lunceon. The thing about these big catering events that is hard is that it is absolute chaos and I feel like I have no clue how to help out. Turns out I am not the only one who feels like that. I have learned you have to be really good at just jumping in and helping out because no one is going to stop and tell you what to do. The lunch went better than I thought it would considering we were feeding a couple thousand people. It was exhausting working in the hot sun but time flew by really fast. Afterwards I was told I could go home for the day but it turns out I wasn't supposed to so I got called to go over to catering and help prep for an event that weekend.

One of the cool things about the TGFS luncheon is it was a zero waste event. For most large events Sodexo works with a club on campus to eliminate as much waste as possible by providing all compostable utensilsd, plates, and cups. It's hard for me to remember to recycle and compost at times because I am not used to it all, but people are kind of nuts about it here so everytime I walk over to the trash they make sure that I am putting it in the right spot.

May 8th-Day 2

Today I went to the main dining hall Segundo to meet Kyle who is the director of the unit. This was where I am going to be spending a lot of time throughout my internship, and would be eating all my meals. After introducing me to everyone and orienting me to the unit Kyle and I helped prepare for a huge lunch the next day that the university was putting on for their staff called TGFS (Thank Goodness For Staff). We marinated chicken for hours and talked alot about the UC Davis, Sodexho, foodservice, and anything else we could think of. He explained to me that Segundo would be my home base and I could come there for any questions and he would be able to help me out.

After that I had to go to the second part of the employee training. This time we just went over the rules and policies of the company. It would have been fine except the room was about 90 degrees because the AC was broken....and day 2 ended.

May 7th 2007-Day 1

Today I started my first day of the NACUFS (National Association of College and University Foodservices) internship here at UC Davis. I started my day by meeting with my contact person Denise who works in HR. She set me up in my apartment which is right on campus next to the main dining hall.
Next me and Denise had lunch with Brenan and Gina. They are the General Managers that help run the whole show here on campus. UC Davis contracts out to a company called Sodexho to run the university foodservices. The UC Davis campus is huge, way bigger than I am used to at Utah State. The foodservice establishments that are here include 4 dining halls, 2 convenience stores, the Silo which has popular fast food and coffee, several coffee shops, a smoothie bar, and vending.
The only other thing I had to do the rest of the day was to attend the first part of two mandatory training meetings that every employee goes through before working for Sodexho. The first part was all about HACCP which was all review since I just finished a semester of it back at home.