Goedendag from Venlo!

Goedendag from Venlo! Or Good day from Venlo, in good auld English.

Yasmine here, this time coming at you from the Netherlands. I’ve been in Venlo for a month now, so far, it’s been a bit of a challenge. Not in relation to the course or the people, but my own stupidity. I lost my phone the day after arriving in Venlo. This caused far more trouble than it should have, as getting replacement sim cards from a different country isn’t as easy as you’d think it is.

However, now, new phone and Dutch sim card in hand life in Venlo can finally begin! As I have been without a phone it has been difficult to keep in contact with the people I’ve met, so my social life hasn’t really had a change to flourish, but it will now. Today I will go to a college sponsored party where I will learn the cultural importance of the local festival, Carnival, which will take place next week. After that my housemate and I are going to a Semester opening party at a local pub to being carnival celebrations.

As I said I’ve been here a month, which means I arrived in Venlo on February 5^th, 2020. I met a fellow exchange student while I was spending a few days in Amsterdam so we traveled to Venlo together, which was nice, and I would recommend to anyone who isn’t traveling with anyone else. A quick message on the Fontys Facebook page had me connected to other students. When we both arrived in Venlo we were met with our ‘buddy’ a fellow student from Fontys that volunteers to look after a newly arrived exchange student. She brought me to my accommodation and stayed with me until I met my landlord and retrieved my keys. That night I arranged to meet with some of the other exchange students at a local pub in order to get to know some faces and relax on our first night. This worked really well and those who showed up on the 1^st day have made a little group of friends.

We had our first day of classes on Monday February 10th; however our timetable is very light, and we have plenty of free time to explore or travel. The workload is geared towards first year students so I don’t feel like it will be very difficult to catch up on topics or indeed to learn new topics. There is one module that is completely group project based, which has to potential to be very fun but also stressful trying to co-ordinate four group members with three different first languages.

I bought a bike to travel in and out of the college, it was relatively cheap and makes getting around Venlo a breeze!

Venlo town is quite a quiet place, it has the feel of a small town in Ireland but has the size and population of a city in Ireland. This means that although there are lots of people and more places to shop, the city itself seems somewhat sleepy. This isn’t a major issue, especially if you want to come here to concentrate on your studies. That being said, the train is centrally located within walking distance of the city centre, student accommodation and the university, so should you like to go out and explore it isn’t much of a hassle.

First month at Gleneagles, Scotland

Hi there,


Louise here, I have arrived in Scotland for my six month placement at the Gleneagles hotel. It is a five star hotel, they are well known for awarding spa and golf course. It is based on a 850 acre estate in the highlands of Scotland. It has hosted important events like G8 summit of world leaders and the golfs 2014 Ryder Cup.





In terms of food in the hotel, it’s hard to pick a starting point. They have many restaurants within the hotel, most of the restaurants are all under the business of the hotel, expect for

Andrew Fairlies restaurant which is in the hotel but is run as a separate business. Andrew Fairlie restaurant is one of best known restaurant in UK, it has two Michelin stars. It is only restaurant in Scotland to hold the two Michelin stars.

In the hotel there are many different restaurants, they range from fine dinning to casual as a cafe. They all have there own kitchen for each restaurant. What I love about it is all desserts in each restaurant is coming from the one pastry kitchen. That is where I am working for my placement.   
                                
The pastry kitchen is a whole kitchen of its own. It is working 24 hours a day for 7 days a week. Bakers come in a night and bake all the bread needed for all kitchens as well of scones, doughs, croissants ect. Their is about 22  pastry chefs working in this kitchen. Everyday team is split into sections for the different restaurants. It is a very good team, if one section is under pressure all the other sections  will step in and help get it done. They are very welcoming and want you to learn as much as you can while your here.

On arrival a few buses and taxis to get here but that was because I didn’t know what buses ran where. It is located above Edinburgh and Glasgow, about the same distance from each. A bus runs from right outside the staff accommodation to Perth and Stirling. There is a train station near by to get to Edinburgh and   Glasgow. I arrived on a Sunday and had two days of induction on Monday and Tuesday. They are very good to staff here.

