Texas Tech: Week 7-8 and Travel Back to Ohio!

Hey y'all! This is my last blog post pertaining to the NACUFS Internship.  This has been such a great experience as we finished the last two weeks as TTU.  As I said in the last blog post, the interns and myself were giving our Capstone Project Presentation.  Our audience were quiet impressed with what we delivered to them.  With all of our brains working together, we developed a great presentation.  I was involved with producing a poster for our event that we produced for the Gluten-Friendly Facility.  Carolyn developed table tents, Megan made the training manual, and Emily produced the TV ads.  We all came together for our recipes and brainstorm of different activities in the opening event.

Last Photo together in the Office

Poster for the Welcome Event!

Throughout Week 7 & 8, all of us were at a dining hall on campus called The Market.  We served over 1200 campers at TTU.  During these weeks, the interns and I started to pack our things for our travels back at home as well as making our mark on campus which ranges from running in the rain and decoration Alan and Dee's offices.

Alan's (Batman's) Office

Dee's (Robin's Office)

Running in the Rain

Last Time seeing the Matador

It was very tough to say goodbye to everyone at the office and other people we worked with.  Although more importantly, it was tough to say goodbye to my fellow interns/roommates.  We already agreed that a reunion is in place in the upcoming years.

Our Last Night Together

Our Last Time Parked in a Row

It was time to head back home to the Buckeye State.  However, my parents and I decided to stop at a few places: Tulsa and St. Louis.  We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel and visited Toby Keith's I Love This Bar Restaurant.  In St. Louis, we toured The Arch, Riverside Cruise, and Anheuser-Busch Brewery.  I actually went inside The Arch and took some pictures of St. Louis and toured the brewery.  Yes I did see and touched the horses.

The Arch

Clock Tower at the Brewery

St. Louis Skyline from the River Cruise

 After we toured around St. Louis, it was time to finish the travel to Ohio.  I got back home at midnight on Tuesday morning.  I can't wait until school starts to tell the younger dietetics students in my department about this experience at Texas Tech.  It was great sharing my experiences and time at Texas Tech.  Now there is only a month left until I go back to my senior year in college.

Goodbye TTU & West Village!

 Safe Travels Back Home Everyone!

Sun's Up, Gun's Up!

-Emma Regula

Week 6 at Texas Tech! - Last Week in the Office!

Hey y'all! We are finished with Week 6 of our internship which means only two more weeks left at Texas Tech! I can't hardly believe it! This summer has gone by so fast and this experience has been awesome!  This was also our last week in the office in the Wiggins Complex.  This week we spent all of our time working on our project presentation that will be presented on Monday!  I am very happy and proud of what we all did for this project for making the Hulen/Clement Dining Hall a Gluten Friendly facility!  I am beyond excited to present our project to the people we worked close with from these 6 weeks at Texas Tech.  While we were working on our presentation in the office, Chef Dewey and our friend, Kayla, were having a "food" photo shoot.  Of course, Chef Dewey gave us both of the plates of the dish for all of us, including Kayla, as a pre-lunch.  Also this is also apparently the lunch we are going to have after the presentation!

Fancy Breaded Chicken with Angle Hair & Broccoli with a Butter Sauce! Yum!!

That is all that we did this week! We have gone through our presentation multiple times with ourselves and Alan.  Of course, the first couple of times it was very rough, but we are going to do a great job presenting our project and what we imagine this new facility to be like.

Friday night, Emily, Megan, and myself stayed in and have a girls movie night.  Saturday night, Megan, Carolyn, and myself went out to dinner at the Cotton Patch Cafe.  This restaurant is like a local Texas Roadhouse or Steakhouse.  After dinner, we went out to the Lubbock Moonlight Musicals at Mackenzie Park Outdoor Theater.  The show that was playing was called The Pirates of Penzance.  This musical was very funny and it is a great show for the entire family to go to!

Cotton Patch Cafe - I wanted steak!

Outdoor Theater!

The General, his daughters, & Pirates

First Scene!

Enjoy the pictures of the musical! That is all that happened this week and weekend.  On Monday we are going to be presenting our project and working at the Market for the rest of the week!  Wish us the best of luck on our presentation!  That is all!  Have a Greet Week everyone and I will be back with you on next week's adventures and experiences!

