Orientation

So this blog was my dad’s idea, and this is me testing it out. Gotta be open to new ideas and this really can’t be anything but good for me anyways. Yeah, I have to spend time from my crazy life in my lonely little studio apartment to do this but it will help me keep my writing, typing, and communication with family up, it will also help me to remember what I’ve learned in class that day. There are so many different modes of learning and I feel like this could be a great one. By doing this blog I am basically going to re-teach myself what I learned and at the same time, if anyone wants to read this as well, I’ll be teaching them. I’ve always been told that teaching is the best way to learn. I was trying to find a quote online for this but the closest I could find was “teaching is learning twice.” Though I don’t plan to nor did I ever plan to teach, this is probably what this blog is going to end up doing. Though that wasn’t the point of this blog, I do plan on helping anyone out who needs it back in my hometown, or here in school. So I’ve laid out my whole reasoning for this blog, now it’s time to introduce myself. My name is Shannon. I am from a small town that I always tell people, is near Death Valley. It’s hot and uncomfortable, your clothes will stick to you in the summer and the winter, and fall has ridiculous wind. I recently moved out to Alhambra so I could go to school in Pasadena. I am enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts pursuing a dream in patisserie and baking. I’m not an amazing chef, I’m not even sure if I am supposed to be called a chef or just a baker. At the time being though, that does not matter because I am neither. I bake at home on occasion because it’s a hobby. It’s just an expensive and high calorie hobby. I love to bake though, it is a release from the world, a stress reliever, and it cures any bad emotions I have, and either lets me think or just forget about everything. Baking puts me in a good mood, but at the same time I can stress out and blow-up on anyone who gets in my way. Either way it’s worth it. Getting feedback from anyone who tries your desserts is always nice. Constructive criticism can be hard to come across though. That’s where Le Cordon Bleu is going to make me a great chef. We had orientation today; I received my jacket, pants, cravat, ID, and hat. We learned some rules, some guidelines and we got our schedules and met some chefs. Some of the chefs are Le Cordon Bleu Alumni which is pretty neat. They told us some of their experiences and what they wish someone had told them when they were in school. One of the things the chefs put emphasis on in our experience at Le Cordon Bleu is that we really do need to take in all that the school has to offer. We got told over and over that extracurricular events and activities are something we really should take advantage of. I’m not sure how many people in the room were actually paying that much attention. I personally plan on getting as much done with them as possible. There was a student who told us a bit about the school today as well. He was a really nice, social guy who seemed to know what he was talking about. He was almost done with his schooling and after today he is supposed to move on to his externship. He is doing the associates program though, which is longer. I noticed on his lanyard that he had it loaded up with different pins. He explained the pins and they were all different extracurricular activities in which he was recognized for. Spending specific amounts of hours on community service involving what he’s learned in school, and joining clubs. I want my lanyard to be like his. I already planned on it for experience, but to have those experiences and everything you’ve done for the school wrapped around your neck like a trophy makes me that much more inclined to do it. They told us that future employers come to the school to interview students all the time, and a filled up lanyard is something they love to see. Last thing I’d like to include about today was how important they made networking out to be. I’ve been told this already by friends and people wanting me to succeed, it really does make a lot of sense to meet people and set good impressions. They like a smiling, excited face and that’s all I had on the entire day. It was a fun time and meeting new people with common interests is great. Good thing I have my networking account set up already.