Settling in to college life in The Netherlands!

Clara here now reporting from the Netherlands living here and attending Fontys University of Applied Sciences in Venlo. So far I have been really enjoying it over here and have attended more parties than lectures! I moved over here with two other girls, Kate and Yasmine and I think this definitely made it easier to settle in at the beginning however there are a huge number of exchange students here so there is no shortage of people to make friends with and socialise with if you were to come on your own. all exchange students are placed in the same three apartment blocks and lots of events are organised within the first few days giving everyone a chance to get to know each other.

Mexican party night!

The accommodation is excellent and only a 10-minute walk from the college and into the city of Venlo, which is a very nice and friendly town, easy to get around and has everything you could need.

As there is so many exchange students here everyone is constantly looking for things to do together and want to learn about all the different cultures so being Irish, we introduced everyone to Gaelic football, a big success! Some of the Mexicans also cooked us traditional Mexican food and showed us Latina dancing.

Mexican party food!

So far, I’ve really liked the college itself, its very new, modern and has a very relaxed easy-going atmosphere even our timetable is quite light, and the lectures are very chilled. We have only had a few lectures, but I have enjoyed them all and enjoyed learning
something completely different and new to me. However, I am now in sixth semester and we have been placed in second semester here partly due to the fact that we are chefs who are doing quite a practical course and don’t have a huge amount of knowledge regarding business. I can definitely see the positives and negatives of this, we are a lot more mature than are class mates and have a lot more experience when it comes to balancing college, study and socialising which I think will stand to us when it comes to exams.

Kate at the food market

Living in the Netherlands already has many perks, after only having college for two weeks we already have a week off for a big festival they call Carnival which they take very seriously, this gives us the opportunity to travel a bit. The Netherlands is very central making it easy to travel quite cheaply on the trains. We have planned a trip to Amsterdam and then onto Dusseldorf and Cologne for our week off with some friends which I could never have done at home In Ireland. I’m looking forward to seeing what the next few months bring!

First week in Venlo, The Netherlands!

Hello again, this is Kate back with my posts! I have not posted in a while as I was at home in Ireland… it wasn’t interesting enough to tell you about! However, I have landed in the Netherlands, this day last week. I am attending the Fontys University of Applied Sciences.

I’m going to tell you a little bit my social life here so far, as it is week 1, a lot of classes have been simply an introductory, rather than hard study class! 

The night I arrived in Venlo, myself and Clara went out for dinner together just the two of us. We discussed our fears of having no friends, and that we were glad to have each other if the worst came to the worst. We ate our food and began to stroll home… that’s when the fun began and has not stopped since! We walked past a pub where our friend Yasmine was sitting outside with some other students. We began chatting to them and suddenly there was a group of about 20 exchange students from all over the world! All strangers to me… but after about an hour we all felt like best friends. We all live in the same apartment complex. So far we all see each other every day, eat and drink together; pretty much everything, apart from sleeping in the same bed!

Even though we are only here one week, we already have a very stable group of friends. Only today, we booked a weekend getaway together to Amsterdam for two weeks’ time. That is the weekend of the 21st of February. That week, we have a week break from college for a very famous Dutch holiday known as Carnival. So far, I have heard nothing but crazy things about this holiday. Apparently, it’s a week of drinking, partying and dressing up in funny costumes. After Amsterdam, we are going onto Dusseldorf and then Cologne.

Tonight, the international office is hosting an event for all exchange students as an introduction to Carnival. I really admire and appreciate the effort and work that the international office has done to welcome all the exchange students into their environment on Thursday the 6th of February, an introduction day was held for all exchange students. Here, we received so much information about the socialising in Venlo. We were given the dos and don’ts, and the good and bad things about Venlo. After our information session, we were brought to a bowling alley where we played bowling and laser tag. All of this was paid for, including food and drinks. I personally felt that this really created a great environment for friendships to be created.