Peace & Love!

Sun's Up, Gun's Up!

-Emma Regula

Beautiful Mackenzie Park!

Week 5: Happy 4th of July!

Hey y'all!

Not much happened this week.  Carolyn and I were with the Marketing Department Monday through Wednesday.  During this rotation, we went over to Red Raider Orientation to shadow Dee with her presentation and did some tabling at the Resource Fair.  The fair allowed parents and students to come up to the Hospitality Table to ask questions about dining halls and the services of the department.  We also got the opportunity to talk with other people withing the department where they gave us a run down of their position and what they do in and out of work.  This also gave us the opportunity to ask questions about our capstone project.  Our capstone project entails us to convert a dining hall, Hulen/Clement, to a Gluten Friendly facility.  As a group, we have to come up with 8 different recipes, training manual, and produce an exploration event for the facility.  We are presenting the project next Monday, so it is crunch time!

Red Raider Orientation @ Resource Fair

On Thursday and Friday, all of us were together once again in the catering department.  This rotation was like the Marketing rotation.  We went around the department shadowing and listening to people about their job descriptions.  On Friday, the assistant director, Colby, took us around the catering kitchen downstairs and different venues that are catered through Top Tier Catering at Tech.

One of the Venues

University Chapel

This weekend as all of you know was 4th of July weekend.  One of our coworkers, Kayla, invited us over to a BBQ at a friend's house.  We kicked backed, relaxed and enjoyed delicious homemade food along with great conversations and fireworks!  I tell you, Texas people do 4th of July better!

Fireworks!

That is all my friends! Week 5 is now in the books and there is only three weeks left of my journey at Tech!  This week we will be working on our capstone project and get our presentation ready to go by Monday.  Happy 4th of July everyone!

Wheat Harvest Time Back in Ohio

Emily and I after Cycling Class

Peace and Love

Sun's Up, Gun's Up

-Emma Regula

Texas Tech Week Four

Hi Everyone!

     I am officially half way through my internship here at Texas Tech (don't remind me). I feel like I am just getting used to the hot temperatures and dry air here; even though my hair disagrees. Here is what happened in week four!

(sorry in advance for the lack of pictures, it was mostly office work this week)

At the Office:

     This week I got to spend Monday and Tuesday with Mindy and Wednesday, Thursday, Friday with Alan and Dee. With Mindy I got to finish up my "Week in a Glance" project where I outlined a week of meals at The Market that are all under 1500 calories. The goal of the "Week in a Glance" project will be to make these menu outlines available to students looking for certain meal parameters. I also got to go on rounds with Mindy! We got to see more of the back food service operations and taste some of the juices that are made at Smart Choices in the Student Union Building. 

     With Alan and Dee, Emily and I got to table at Red Raider Orientation and also a prospective student orientation as well. Tabling was so much fun because we got to interact directly with admitted and prospective students to inform them why hospitality services at Texas Tech is so awesome! We got to start the event planning aspect of the capstone project which we are all very excited about! Being able to talk with all of the staff in the marketing department has helped so much with beginning to plan this project out.

Next Week:

     Next week Emily and I will be going through some more employee training and working in the catering department too! Stay tuned for updates on Sunday! 

Week 4! We have reached the halfway point @ TTU!

Greetings from Texas Tech!  Week 4 is now in the books and we are officially are at our halfway point through the internship.  This week Carolyn and myself were in the office with the training department and working with Mindy.  Not a lot had occurred this week, but last Sunday us girls went on an adventure to Pablo Duro Canyon!  The canyon was about a 2 hour drive up the interstate, but the view was absolutely gorgeous and we made some friends on the interstate along the way!  Once we got to the canyon, I couldn't believe the absolutely gorgeous view.  We got our map and went out on a trail!

Training this week was a lot of fun and enjoyable.  Cape and Evan were with us a lot over the three days we were in the department.  We talked from banana pudding to something random, but Carolyn and I had a good time with them.  Monday we went out for Cape's birthday and Wednesday we did some more filming for Evan to use as filters for more videos to come.  On days where we did not have anything assigned, we worked on our Week at a Glance for Mindy.  This allowed us to come up with a menu for a week for students can use as guidance according to SmartChoices on campus.

