This is fact not fiction, for the first time in years.

So Beverage class ended....and I'm so sad. I loved that class, and got an A in it! (: I'm in Nutrition now which is not NEARLY as exciting. I mean, I can't use any butter, heavy cream, and hardly any oil in ANY of the recipes. That's like an insult to the French way of cooking. Not my style. It's not too bad though.

ONLY NINE MORE DAYS TILL I'M BACK IN MASSACHUSETTS! I'm BEYOND excited. I can't wait to go to the movies and watch Top Chef and eat popcorn with Dad, get my nails done and eat at Chipotle with Mom, be INSANE with my closest friends, go into Boston for cupcakes and Mike's Pastry!, visit my favorites at my high school, see my Schmoops and my brother and sister, and just relax and have some normalcy back in my life again. College is a fantastic, crazy ride, and I love it. But nothing compares to home. I'm starting to make a list of everything I want to do (as you can see), so I don't forget to do anything. I can't wait for the COLD even. I miss New England air...and Boston fans. I'm surrounded by Yankee fans.

I watched them win the World Series last week, proudly supporting my team as much as I could...I wore my Sox hat to one of the playoff games and my four Yankee fan friends made me put it in the freezer in order for the game not to be jinxed...I think it still worked though, they lost that game. :)

I'm continuing to meet a lot of people here, especially a lot of guys from a fraternity here, who are all really really awesome and great friends. Really decent guys who are laid back, non judgmental, smart and capable, and easy to relate to and talk to. I'm starting to find a lot of really close groups of friends who I can turn to when I need advice or strength. We're all kind of a support system for each other for when things get tough. You learn so much about yourself here at school, and about how to relate to and live with other people. It's quite humbling actually. I've examined myself so much lately and am really starting to find out who I am and who I want to be.

Love you all, keep the comments coming! I appreciate every one I receive (:

Heavy is the mind that can't be told, when it's time to let it go.

Wow, so sorry for the wait for a post. The last 10 days or so have been craaazy busy and somewhat bittersweet. Last weekend was my birthday, which was awesome. My friends went all out for me, buying me really funny and cute presents, getting a group together to go out to dinner, and overall just making me feel really special. Yet, I don't think I've missed home more than I missed it last weekend. It was so strange not being home on my birthday, and I missed my friends and family TERRIBLY. My friends from home were equally as amazing as my friends here though, and my family was spectacular. I got so many unexpected letters and presents and phone calls and I'm so grateful for all of them. Yes, they made me miss home a lot, but they also made me feel really really special on a birthday that I was not even expecting to be that good.

All of last week was once again, up and down. The beverage class I'm in right now is really really cool. Our chef is really laid back, lets us take lots of breaks, text during class, and really respects and understands us. Plus, we basically bartend, taste wine and beer, and learn about alcohol all day! It's quite enjoyable. I'm going to have to make some drinks for my family over Thanksgiving break, I'm getting pretty good. Yet, although class is really fun and great, working has been pretty hard at the dorm, since I've had to deal with some drama I don't really want to go into detail about with my roommates. I think it's pretty much sorted out, but it just gave me a lack of sleep and caused me a lot of stress. You know when you try really hard not to get involved in drama, then it kind of just falls ontop of you? Yeah, that's how I felt. Yet all I could do was try to be a good friend and not get too involved, and I think things are gonna be okay. I realized that late night walks and beach trips are perfect for calming me down and centering myself. I also made a few epiphanies over this week about what I can do to adapt better to college life and be a little more happy and confident:

1) Eat better! I have pretty good eating habits during the week because the food is provided for me, so I try to eat lots of salads and good protein and not a lot of dessert. Yet, on the weekends it is difficult because we have to make our own meals. I need to try to keep those eating habits regular on the weekends to stay healthy and happy.

2) Take more time for myself. At school it's hard because you're around people ALL THE TIME. Which means you also have to deal with their problems and concerns all the time. I love my friends here, but I realized I need to take more time just to myself to relax and focus and center myself.

3) Get a better sleeping schedule. I have to wake up at 6AM every morning to go to class, yet I like staying up late, so I don't get too much sleep. Even though the lack of sleep isn't a huge problem for me, I know that I'll be way better off if I go to sleep earlier, or take more naps. Naps are my new favorite things.

