I had intended on writing a number of posts concerning my culinary farewell tour of DC. Moving got a bit in the way. While I have some very fond thoughts on those experiences, I think it’s best to leave all that behind and focus on what is to come in Boston. With that said, I will gladly write more about DC food when I visit in the future. For now, I am ready to focus on this new chapter.
To say that my move-in weekend was hectic would not give an accurate picture of what happened. At the time, it felt more like a nightmare that I didn’t have the time or energy to emotionally process. I will say that I learned a lot during that time and also was impressed with how I handled the situation overall. Things did not turn out how I expected at all, but I tried to roll with it the best I could. While I still have a number of things to sort out as far as my living situation, I am choosing to focus my energy right now primarily on my program.
As my first week in Boston is coming to a close, I have now completed three separate orientations at Boston University. BU is a lovely campus spread out over a mile long stretch, primarily on Commonwealth Avenue in Brookline. I will be spending quite a bit of my time on campus, especially in the coming months, so I wanted to get a sense of what is around. I am also still trying to get to know what is in Brighton, the neighborhood I now call home.
Today was my orientation for the culinary arts program, which means I got to tour the kitchen I will be cooking in this fall. Culinary arts at BU is a certificate program through the Food & Wine department. I am taking this certificate course in the fall, and it will also count as elective credit towards my gastronomy Masters degree. This certificate program was the biggest selling point of this Masters program over others that I found. Everything I have experienced with the Gastronomy and Food & Wine departments so far is telling me that I made the right choice for myself and my future goals. Meeting the faculty and my fellow students has been an uplifting experience.
On Monday, I start my formal culinary training. While trying to take everything in today was a bit overwhelming, I am so excited to get to work. Between seeing the kitchen, getting my equipment, meeting some of the wonderful, skilled instructors, and interacting with my fellow students, today was a sign of good things to come from this course. I expect to be pushed past my culinary comfort zone; I expect to learn more than I can even imagine; and I expect to enjoy this process like nothing I have ever done before. It is going to be a busy but thrilling 12 weeks.
With being in a new city, I am going to have plenty of material for the blog about food in Boston in general. However, I plan to do a weekly series with updates on how the program is going and rehashing what I have learned. I hope to look back at these posts in a couple of years and see how far I have grown. I also know some of my family and friends will be interested in hearing about my studies and work.
To conclude, I want to take a second to thank everyone who helped make this next step possible for me. Thank you to everyone who has read and supported my work on this blog. Thank you to those who encouraged me to apply to this grad program and those who reviewed my application materials. Thank you to those who spent time with me during my month and a half off while I prepared to move. Thank you to those who helped me clear out my apartment and pack the U-Haul. Yes, I am talking about Chris, Andrew, and Anthony, my moving dream team. Thank you to my mom and dad for coming down to DC for the move and for being my biggest support system throughout my my entire life. Speaking of that, I owe a special thanks to both my dad and my dear friend, Desireé. When things imploded on move-in day, they went above and beyond to sort things out with me. There very presence kept me uncharacteristically calm. I can’t even say what having them there with me meant. If Desireé hadn’t been with me that first night, I think I would have lost it. I owe her and my dad more thanks than I could ever express. Thanks to them, I am here, partly settled, and ready to get to work!
Catie Cooks 