CIA Confidential

Some noteworthy hypotheses about my future here at the CIA:

1) I will get very fat.

The school provides us with three meals per day, all served buffet-style in the teaching kitchens.  These meals are all cooked by the students - those enrolled in breakfast classes wake up at 3 in the morning to prepare and serve a full breakfast for us, and those enrolled in global cuisine courses switch off to prepare lunch and dinner.
Picture this in your mind: a 14-foot banquet table groaning under the weight of dozens of exotic and creative dishes prepared by a class of 18-20 culinarians, each striving to put forth the best possible product. Nearby, there is a beverage station with fresh squeezed and unique fruit juice cocktails. Across the room, yet another banquet table is filled with the contributions from the pastry students - truffles and cakes and custards and puddings and tiramisus and platters upon platters of cookies.
Each time I walk into this room, even for breakfast at the crack of dawn, I am convinced I am in heaven.
BUT. If I continue to eat like I've been eating for the past four days, I will easily double my weight in about three weeks. Not good. I can only hope my self-restraint, which seems to have abandoned me the second I stepped over the CIA threshold, decides to come wandering back.

2) I will exist in a constant state of exhaustion.

Breakfast is served from 6:30-7:00 every morning, which requires me to catch the shuttle to the school at around 6:15. My roommate and I have settled into a routine that involves waking up at 5:45 and going to bed around 10:00. Unfortunately, I'm still finding it difficult to fall asleep at night, which makes the mornings pretty hard to deal with. And tiredness aside, I can already tell that physical exhaustion will take a toll when we spend 7 hours a day rushing around a hot kitchen.
Aaaaand did I mention the homework? On our second day here we received the textbooks that we would be using for our first semester, which weighed over 80 pounds. This is not an exaggeration. When I get a chance I'll post a photo to prove it.
I get out of class by 1:30 every day thanks to our early morning start time, and I estimate I will be spending about 5 hours per day on homework, from reading the textbooks to memorizing recipes for the next day's class to writing papers on things like the elasticity of gluten fibers and the life-cycle of yeast.

3) I will become extremely disciplined.

In a lot of ways, the CIA reminds me of the military. Rules govern everything here, and no rule breaking, no matter how minor, goes unnoticed. The biggest issue seems to be appearance - if your uniform is not exactly perfect, the chef will ban you from the kitchen. If this is during class it means you don't learn, and if this is during mealtimes it means you don't eat. Period. They can send you home for something as small as an improperly tied neckerchief or a gray stripe on your otherwise white socks. Women should forget about ever wearing jewelry again, and god help the men if they show up with facial hair. I heard a story today about a male student with a five-o'clock shadow who was forced to dry shave his face in the middle of the classroom, then pay the chef for the razor.
They also have very specific expectations for our behavior here. We are not allowed to slouch or lean, we are not allowed to come to class on time (always always ALWAYS early), we are not allowed to address our instructors with anything other than "Yes, chef," "No, chef," or "Thank you, chef." In a lot of ways, they're teaching us to blindly follow the chef's orders. But I suppose that's good because our instructors definitely know what they're talking about when it comes to food, and we have a lot to learn from them.
Also in my time here, I've been noticing the ceremony that surrounds everything. Everything we do is governed by professionalism and order - meals are not served until the head chef rings the dinner bell, the students that prepared the food always eat first, everyone is required to dress for meals in business attire. I actually really enjoy this, since I think it gives the whole school an air of specialness. I mean, seriously, who dresses for dinner anymore? It seems like such an antiquated ritual. But it implies a certain respect for our institution and our industry that I've never before seen or experienced. It makes me feel like a professional and like I'm taking my education seriously.

4) My classmates will become like family.

Most of the 56 people that started school with me four days ago are enrolled in the culinary degree program, so my baking/pastry class only has 16 people in it. It's a small, intimate group, and I feel like I'm already starting to get to know everyone pretty well. I think it'll be great overall to feel like I'm part of a supportive, close-knit group, especially because I know these next two years won't be easy. On the other hand, being part of this new family won't always be a walk in the park. The 16 of us will be spending between 40 and 60 hours a week together for the next two years, and when everyone in the class is competing to be the best, there's bound to be some animosity. So far though, I just feel lucky to be part of such a talented and motivated group. I can't wait for us to finally get into the kitchen.