Culinary school, day two.

What I learned on Day Two:

1. There are many of us that have the same three classes on Tuesdays.

2. There are few who are serious culinary students. If the rest make it that far, I do not see them surviving an internship. Especially not in a restaurant with real line cooks. It's a bummer because the department head said they turned away 40 people already this semester. All the classes are full.

3. I have fantastic chefs (professors) with tons of experience. They are tough, they don't baby anyone and they expect you to follow the rules. I love this. I hope this washes out at least a few of the "students" that view this program like a Williams-Sonoma cooking class.

4. There are only two or three of us who have any knife skills. Most of them appear to have never held a kitchen knife before.

5. In spite of my excellent knife skills, I need to practice the tournee cut.

6. We have a reach-in cooler with left over food the students can eat. I can't wait to dig in.

7. I can't wait to learn more, but I have a feeling this semester is going to go too fast.

8. In my Baking I lab on Friday, I'm going to make baguettes.

9. We are encouraged to bring a camera to labs.

10. I am absolutely positively in the right program. I don't see why I can't get the internship I want and after graduation get a job at a Michelin starred restaurant.

11. I am one of very few students to wear a uniform to class. My chefs have noticed. So have the other students.

12. I finally learned how to tie my neckerchief.

13. Safety and Sanitation is going to be necessary but only occasionally interesting.

14. I need to hit the ILC (Individualized Learning Center) for math help. I had no problem with differential equations at NCSU, but fractions make me cry.

15. I have a lot of homework to do already. A lot of it is memorizing stuff. I need to make flash cards.