So, those, along with some other resolutions, are ways that I can adapt better to college life. This weekend was equally as good as my birthday weekend, if not better. I spent it with two of my closest friends here. We went to the beach, relaxed, went to dinner, and celebrated Halloween in style. I was a French mime, naturally, and we gave out candy at our dorm and just had a good and really fun night. The warmth down here is still very strange to me though. 90 degrees in November?! What?! I miss the fall.

So, there's an update for you. I'll try to be more regular about posting, this was just a very busy couple of days. Enjoy!

My friends, my habits my family, they mean so much to me.

So meatcutting ends tomorrow, and I am extremely happy. I'm kind of tired of standing in a freezing cold room cutting up dead animals all day. It's somewhat interesting, but I'm ready to move on.

A cold front entered Miami this weekend, and temperatures went down to GASP, 70 degrees?! It was actually really funny because all of the people from down here were freaking out about how cold it was and I loved it. It felt like Massachusetts in September, so I enjoyed it greatly.

Nothing actually really that interesting is going on right now, and I don't really have any good stories, so I feel like this is kind of a pathetic post, but my birthday is Thursday and I'm really excited. My two best friends here are apparently planning a ton of stuff, and my friends from back home are being amazing and sending me gifts and cards and such. When your birthday comes around you really figure out who cares about you. I wasn't expecting really anything so I feel really really lucky.

Anyways, I have to go study for my meatcutting exam tomorrow on different parts of different animals and what cuts of meat come from each animal...interesting stuff....so I'll be sure to update after my birthday festivities are over! Sorry for the lame post.

Au Revoir!

P.S. I miss Ana Buckley. (:

You're what makes New England so great.

So I'm on the last day of my four day weekend. I expected it to be really fun, because I hardly have any homework and hey! It's four days! But it turned out to be RIDICULOUSLY boring. EVERYONE went home for the weekend. Seriously, campus was like a ghost town it was crazy. So there wasn't really anyone to hang out with, which was kind of depressing. I had my friend Jess but that was about it, so we just relaxed a lot. We bought coloring books, cleaned the whole dorm, ordered Chinese food, hung up Halloween decorations, watched a LOT of TLC, WALKED (when we both have cars) down the street to Jamba Juice, etc. It was just pretty lame.

Anyways, I'm currently in meatcutting right now. I have a love hate relationship with this class. I really like the teacher. His name is Chef Lazar and he's from Brooklyn and is just really relaxed and laid back and funny. I think the class is interesting, and I like the idea of butchering...I'm just really slow and kind of bad at it. It was hard to go from being one of the best in my last class to one of the slowest and worst in this class. Meatcutting just doesn't come naturally to me, but I'm pushing along! I've tucked, trussed, and deboned about 10 chickens already, so hopefully I'll be a pro soon enough.

We just booked the ticket home to Walpole for Thanksgiving on November 19th! So excited to get home. I really miss everything, especially fall. Jess and I bought a pumpkin pie and Halloweenified our dorm this weekend because we missed the leaves and what not. I'm thinking about making a giant construction paper tree on the wall with falling leaves that I can play in. It's not the same down here. The palm tree leaves are kind of falling? But they're brown and ugly. I'm a true New England girl through and through...which is why this weekend ALSO was terrible because of the poor Red Sox. There are so many Yankee fans down here so I've been ridiculed and criticized all weekend. I've held my own though, wearing my Sox gear and keeping up with the games so I have something intelligent to say. I'm quite proud of myself. I love that dirty water.

Finally, here's a shoutout to Emily and Natalie, my two crazy friends who have been keeping up with my blog and following me. They're pretty awesome to really care so much about what goes on here at JWU, and I miss them a ton! Thanksgiving break, craziness will ensue. :) Love you both.


Sorry for such a late update! Computer troubles this week. More soon. Beaucoup d'amour. (:

Photograph is Proof.

So because you guys have all been fantastic at following my blog, I thought I'd give you a little treat. Here are some pictures of my life at school! Enjoy.So here I am attempting to bust open this coconut we found on the beach. We named him Coco...pretty lame name right? We liked it though.

Here I am with my two closest friends here. I'm on the left, Jess is in the middle, and Marina's on the right. We had just spent a day at the beach and were in a store in North Miami.

Here I am with my friend Stephanie in the dining room at lunch. We look pretty gross. No makeup or anything is allowed in class, so this is au natural. The blue neckerchief shows that we are Culinary Arts freshmen. Each class and year wears a different color neckerchief.

Here I am with my friends Marina and Mike. We're out to dinner for Mike's birthday at this awesome little Cuban restaurant right next to the school. Deeeelicious. He's wearing a crown I made for him with my friend Jess and I'm holding the card I made.

