Our Final Week at Purdue University!

The final countdown, the days of lasts….. w e e k 8. I am cringing as I’m typing this. We are all overwhelmed (I know I don’t speak for myself here) with feelings of sadness, nostalgia, excitement, and maybe even a little bit of eagerness to pack up and head home. But I know one thing is for certain, we will all be shedding tears for these emotions in the presence of those who have made our experiences possible. So, we will shed our tears loud and proud for our Boilers- also in hopes that this is just a “see ya later” and not an official “good-bye”.

Monday, Monday. Today brought new experiences that I know some of us wish we could have had sprinkled in throughout the eight weeks, but we’re so thankful we got a chance to have them! Alice and Kristen spent the morning and afternoon helping out in the food truck, the Daily Bite, while Jeanine and Mary Frances continued to clear up loose ends on their final projects. We rejoined in the late afternoon to meet the two sports dietitians on campus. All of us were stoked at this opportunity because we all have sports interest and wanted to see this new and up-and-coming side of nutrition. It was a neat experience to get a glimpse of how Purdue’s sport nutrition and athletic training programs communicate and work together to ensure their athletes get the best quality care. We were able to tour the athletic facilities, check out the fuel stations, and all the various tasks a sports dietitian does- quite different than your food service dietitians! We all had a great afternoon, and were inspired to do something of that nature!

"The Daily Bite" Food Truck where we all worked selling mac and cheese!

Alice hard at work!

Josh, the manager at The Daily Bite! (he wanted to be in the blog)

Tuesday, Tuesday. Yet another full day. In the morning we got the opportunity to check out the Central Production Kitchen at Purdue and a future addition to their residential dining (a place where students would be able to get a whole pizza to-go for a meal swipe!) Then we drove out to the Purdue Research Farm to pick some Indiana sweet corn! It was our first time doing this so we made sure to get lots of photo-ops. It was a fairly quick and painless process and the weather definitely treated us right (not too hot!) After our morning in the farm we got to go to a staff retreat where we participated in a workshop to develop and discuss our top five strengths. Being in a leadership position, this was a valuable session for us to be a part of. It was also exciting getting to see the management team outside of work and get to talk with them. After the retreat, the fun continued at Town and Gown Bistro where we had a social hour with yummy appetizers. We made it a point to take a picture outside of the restaurant because it was the place we had our first dinner together before week one- so unreal! It was a full day of fun.

Fresh Sweet Corn we got to pick from the Purdue Student Research Farm (and later taste tested)!

Mary Frances, Kristen, Alice, Jeanine showing off their corn picking skills!

We had to get a picture with Kristen O. (pictured in the middle) who was our mentor through our whole experience!

From Week One to Week Eight (starting to get teary eyed)

Wednesday, Wednesday. In the morning Jeanine and Mary Frances got to experience the prep work to run the “Daily Bite” food truck while Alice and Kristen got the morning off to recharge for another full day. We have to shame our student worker on the food truck for messing up one of our beautiful Nutella sandwich cookies and letting us try one. If you are a chocolate lover… beware, you have been warned from this tasty treat! For the remainder of the day it was off to Prophetstown State Park where we had a yummy catered lunch, got to see some farm animals, continue discussions from the retreat during our week one, and do various relaxing activities. I know it was a well needed break for all the staff members to be outdoors and spend time with one another outside campus.

Mac and Cheese balls in the process of being made (if you love cheese this is for you because its made with 4 different types of cheese)!

Finished product of the Mac and Cheese balls after they were breaded! Now they just have to get fried up!

Nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookie!!!  This cookie was about as big as my head (for a size comparison) 

Our staff retreat ventured out to a farm and we met this little guy! He did try to bite me when I pet him:( 

Just trying to get cool on a hot sunny day

Thursday, Thursday. Our last day of Recipe Testing—wait, what? Well, we never got to actually do any recipe testing, but we got word that the hours of inventory we did paid off! Hooray! It was sad to say goodbye to our awesome catering chefs because that definitely was some of our favorite memories from our time here.

Friday, Friday.  Our very final day at Purdue University and last day as a Boiler.  By now our once cluttered dorm rooms are now being confined to loaded suitcases and boxes ready to be sent home. We started the day off by going out to brunch at "Another Broken Egg" Cafe with Alice and Mary Frances' families! I wish I did not find this place so late because it was absolutely AMAZING!!

Later in the day we presented our final projects about the 8 Dimensions of Wellness to the directors of dining and catering (no pressure there).  It was also open to our friends and family to see what we have accomplished during the last eight weeks!  The presentations went phenomenal and everybody was very pleased with our work; but then the goodbyes started to come.  We were overwhelmed with so much love from people we respect and have grown to be attached to over the course of our time at Purdue.  We have truly met such amazing people and had such a wonderful experience gaining knowledge in the field of nutrition that we love.

Picture of us with our boss, Mary Jo!

Picture of us with fellow registered dietitian Carrie, who is in charge of the 8 Dimensions of Wellness throughout the dining halls!

Today is the day we officially say adios to the campus, our leaders, our new friends, each other, and to you all, fellow bloggers, who have been following our journey. Our journey would not have been the same without each piece and this blog is something tangible that we will be able to look back on and reminisce on all we did.  This is not the last time Purdue will see us.  It is not a goodbye, it's an I'll see you later.  Boiler up!

XOXO K-JAM