On Friday the 7th, the International Office, held a lunch for all the exchange students again. Here, we were given prizes and had a delicious lunch, again all for free of charge.

Majority of students received a prize. I got a football... I was thrilled with this as I was wanting to teach my new exotic friends Gaelic football. About 20 students headed to a green area and there we played a very aggressive but fun game of something that resembled our traditional sport of football.

So far, almost every evening the college or the students host an event that everyone is invited to. I firmly believe that Fontys do everything they can for their students and their happiness.

I know I have not been here long, but I do not feel lonely or homesick, I feel as though I am going to make friendships and memories for life. I have already began teaching Pilates classes in my kitchen! All my new friends are very eager to learn a new sport... as most of them had never done a Pilates class previously. I have also joined a mixed soccer team! I’m not that great but I enjoy being outside and getting to know new people all the time and also a new hobby.

I really look forward to what they next six months have in store for me.

Talk to you soon, 

Kate.

Last stop ... Polar Express!

Hello again to whoever may find themselves reading this, I’m back with my third and final blog post about my time and experience up north in The Slieve Donard Resort and Spa. This final post is going to focus on the final month of the placement, what one could expect if they do decide to follow in my footsteps and just my own tips and tricks for you to take on board.

The month of December is incredibly busy but is also broken down into different weeks of how busy it is and for what reason.To briefly explain:

•  First week of December: A new menu is introduced and a number of weddings will take place around this time. I believe this year we did between two or three in the opening week along with the new menu.
• Second week of December: This is the introduction of polar express, a 10 day event which began in the Slieve Donard and has since been adopted by one of its sister hotels (The Culloden) which sees 8,000 people come through the hotel over the course of 10 days. 
• Third week of December: This is the build up to Christmas, Christmas itself and Stephens' day.
• Fourth week of December: This is the final week leading up to New Years and all the festivities which lead to that.

Week 1

I myself missed most of the opening week of December. Leading into the build up to Christmas hours will be extended and days off will be reduced (to be expected really) so in preparation Hazel (the Head Chef) does her best to give people their owed Holidays leading up to it and to have their Christmas early. I was owed about 2 weeks’ holiday by the time I was finishing up so I had the opening week off to go home, see family and make a start on my preparation for my college application for JWU Providence. But having been kept in the loop by my work mates the opening week is a warm up. People are becoming familiar with the new menu and gearing up for the following week. It’s all about repetitions and confidence and increasing the speed for the busy period ahead.

Week 2

So this is all Polar Express and it slightly extends into the third week. As stated above, we did 8’000 people over the course of 10 days. It’s not that you’re serving 8’000 people in the restaurant but the hotel transforms in this period. Rooms are completed redecorated and done to fit the theme (Just check out the Slieve Donards Instagram pinned story to see), A roller-coaster set up behind the hotel, a functioning train going around the ground of the hotel, basically the whole works. The kitchens job is to provide snacks and treats for each of the different events as on top of the regular day to day needs of the kitchen. The tasks you’re doing are easy but it’s just the volume which is what catches you, you need to be working quickly because you have    people coming in every few minutes for top ups of x, y and z.

Week 3

This is polar wrapping up (which just seems to get busier and busier each day) and then your preparation going into Christmas and the events in which they have for that. The Christmas period in theory is daunting but it’s not as bad when you’re in the middle of it. They did a set Menu for Christmas eve and St Stephens day and broke Christmas down into buffets throughout the hotel. I think we did about 500 or 600 in total for them. When you’re in the buffet it’s fine, it’s just the prep beforehand and to ensure you’ve enough to cover everything which is the hard work but when you do it together as a team that’s when the work becomes easiest. I remember sticking around after work on Christmas eve with the head chef and one of the other chefs who lived in the hotel to help prepare for Christmas the coming day, just finished out a 12 hour shift and stayed with her till 3:00 am to just do some basic work like peeling down vegetables and likes and then coming back into work at 10:00am.

