Yesterday was Orientation Day at LCB. I was up nice and early. This was the day I'd been waiting for. I felt excited but not nervous. Got to School before 10am, went up the steps and into the building. There I saw about 50 other new students, all with the same eager anticipation. That's when the nerves hit me. I haven't felt this nervous in a long time...
The administrative staff gave us the spiel about the school, the history, the rules, etc., and introduced us to the chefs. I have to say the chefs looked somewhat uncomfortable standing together in a row (like a line-up) at the front of Salle Cointreau (a demonstration room), but they were an intimidating sight. I was in awe of them.
Anyway, we were reminded numerous times not to be late to class, or to miss any classes (if at all possible), because if we miss more than a couple of classes, we wouldn't be able to take the exam at the end of term. And I can see the staff are serious about enforcing this rule. Absences due to illness count toward total absences. They even went as far as to advise us to do whatever it takes to stay healthy.
We were also told to "suck it up" if we find we don't quite get along with some of the people in our classes. In a real-life kitchen, we might have to work with people we don't necessarily like anyway. It's all part of the training.
Later, we got a tour of the School, had our ID pictures taken, collected our toolkit and uniforms (we had to try on the uniforms for size). I do not remember much of this now, as I think the information overload and a feeling of being overwhelmed by the occasion simply caused my memory to shut down. I probably just looked like a stunned mullet.
It was around 12noon before we had everything sorted out. I walked back to Wilbrod House and started putting my initial onto all my tools (using nail polish). Then I washed my new uniforms, which were stiff and quite uncomfortable -- I thought washing them might make them softer and more comfortable. Then I spent at least 40 minutes trying to iron the creases out of the uniforms. That's when I thought, "What have I gotten myself into now?" I haven't had to iron anything in a long time because I used to wear clothes that didn't require ironing.
The rest of the day was spent cooking (I cooked enough for a couple of meals) and getting myself mentally ready for the class today.