Tuesday night, the housing staff in our residence hall had an event where residents living in our hall to plot a plant and take it back to their room to make it more "homey".  I adore plants and was sadden that I could not bring any of mine with me from home.  Obviously I got a plant and was so excited to add it to my other plants back at home!

 After we spent time with training, we were with Mind and Chef Dewey for the rest of the week.  Well let's say Mindy Thursday and Chef Dewey Friday because Mindy was not in on Friday.  When we were with Mindy on Thursday, we tackled more on our Week at a Glance and some other components to our Capstone Project.  However, we went on runs around different dining halls that were open to check in on how they are handling a Gluten-Free situation.  Mindy did give us a chance to go through other dining halls that were not on her rounds list, but she wanted us to have the experience to see a lot of the dining halls.  We also went out for coffee that afternoon. Can we be with Mindy every week?!

After work on Thursday, the girls and I went to the bowling alley for cosmic bowling in the evening time.  Our friend Nick, who Carolyn and I worked with while we were at BG, wanted to hang out! with us. It was a great night full of laughter and Whataburger at midnight!  Our punishment and regret was the 6 hours of sleep we got that night because we had work the next morning.

Friday with Chef Dewey was a slow day.  We finished our Week at a Glance and did some more brainstorming with the other interns on our Capstone Project.  The day ended on a good note by Chef Dewey giving us some leftover beef from his test kitchen, snacks, and letting us go an hour early to celebrate the weekend.  That afternoon/evening we all went to the pool to get our Texas tan going!

That is all for Week 4 at TTU.  This week Carolyn and I will be with Marketing Monday-Wednesday then all four of us will be together once more at Catering for the rest of the week.  Tomorrow, I will be celebrating my brother's 19th birthday!  Stay tuned for this weekend's adventures and what Week 5 will bring us!

Peace and Love! Sun's Up, Gun's Up!

- Emma Regula

This Little Intern Went to The Market (TTU week 2)

Introduction

Hi everyone! I'm sorry the weekly postings haven't been on time, the weeks go by so fast and there is so much to do! Here it goes!

Week 2: Working at the Market 

      We've heard the nursery rhyme "This little piggy went to the market" well, this little intern went to the market and it was a whirlwind!!!! I wish I had more pictures of this week but I didn't have my phone on me at work so imagination will have to do. 

     The Market is a dining facility here at TTU and during the year it is an a la carte option, however during the summer it is all you can eat which as you can imagine attracts a lot of customers. Emily and I did a lot during week two but to highlight a couple of my favorites we got to serve the TTU athletes and the campers from the cheer and science camps, and I learned how to cook large amounts of burgers! Serving was a blast because we really got to learn a lot about how to serve a large amount of people at a fast pace. Also we got to experience serving different lines so we really got to see how all of the items were put together. We also helped with prepping items in the back such as produce and desserts. Additionally, we learned what each of the managers does and also how to order products from US Foods which TTU contracts with. 

      For those wondering how the burger cooking went, I didn't burn anything..which is always a plus. The grill in the production area is fairly huge and you can cook an entire box of patties at once! While my new perfume scent for that day was eau de hamburger it was still a lot of fun. This week was a full week packed with tons of activities. There was never a shortage of things to do whether it was helping to prep the food, reorganizing the cereal shelves, stocking the milk cooler, mopping the stations, or serving. I am incredibly grateful to have gotten so immersed with food service this week!

Look out for my Week 3 blog post to learn more about juicing, week in a glance, the capstone project, and my Wellness Wednesday project as well.

Until next time!

Megan 

Week 2 & 3 at Texas Tech University!

Hello from Texas Tech!!  I am enjoying my time here for this internship and especially this wonderful, but still hot that we have been having this week!  I know I did not post last week, so I am going to write about my experiences from Weeks 2 and 3.  By the way, I did not properly introduced myself from my first post.  My name is Emma Regula and I am going to be a senior dietetics major this coming fall.  I attend Bluffton University and I am placed at Texas Tech and I am loving it here.  This has to be one of the best experiences I have been on that is beneficial for my career.