I think the hardest part about this period is just being away from family, you know what you sign up for and if you’re away then you’re away but when you’re working as hard as you do in a kitchen it’s hard to get in a festive spirit or get to make those phone calls to relatives you want to. I know myself I didn’t have my Christmas dinner until January 25^th or something because of the availability of my brother and sister once I got back!

Week 4

You defeated Christmas (or it defeated you, probably a bit of both). This last week leading into New Years is a busy one for Weddings, The Slieve Donard had 4 weddings in that week, one a day so the prep was constant on one side of the kitchen while the other focusing on service that coming night. The constant wedding after wedding can be a bit awkward to prepare for but it allows you to get into a rhythm working in them. You become more comfortable with the setups, what’s needed at the various points and allows you to learn at a faster pace which helped me because it was my last week there to have learned that last section before going.

What would I say to you ...

'The Slieve' is a great place to work. You have a great learning environment there to grow and develop and I know what I had spoken away with them and getting the work plan done by them it’s something they will carry on for future students. It’s been the most popular spot for students from WIT so far and you just have to read any of the other blogs by past students to see they would all say the same thing. But do your research or even better, make a trip and see it for yourself. The company want students and I’m sure if you reached out and enquired about a visit they would accommodate and show you what they have to offer. The dynamic of the kitchen can change so quickly based on the personnel in it so that’s for you to go and see for yourself.

Newcastle isn’t the most exciting town so if you drive that’s a massive bonus, you can make the most of Belfast on your days off and just travelling in general but in saying that if you don’t then it’s that big of a deal. The hotel is next to a bus station so you can get around just as easily.

You can build up a reputation on a more local scene. Working up North allows you to work with various chefs who can find themselves anywhere across the north and when you work with them and build that relationship with them, you’re always easier to contact for future opportunities. I know myself I had a few job offers from different chefs up there, ones I worked with who moved on or from ones I played football with and how my colleagues spoke about me which is flattering.

Most importantly do what is best for you, it can be great to leave and travel half way across the world and it can be just as good to stay and be 4 hours up the road. My mind went from working in London to then Banff and then having had some personal things happen in my life I was happy to work up North. To be available if needed. It’s just personal choice but the opportunities are there for you, but, I would say to remember you’re a student and there to learn not just to work so always keep that in mind and always push to learn more because that’s the most important thing on placement.

Hope you find some of this helpful, until my college blogs ...

Calem

London at Christmas!

In the last few weeks in the bakery, things got very busy as we were getting closer to Christmas, with orders almost doubling every day from what they were and the hours also getting earlier and longer in order to get everything out on time. I have not moved away from making artisan bread, only when the pastry team need some extra help with the 1000’s of mince pies and ginger bread men on order, every day you couldn’t help but feel Christmassy!

Outside the bakery Christmas was well and truly underway. In London, Christmas began in early November, with the various ice-skating rinks opening up around, the switching on of the Christmas lights ceremony for almost every street and of course Winter Wonderland, there’s really no better time to be over there if you want to get into the Christmas spirit!

Luckily, I’ve been getting to do a lot more wondering around and sightseeing as it is coming to the end of my placement.  On my last post.  On my days off I did my best to try get around to all of the Christmas markets and have managed quite a few, with Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square being two of them and of course South Bank where you’ll find the most impressive market. Winter Wonderland is a must see if you are in London, located in Hyde Park which makes it that bit more special, it’s a mix of food stalls, craft stalls, amusements and has a general all round Christmassy feel to it but better off going mid-week as the crowds at the weekend are huge!

A wonder around Harrods was also on my list while I was here, the food hall in particular which is not like anything else, the presentation and their displays alone are amazing and that’s before you’ve even got to taste anything, it’s definitely worth a look!

Another area I am happy I explored was Notting Hill and it really is as picturesque as in the film, with endless little cafes and bookshops and perfectly kept streets, you feel that you’ve step out of London for a while!

Overall, working and living in London was a great opportunity. Living and working in a city was completely new to me but a great experience and I feel that I will take the new and improved skills I learnt from Paul Rhodes Bakery with me to wherever I end up next!