I'll give you guys some more later! It only allows me to put a few up at a time. More updates will come soon. A bientot!

Oh what a beautiful view, if you were never aware of what was around you.

So I've gotten my first culinary school knife cut. :( I was practicing for my practical the other night slicing up carrots, my knife slipped, and then there was blood. Lots of blood. I cut both my middle finger and ring finger at the same time, and it hurt. But it's okay. I feel like a real chef now, and I did pretty well on my practical! My chef is really really tough, but he liked most of my stuff, so I felt good.

I got picked to work on the line in class the other day. That means I worked to prepare the plates for the dining room, like in a real kitchen. It was super crazy, but wicked fun. I realized that I work best under pressure, which is good for a chef, because you're always under pressure. I think I can handle this industry, and it makes me happy. :) I finish this class on Tuesday, then start Meatcutting...should be interesting?

I'm in the Culinary Community, like I said in an earlier post. We go on different trips and have meetings. It's really fun. Yesterday we went to a fruit and spice park about an hour away from here. It was so cool. We got to try all these different strange fruits like strawberry fruit. It tastes like cotton candy! It was really hot but a really cool trip.

I've been having a lot of fun with all my friends. Going to the beach, making food, talking, dancing around the room and meeting lots of people. We went shopping today for Halloween. We're going to be French mimes. It's gonna be awesome and really cool, we're gonna make up a whole mime routine. Anything French is fine by me. (:

I really miss home though. I miss going to the movies with Dad and watching Top Chef and The Office with him. I miss the color changing leaves, the way they crunch under your feet, the brisk cool air, etc. I miss Bostonians! No one says "wicked" down here, only a few people are Red Sox fans, and people make fun of me for saying "jimmies" instead of sprinkles. I love it down here, but know I'll find my way back to New England. It's not the same down here, and I really have grown to appreciate where I've come from, my family, my friends from home, and of course, Marley. It's really not until you've been away from home for a while that you see and realize how much you love and appreciate it. Please continue to send letters and mail, and I'll try to respond. It makes my day when I get mail, because it's like a little piece of home coming to Miami. I love all the support.

Having a cozy girls night tonight, there's not much going on right now, which is weird for a Saturday night. But I don't mind it. It's nice just to relax. I'll update later! A bientot (:

Hey y'all. This post is going to be a bit short, because I'm absolutely exhausted from class, but I wanted to give you a quick update. I'm in the middle of my Fundamentals class, where we learn basic technique and line work. Basically, it means that we practice our knife cuts, cooking procedures, and speed, all while creating meals for the dining room. It's a pretty intense class, but I really like it. I was chef of the day the other day, which means I get to basically run the kitchen, and that was really interesting, and the chef complimented me. (: He asked me if I did any culinary classes in high school, and was impressed when I said I hadn't, so I felt pretty good about myself.

Get this. For our final lab practical exam we have to make a perfect omelette (French, NOT American, there's a big difference), over easy eggs, tournet a potato, and julienne, brunoise and batonnet a carrot. If you don't know what those are, please look them up, because they're too hard to explain. They are "simple" knife cuts though. "Simple" is in quotations beacause they are actually a huge pain. They have to be perfectly symmetrical and even. Therefore, very frustrating. So, I've cooked about 15 omelettes so far at home (my friends have eaten a LOT of eggs) and I plan on working on my knife cuts and over easy eggs this week, before my final on Thursday.

This post is winding up to be longer than I thought. I wanted to give you a little description of the main people I've been hanging out with here. Probably my two best friends here are Marina and Jess. Marina is one of my roommates. We share both a room and a love for musical theater, which is awesome. We had a huge dance party the other day to Thoroughly Modern Millie and she has a Hairspray poster which makes me really happy. She's from Maryland and is a Baking and Pastry student. My other really good friend is Jess. She's from New Jersey and is a Yankees fan...which causes some contention but we deal with it. She's also in Baking and Pastry, but we have class at the same time and get out at the same time so we hang out a lot, go to the beach, go shopping, etc. She's a lot of fun and a really really good friend. She's not my roommate but she's basically always over. Some of my other close friends are Mike from Tampa who I met at orientation, Zenia one of my other roommates, Gisell who lives next door, etc. I'm meeting a lot of really great people.

I'll give some more updates soon hopefully! This week will be pretty stressful, but hopefully really great. Au Revoir!