First off, I am starting off from Week 2.  One of the other interns, Carolyn, and I were placed in a dining hall on campus called Bledsoe/Gordon or BG.  This rotation allowed us to experience the process of the kitchen when it is close to serving or even serving and preparing a meal.  The first couple of days were slow from cleaning and some training before we had to serve about 140 high school football campers that were here for a football camp.  Then for the rest of that week, we prepared and served meals to the campers.  These young boys were very nice and so respectful.  I have only been in Texas for about 3 weeks and I am starting getting used to people calling me ma'am.  Even these high school boys I served were calling me ma'am!  Also through this rotation, we got the opportunity to shadow the manager, Nick, filled out an order form for food products needed for the week, and count money from a meal.  Throughout the week, the wonderful cooks made the entire staff breakfast for the week.

For the weekend, the other interns and myself went out to explore more of Lubbock.  We went out to the shopping mall on Saturday.  Carolyn needed black flats and Megan needed a birthday out fit because her birthday was on the 16th.  Sunday we went out to antique stores and some other stores.  We also went to the Wine and Clay festival at a local winery.  This was obviously a great event to spend a couple of hours of your day.  While we were shopping, we had to make an extra stop for something very special for myself....cowboy boots!! Our preceptor, Alan, recommended that I go to Cavendars.  Sure enough, I found some awesome cowboy boots at the store!

  

While we were on these awesome adventures from exploring Lubbock, we obviously had to try some new restaurants.  Our first stop was a coffee shop called Yellow House Coffee.  This is a coffee shop with local and fair trade coffees.

The second stop was an awesome pizza place called Pie Five recommended by Mindy Diller.  Mindy is the registered dietitian on campus. She has a gluten allergy and she gets her pizza from there.  So we had to try it out.  This spot has its regular pizzas that you could order, but you could also make your own pizza.  My own pizza creation came true and it was absolutely amazing.  For dessert we went out to Chocolate Mouse Pie Bar.  I unfortunately do not have a picture of this amazing creation of dessert.  However, it is not ordering a pie.  It is kinda like a parfait, but you can choose your own crust and pie filling.  It is so good so I highly recommended for everyone to try it out.

 

As you can see, a very eventful weekend that we all enjoyed.  For Week 3, we were with Mindy Diller and Chef Dewey.  This was going to be a hot week so all of the interns decided to wear dresses for the heck of it.  Well turns out, Chef Dewey had something else in mind for us do for the afternoon.  Our task was to produce 2 new juice recipes for the juice bar in the SmartChoices dining option.  We were all excited by this task and could not wait to start.  Don't worry we got aprons to keep the dresses clean.  At the end of the day, we came up with 4 recipes for the juice bar.

1. Apple, Kale, Pineapple, Ginger

2. Lemon, Cucumber, Pineapple, Apple

3. Watermelon, Lemon, Pineaple

4. Carrot, Orange, Spinach

Through out the rest of the week, we were working hard on our capstone project by finishing our recipes.  Chef Dewey made us lunch on Tuesday.  We brought all of the left over vegetables, fruit, and other food back to our apartment.  So most of the food in our refrigerator is free food from the juicing and other food given to us by Chef Dewey and other staff.  On Wednesday, we spent all day working on a short video project.  As a group, we decided to give out information about sugar-sweetened beverages.  We also wanted to give out tips of how we personally reduce our intake of sugar-sweetened beverages.  I am so excited to see what the finish product is like and I will share it with all of you.  We were also in the Test Kitchen this week experimenting with a Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip cookie.  Unfortunately, the recipes and cookies did not turn out, but it did not stop us from creating a Gluten-Free Dessert for the capstone project.  Recipes are to be coming soon and I am so excited to tell y'all about it.  By the end of the week, we completed our recipes, went out for Megan's 21st Birthday with Sonic afterward, and assisted Mindy at the Health and Safety Fair at the Physical Plant.

That is all from Week 2 & 3!  I know it is a long reading, but so much happened within two weeks!  Next week I am going to be with Mindy and Alan in Wiggins! I can not wait to see what is going to happen this week.  I will write to y'all next week, but I am going to be spending my weekend by the pool with this weather that we are having!

Late Night Sonic Runs!! Featuring Emily and I

Peace and Love! Sun's Up, Gun's Up!