All the best from London,
Clara.

The Slieve Donard Resort and Spa Co Down

 Meet the Team:Meet the Team:

To begin, a special thank you has to go with all the incredible people I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside for 6 months who grew from colleagues to friends and although I can’t name everyone I would like to make a special thank you note to the likes of Paddy, Marty, Jinx, Iwona, John, Emma, Kim, Kat, Ali and Andrea.

Of course the kitchen as many of you are aware is an ever evolving thing, chefs are chaotic and sporadic and keeping a nucleus of chefs is no easy task but I hope for the sake of anyone reading this that would decide to make the move up north and follow in the footsteps of the previous five students to date who passed through it before you then you would also get the pleasure of working with these incredible people listed above.

To begin, a special thank you has to go with all the incredible people I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside for 6 months who grew from colleagues to friends and although I can’t name everyone I would like to make a special thank you note to the likes of Paddy, Marty, Jinx, Iwona, John, Emma, Kim, Kat, Ali and Andrea.

Of course the kitchen as many of you are aware is an ever evolving thing, chefs are chaotic and sporadic and keeping a nucleus of chefs is no easy task but I hope for the sake of anyone reading this that would decide to make the move up north and follow in the footsteps of the previous five students to date who passed through it before you then you would also get the pleasure of working with these incredible people listed above.

The Head Chef:

I think it’s important for anyone to understand who you’re going to work for/with and in this instance meet the head chef of the Slieve Donard, Hazel Magill.
I can’t depict her achievements as well as her CV would but one thing I know for sure which anyone would be proud of is Hazel being the company’s first female head chef who hopes to inspire a new generation of female chefs in Northern Ireland.

Two things I would like to point out which I found to be two important aspects for working with Hazel is firstly her previous experience in lecturing in colleges up North. The importance of this point can’t be emphasised enough! To have a head chef who has as much knowledge as she does (at times it seems like she has a library of cook books in her head) and is able to answer any question you have (and me being me, someone who wants to learn and question things, I ask A LOT of questions) she has the answer. To even further that point she knows how to interact with you, how to demonstrate and after some conversations back and forth understands your position as a student and wants to help you. She knows how to be a head chef when it’s need but also a lecturer and a teacher to help and guide you.

The second great point I would raise, along with the previous posts by the likes of Rob, Saoirse, Aine and Sinead which you should also read, will all agree Hazel is brilliant for being cool, calm and collective and being an incredible orchestrator.
To quote Daniel Burns, “All we do in kitchens is try to think ahead, plan ahead, and try to say, ‘Okay, if A happens then B you know, how do I avoid C?’ If I want B to happen it’s only a matter of planning”.

Hazel is brilliant for her planning, which is essential when running a large operation which the Slieve Donard does having various functions running throughout the week, sometimes at the same time and
even during service and these things are only capable of getting done by having the correct plan in place.

Hazel is one of the most caring, passionate and genuine people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in my life. I’m fortunate enough now at this point that I would get to call her a friend as opposed to just a boss and that is always a bonus when the people you work for are able to make you feel that way.

My Six Month Work Schedule:

One of the most important things you need to decide after you pick where you want to work is how long you go for. I decided I wanted to make to most of the time, give myself the best opportunity to grow and learn and you can only do that in time and I’m glad I had. My placement was almost broken up into two parts in truth, my first three months and my last three months up there and in that time I was a different chef in those two periods who had two different roles and responsibilities.

July to October – I arrived July 10th which was the agreed upon date on my contract but was treated in a way which wasn’t expected. I had presumed I would come, be given my basic staff room key and would get on with my day but that wasn’t the case. The Hastings group want to show you the bar in which they’ve set so you can match it when you begin. They give you the full work. They give you a room with a view, a meal in the Oak restaurant that night and a preview of the hotel and show you the hospitality they provide each day so you can understand how it is to be carried out. A great touch.

