Its been a good long while since I have been inexperienced in a job, and/or am new to its workings. I don't count China as necessarily a new job, as the whole experience itself was new and a lot more involved than just being trained on how to make cappuccinos without killing myself. (I was trained eventually, however tragically my self esteem took some stinging blows in the process)
I started two new jobs in the past three to five months and I'm realizing how slow I really am at learning new tasks. A simple job of assembling sandwiches or pizzas suddenly becomes excruciatingly difficult and I'm forced to consult a chart every ingredient...Making a smoothie almost always results in humiliation and sloppy drinks. However, I have realized the importance of my last job, at Ford Dining Court, and its significant impact upon my next career, whatever it may be. Whatever skills I learned there, I can easily apply it elsewhere; managing time, finding something to keep myself occupied with, successfully conversing with people, understanding the importance of having a good relationship with my coworkers both administrative and peers...the list goes on and on. I've found myself reflecting upon the four years I spent there, merely as a student cook, or a low level student supervisor and I am so grateful that I had the chance to slowly build up those skills. I would not be were I am now without that solid background...so here's a shout out to the place that formed me, a freshmen with much to learn, to a super senior with still a lot to learn...but in a good non soul crushing way.
In about a week, it will have been a year since I boarded that fated flight to China...that flight that whisked me away and set my mind awhirl of new ideas, new perspectives and a plethora of stories to share. Cliche as it might be, I found myself through that journey even if sometimes I can't believe I survived at all. Nothing compares to that experience now, but I wouldn't be able to recreated it even if I tried. Honestly, I wouldn't want to either...that would be like wishing to relive your high school freshman year...ugh.
If there was something I could've told myself as I was there from future me, I would've said this, "Ann...you will freak out and say how much you miss home...spend too much time in your apartment and watch way too much Netflix. The time you have there is precious so go eat more Chinese food." Inspirational no?
I won't obsess about what I should've done; I should've bought more souveneirs for my family and friends, or tried to learn more Chinese, or spent more time wandering around the city/ traveling to other places...I could do that for a while. Instead I believe everything was good in itself, and happened just as it should've.
This was my last spring semester at Purdue*. Realization struck the last week of class, as my senior friends started becoming wistful about leaving, taking pictures at favorite haunts and trying frantically to make last minute memories before they walked across that stage. Maybe because I've been here for five years, I don't feel that urge to connect one more time to campus, and I don't believe I'll miss it that much. Check back in a year though...I have a feeling that sentiment will change.
*Fingers crossed. I should only have the fall semester left and I'm not looking to spend another semester more than I have to.
I've dipped my toes into the catering side of food service and I'm starting to get addicted. Mostly because we get heller leftovers and I get to bring home some awesome food. I've found the pace of it a definite adjustment to what I've done in the past year, but I like being in the back of house, with the hustle and bustle, the teasing and laughter and of course food always needing tasting. I've volunteered to be the top taster but apparently thats not a real thing and no one thinks its necessary.
New opportunities on the horizon are appearing and I'm coiled in anticipation. Some days the future is so bright and gleaming I'm too dazed to look at it. Other times, I look calmly upon what I consider to be an array of delicious possibilities. Its endless where I might go, who I might be, what I might do. Today I wear sunglasses and toast to the year to come.
Also, one of my coworkers in Marriott Hall, who is from Sri Lanka, has decided I was her long lost daughter, and she adopted me. She's 5' nothing, gossips like a hair dresser, and has more than enough sass for the both of us. Her name is Sriyani, but I call her Yanimama. We're celebrating the adoption with a pizza party where I will meet my new, unsuspecting father and brothers. Maybe I should adopt an accent quickly just to add another element of surprise...I'm thinking Spanish....
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