- Emma Regula

Suns up, Guns up! Week One

Introduction

Hi everyone! I'm Megan, a dietetics student from the University of Delaware (lets go fighting Blue Hens). I will be spending the next 7 weeks at Texas Tech as a NACUFS intern with four other dietetics students,...and chronicling my times as I go! In my blog I will talk about the internship, the campus, and of course all of the fun things to do around Lubbock. Here it goes!

Week One: Welcome to Texas Tech

                                      


Today I have officially been in Lubbock for a whole week! I flew in last Saturday from Washington D.C. and met up with two of the other interns Emily and Emma when they picked me up at the airport. We went to Tom & Bingo's BBQ which was my first Texas BBQ experience I have to say it was pretty great.That is certainly one thing I have learned about Texas, there is no shortage of great food. Later that day Carolyn arrived and our group was complete! Living with these girls has been a blast and there is NEVER a dull moment. Also, if you were wondering what the purpose of my title was, "Suns up, Guns up" is the motto for Texas Tech.

Everything You Need to Know:

1) Everything really is bigger in Texas (I'm serious)

2) The Texas flag is on EVERYTHING 

3) The weather is incredibly unpredictable 

4) The people are FANTASTIC 

Let me elaborate just a little bit. The other interns and I went to the Cadillac Ranch and The Big Texan steakhouse on Memorial Day and established that the food is huge and everything is served with a Texas flag. Thus, I can officially tell you that numbers one and two are confirmed facts about Texas. If you don't know what the Cadillac Ranch is, it's a line of old Cadillacs that people spray paint (legally of course). It started as an art project a very long time ago and it certainly worth checking out. Here's a picture of all of the Cadillacs after a heavy rain storm that I will explain later and of the TTU NACUFS interns (I'm the tiny head in the back, perspective is everything). 

Cadillac Ranch 

TTU NACUFS Interns 2016

 After the ranch we headed to The Big Texan steakhouse which is a staple when you're in the area. They have a 72 oz steak challenge that is entertaining and also kind of scary. A young man was attempting the challenge when we went but alas he stopped at 52 oz. Here is picture proof that the food is huge and served up with a side of Texas.

Dinner: Featuring a large steak, the Texas flag, and the souvenir cups

By now I have mentioned the weather a couple of times and I have to let you know it is both awesome and completely unpredictable. In the span of three days there was a dust storm, a thunderstorm with hail, and flooding. No worries though the buildings here at Tech are safe and stable (and have windows perfect for safely watching the storms). In order to show you the flooding I have to fast forward a bit to the second day of work where the city of Lubbock flooded. Apparently, there was a man kayaking down Quaker Ave but I didn't witness this myself so you might just have to google that one. I tried to get the best pictures of the flooding that I could but water is hardly cooperative for photos.

I promise this is a road, not a pond

Finally, lets cover number four. The people here at Tech are amazing and so welcoming! I have to start with Karen, our residence hall Senior Business Assistant. From the moment I got here Karen has made me feel right at home, even though I am over 1,000 miles away from mine. Then there is Alan our internship coordinator. Alan has made sure that the other interns and I know where to go, what to do, and what to bring even before we came to Tech. He has tailored our program this summer to be very nutrition based since we are all dietetic majors; which means that this summer will certainly be a learning experience. Day one with Alan was filled with training and a review of food safety which is critical on a college campus. Finally, there is Mindy the registered dietitian who works with hospitality services here. Mindy is incredibly busy but she took time out of her schedule to work one on one with us and to make sure we had a clear idea about how to understand the food ordering system on campus. For the rest of the week, Mindy also helped us work on our capstone project, which will be to create recipes for a gluten free dining facility and also create accompanying training procedures with a big kick off event to promote it. I will talk more about the project in later posts because it is still in the development phase. Mindy also helped us out with writing "Wellness Wednesday" posts which will be featured on the Texas Tech Recreation page in the coming weeks. 

What to Look Forward to Next Week:

Next Monday Emily and I will be starting at The Market at 6:30 in the morning. We are both excited to experience a full day of food service and to learn from the staff. The Market is a concept at TTU that is designed to be a food court atmosphere and has a little bit of everything. Check out my blog next week to learn more about The Market, the capstone project, and my Wellness Wednesday.

Bye for now!

- Megan