My arrival overlapped with the departure of one of the previous students from the year above, Sinead. This was the ideal scenario for me because I was to become her replacement and for my first two weeks in the Slieve Donard I got to work alongside her during the prep and services to come to terms with the starter section. Two weeks pass and Sinead leaves and the station becomes mine, time to show I can fully prep the station each day for service that night and execute the service to the standard in which they hold. Do that for a week and grow in confidence and speed each day as you become more familiar with your work and your environment and then your attention shifts. You’re no longer doing your prep to reach the standard you were shown but you look at slight modifications and ways you can improve and elevate the dishes while trying to work with the senior chefs around you, bouncing ideas off each other and building your relationships with them.

So too fast forward in time up to October was the arrival of Don for his check in with me. Don arrived just shy of my half way point but up until that point I was only working in starters. After the first month, you’re comfortable in your prep, you’ve made your adjustments and added your touch to the dish and for the last two months my only deviation each day to continue to grow and try something new was a daily amuse bouche which was the responsibility of the starter chef. Some days they were daunting to get done (The amount of times I was up until 5am on my phone looking for inspiration and new ideas to develop myself and impress others was frightening) and others they were your chance to work with a senior chef and get creative, explore the combination of different flavour profiles and textures and learn from them.

From early on working up there I was conflicted with the concept of being an employee and being a student. On one hand, you’re being paid just like the rest, an honest wage to fill a role and carry out a job and on the other you’re also a student on your Erasmus and you’re there to learn and the two need to merge. When Don came I got to sit with him, explain this concept I was battling with and how I was looking to progress and he’s brilliant for being able to open doors and mediate something and so Don I thank you for that. There was a plan in place for me but it was in someone’s head and that’s hard to see and follow when you don’t see it mapped out in front of you and Don helped me have one created. The brilliant thing about Hazel is her door was always open, she was there to talk to and she was happy to speak to me about this. It took some time but she was kind enough to map out this plan and actually gave me a breakdown of my remaining time there, the various sections in which I would be exploring in my last three months so I could have something to work from. In the same way of battling between being an employee and a student you don’t have the same opportunities long term as some other people. I always looked at it as I have a deadline and so you can’t chase promotions or titles but you have to chase knowledge and that was the most important thing for me so having the ability to move up and around expanded my learning and this gave me what I needed, something new.

October to December – After Don left I moved up from starters to the grill in mains. A new challenge for service but also my prep throughout the day. Grill work was something I had done in the past but not for the better part of a year and it takes a bit of time to get into the rhythm of it all and figure out how the senior chefs around you like to operate and how the flow of service goes for mains so there is a bedding in period. To begin it’s daunting but as one senior chef, Marty, used to always say to me “cooking is all about confidence”. Everyday you become more comfortable, better and more confident and when you’re cooking with confidence you’re not second guessing yourself.

About 6 weeks go by with me doing the grill, each time learning something new to improve and to take away from that service. Of course not every day is perfect, mistakes are made but they are learning opportunities. To quote Jayne Ann Krentz: “It's only a mistake if you don't learn from it”.
From the grill the next natural step is to move to the pass where you get to show your creativity on the plate. See how it’s been previously done and how you interpret it. Of course it also let me gain the experience of running the pass in a commanding aspect, calling the dockets, communicating with the kitchen and being the final say as a plate leaves the kitchen. This was a first for me and a real insight into positions I hope to have one day down the line but also shows the level of trust and belief on behalf of the team behind me which is encouraging and flattering.

I ran the pass for about a week straight before rotating between grill and pass depending on the rota for the given week leading up to December which allowed to stay fresh in both aspects. Doing the pass and coming back to grill gave me a further understanding on how I can help the chef ahead of me and helped improve my timing and communication with them because I know myself what I would be looking for from a chef in that position.

This leads into December which saw my role change which I’ll come to in my next post which will highlight the month of December in the Slieve and all it’s glory of the Polar Express and Christmas time up there.

I thank you for reading this and hope it has been helpful for someone in some regard.
Until the next post,
Calem.