Week 1

     Well I arrived at Newark Airport on Tuesday evening and it is now Thursday night nearing 10PM. I am currently lying on a futon in the basement of Blanka and Paul's home in a New Jersey suburb (with an extremely lovable cat named Charlie purring at my side as I type), which is where I will be staying for the next few months while I am in the Chefs Training Program at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts.
     I feel so lucky that Blanka (a family friend who was once my babysitter and is definitely considered to be one of the family) and her husband Paul are letting me stay with them in their home while I am in school. I don't think I would be able to go to this school if they weren't helping me out this way. :)
     Anyway, New Jersey is just sooo beautiful this time of year! I now know why it is called the Garden State! Seriously...it's ridiculously picturesque. The trees are changing into that bright red color and slowly falling off their branches and the air is becoming brisk but still so moist. It's just amazing.
     So, today I went into the city (meaning Manhattan, for all you weirdos out there) for the first time since I have been here. I was nervous about being too cold (since I hardly have to worry about that in California) but I ended up doing a lot of walking and it wasn't a problem.  I stopped by my school for the first time! It was so great! I was given a tour of the school (which occupies the 2nd and 3rd floor of a building on 21st Street between 5th and 6th Ave) and it's better than I had imagined it to be! Everyone there is really nice and so understanding of all styles of cooking! I can't way for orientation day on Tuesday!
     After visiting my new school, I walked for awhile until I got to the uniform store where I picked up all of my special chefs clothes. That included a few chefs coats, super itchy chefs pants, a few aprons and towels. Once I got those I started to fade fast due to all that added weight! It doesn't sound like those things would be that heavy, but oh boy they weighed a ton! I still have to pick up some kitchen shoes, but I'll leave that for another day.
      Next, I wandered for a bit and ended up in Washington Square Park where I sat for a while and watched all the dogs walk by with their owners and saw nearly a MILLION squirrels! I even saw a black squirrel, which was extra cool! Then I got lost a few times and finally found the correct bus for me to take back to Jersey. I stayed inside for the remainder of the day, but don't worry, I plan on taking a nice walk tomorrow and organizing my thoughts along with my belongings! (and watching Grey's Anatomy online)

Anyway, I'll try to keep up with the whole blogging thing, but we'll see how long and if it lasts. ;)

-Kyra