Every end is a new beginnning...or something like that

It seems like only yesterday that I woke up 3 hours before class to shower, iron my uniform and compulsively check to see if I had all my supplies for the first day of class. Of course, it didn’t take very long for it to become a half hour before class, staggering into the classroom still buttoning my chef’s coat.

The last few weeks of school are now a blur. It seemed to be an endless series of tests – from written final, to cooking final, to improv final, to group project final. While in the thick of things, I felt like it was never going to end and sometimes like I hadn’t learned a single thing. In retrospect, nerves and a little dash of over-confidence can do that. Let’s just say that I dubbed my practical (or cooking) final as “hot garbage on a plate.” But all in all, I don’t regret anything that happened in those few weeks. I’ll be including a separate entry about our group project.

What can I say about ten months of learning about something I love, making new friends, and discovering a brand new path for my life? This period was an awakening and exorcising of a passion that had been building since I was child. It was truly a completion of a dream. Now I have even more dreams to accomplish. When someone asks me exactly what it is that I want to do with my culinary education, I’m a little stumped because, truly, the real answer is everything. I want to cook, write, travel, teach, become an entrepreneur, and follow whatever opportunity happens to come my way.

But what about the recent future? I certainly have a lot more to say…I like to talk. After finishing my internships, I will work on building my personal chef business, while searching for a part time restaurant job. I’m currently working on my Web site, chefkristine.com, and hope to launch it sometime next month (September 2009).

Epilogue

In the last year, I’ve had so many people divulge to me their secret dreams of happiness. More often than not, I always felt like these dreams were in the realm of possibility and would ask why they wouldn’t go for it. I realize that I am incredibly lucky to have a supportive partner, family and friends to help me through this journey, but I believe when there’s a will there is a way. When I decided to quit my job and follow my dream I was never one hundred percent certain that I would succeed. Um, I’m still not. What I am certain about is that my entire quality of life has changed, sometimes not the way I had hoped, but mostly it’s been pure joy.

As a child I loved the Happiness Is series by Charles M. Schultz. Each Peanuts character had their own version of happiness from French fries to a warm puppy. So complete this sentence: Happiness is …