School, hockey and knives, oh my!

A quick breakdown of my first week in the 'Burgh.

*The Apartment/Neighborhood. The (one-bedroom) apartment is fantastic, considering it's cheaper than a (much smaller) studio in the same building. Great deal from the renter for sure. Plus I'm close to the Internet lounge so I haven't had to pay for Internet...yet. It's a bit blah at times, but it's working well enough that I can do most of my Internet tasks with ease. As for the neighborhood...well...it's a bit sketchy. I feel like I've seen worse...but it's sketchy. Thankfully no problems (or really people out on the streets) when I'm making the walk at 6am to class. The good news is PNC Park and Heinz Field are 10- and 20-minute walks from my apartment, respectively. I've already found my Pens bar ($2.50 Labatt's on game day), and there's good food surrounding both stadiums. I got to watch the Pens '09 Stanley Cup Banner get raised...with other Pens fans...last night. It was a glorious change of pace. Pittsburgh really feels like home when you've been being blasted by Detroit fans for most your life.

*School/Class. No complaints here. I can leave my apartment at 6am and easily make the walk to class (located in downtown Pittsburgh) in about 20 minutes or so. That's good because I have a 1.5 hour gap between my morning kitchen lab and my ServSafe class, which means I'm making the walk several times a day. Judging by how much my legs hurt right now, it's probably good exercise. Kitchen lab has been slow so far (memorizing quantities-- how many quarts in a gallon kind of stuff-- learning about kitchen equipment, etc). The food safety/sanitation class, while making you never want to abuse food again in fear of death or wiggly little worms in your bloody diarrhea (sorry to be crude, but it's in the book), has been interesting. Scary...but interesting. Did I mention scary? COOK FOOD PROPERLY! THAW FOOD PROPERLY! Eek if you don't...

*The Uniform. No issues with the pants or jacket (it's kinda like wearing pajamas to school), but I'm a bit blah about the 'beanie' and kerchief. The beanie obviously serves as a more professional-looking hair net, and I'm fine with wearing some kind of hat instead of worrying about how my hair looks all day. I wouldn't say I look cool in it though. The kerchief really seems to serve no purpose other than to make us a bit more French in this whole ordeal. Picture wearing a tie that ends at the knot. Pretty stylish-- I know.

*My Knife Kit is amazing. We're talking around 50 kitchen tools in one handy-dandy tri-zip bag. You name it, the kit has it. Obviously the pride and joy is a 9" Chef's Knife (high-carbon stainless steel with full 'tang'). Truth be told, it was a bit intimidating to pick up and go on some zucchini the other day for our first cuts...mostly due to the fact that there is an incredible difference between a proper kitchen knife and what's sitting in the average silverware drawer right now. Thankfully the grip/cutting motion is feeling pretty natural so far, and I've still got all my fingertips.

Mix all of this with about four days worth of rain and that's the gist of my first week in Pittsburgh. These posts will no doubt become more exciting as I progress in not only my current classes, but the program as well...so bear with me.

Also, thanks to all of the people who have made phone calls or promises to come visit as some point. You're all welcome to come, and I've got plenty of room to spare. It all makes the transition to a big new city smoother, for sure, so never hesitate to contact me.