Texas Tech, Lubbock TX
Carolyn Greene
My journey here actually started two weeks ago, with a roadtrip down to Florida to visit a friend. From there I drove to San Antonio, Texas, to visit the Army dietetics internship at Fort Sam Houston, where I hope to end up next year. I then worked my way up through Austin, Dallas, and then cut across the state to get to Lubbock on Saturday, August 28. This is the first time I've driven so many miles (2000!!) in such a short time frame, and I've enjoyed every minute of this adventure!
So much sky!
I was the last of four to arrive, and I met my fellow interns and roommates Emily, Emma, and Megan upon arrival. We've settled in well in the last week, and we've taken the first few days to explore and try the food in the area. The internship's official start date was Tuesday, August 31, where we met the wonderful TTU Hospitality staff during orientation, and got the grand tour of the campus. Our project for the summer is to assist in converting a pre-existing dining hall to a gluten-free facility, to better serve those with Celiac's and various wheat allergies and sensitivities. Mindy, the resident dietitian working for Hospitality, has been a great mentor these last few days, as she's shown us the ins and outs of ordering and purchasing for large scale dining establishments, as well as the nutritional aspect of campus dining.
In addition to our overarching project, Mindy has also asked us to contribute to the weekly Wellness Wednesday blog and email list, where we write about a health topic that will be distributed to the Rec Center, Hospitality, and various other locations. Click the hyperlink to check them out! I've decided to write about fueling for exercise in the summer, since I love sports nutrition and fitness!
To wrap things up, I have a few take-aways I want to mention.
First: Everything is bigger in Texas. Texas Tech's campus is enormous, which I quickly found out when I went for a run Sunday afternoon, and realized a two mile lap really only covered about a quarter of the sprawling campus.
Second: The weather here is in a league of its own. We visited Amarillo to go to the Big Texan, home of the free 72 oz steak (if you can finish it in under an hour), and to Cadillac Ranch, and on the way back to Lubbock, we could see a storm brewing on the horizon. That night, we were fortunate enough to see a dust storm, a thunderstorm, and a hailstorm, all within the span of a few hours.
Cadillac Ranch (you can see my lime green tag!) and my steak from the Big Texan
Dust storm in Lubbock
Third: It never rains, but it always floods. On Wednesday, our first day working with Mindy, Lubbock had rain all day, and lo and behold, the streets flooded. The sidewalks were even submerged in some parts of town, and I heard stories of people kayaking down some of the lower streets. Everyone kept saying that we brought the rain with them, because the area almost never gets rain! What a way to start the work week!
Flooded, but these Texans still brave the roads
Stay tuned for more adventures!
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