ORIENTATION

Today was Orientation. I got to the school a little bit early, and was greeted by one of the chef-instructors. He led me into the dining area of the restaurant and told me to help myself to some pastries, fruits and coffee. We were told these were prepared by current students. I grabbed a a scone and a glass of water and had a seat in the window next to a girl who we'll call "M" for now. We talked for a while before it was time to check in. She's in the same program as me, so you may be hearing more about her. After we checked in we started talking with a girl we'll call "R". She moved here from Idaho to go to OCI.
The President, Program Director, and all the other staff were introduced, some of them gave little pep talks, and then we met the faculty. After they were done speaking, we were called one by one to come get our tote bags full of textbooks, uniforms, and  an OCI coffee mug. They told us we would be given our knives/pastry tools on our first day of class (Monday) and that those of us taking the management courses would receive another 6ish books next week as well.


My OCI "Kitchen Ninja" Bag contained:

3 chef jackets

3 chef pants

2 OCI baseball caps

1 OCI coffee mug

7 textbooks

(that tote bag was ridiculously heavy btw)


My baking text books
   -On Cooking: A Textbook of Culinary Fundamentals
   -How Baking Works: Exploring the Fundamentals of Baking Science
   -Professional Baking
   -The Pastry Chef's Companion: A Comprehensive Resource Guide for the Baking and Pastry Professional
   -ServSafe Essentials
   -On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
   -Culinary Artistry

For those of you keeping track, at Amazon prices that is $487.11 worth of books.

I took my jackets and pants in to be hemmed, and was given a price tag of $81 (ouch) but since I will be wearing them for the next 56 weeks, I would prefer they look nice. They will be ready for me on Sunday.

My schedule for the first class, "Intro to Profession Cuisine," is M-F from 8am-1pm, and will last from 3/12-4/6.
After that I will be taking "Food Ethics & Social Responsibility" for 4 weeks, M-H from 10am-12:30pm, ending on 5/4.

Here we go!

FINANCIAL AID AWARD LETTER

I got my award letter today. They disperse all the money term by term, so I was given a little chart from now until September 4th....which will cover my first 4 terms.

It looked something like this:

The total cost of the program, from start to finish, including uniforms supplies, books, etc., is $30,580 so feel free to use your imagination to fill in the rest of the chart.

BUMPS IN THE ROAD

With orientation in 4 days, and class starting in 7 (yay!) I'm a little anxious that I still havent gotten all my paperwork taken care of. When my FAFSA was "randomly selected for verification" I was asked to send signed copies of my tax return, my parents' 1040, and my mom's Schedule C. I sent them Friday afternoon.

Today I was kind of surprised to get a call from Financial Aid today telling me they need MORE paperwork. They are trying to separate my parents' incomes, (hence the Schedule C), so they can base my Financial Aid (grants, loans, etc.) off of just my mom's income. Apparently, they need more proof that my dad's income is, in fact, my dad's...so now I get to copy and send in a Schedule E (for his business) ASAP before my face-to-face meeting with Beth (from financial aid) on Wednesday at 4:00.

Ugh, I just want this to be taken care of so I can start classes on Monday stress free.

Here's to hoping....