Spring Break

G’day mates! Welcome back to another exciting journey. Usually around spring break time I am getting ready for a trip down to Florida or somewhere warm. This year was different because I had to save up for my backpacking trip in Europe this summer. Although I wanted to go on a small trip somewhere, I had to look at the big picture ahead. Anyways my Spring Break kicked off with me celebrating St. Patty’s Day on March 17. The day was filled with recognizing the Irish culture, and having everything in green apparel. I had a blast hanging out with friends, singing, eating and drinking. I am super excited to visit Ireland this summer to see everything first handed in green. Throughout spring break I was able to take care of errands, and did a lot of cleaning around the house and car. I remember when I was younger I used to hate spring cleaning, but now I cherish it more for some reason. I guess it is one of those things you tend to like over a period of time.
Since I didn’t have to work as much through break I had the chance to watch a couple of my favorite seasons of television shows. The television shows I recommend watching are the season of WEEDS and How I Met Your Mother. I recommend these shows because they are funny and each episode brings on new journeys. Since I had a lot of free time at night I finished a single season in one night.
To finish off my spring break I ended the week off hanging out with friends from school. We all headed up to Appleton, to go shopping and for supper. We first went to Fox River Mall to find some items on sale, and look for some items for our ethnic restaurant class. We had a blast hanging out and just enjoying our time off from school. We wish we could hangout more, but with work and school it is hard. We do indeed make the best of everything and have a good time.
Cheers,
Lee IV

Our Journey to Madison

Happy Friday Mates! On March 16, my friend Sophia and I headed down to Madison, to finish booking our Europe trip at the STA (Student Travel Agency) store. As we were driving down the weather was nice, but midway through our journey we had to drive through fog. Fog is one of the weather conditions I don’t like driving through because I can’t see what is around. As we got closer to Madison the fog lifted up, and the weather was beyond amazing. Nothing beats a sunny day in Madison because there is so much to see and do. As we entered the STA Company we were greeted with friendly service, and our agent Jessica helped us with all of our travel plans for a month. After we finished booking our trip, we meet up with Sophia’s friend for lunch. Once we finished getting lunch, we went shopping. We didn’t find much but we did enjoy walking around looking at several of shops, and coffee shops. Afterwards since Sophia’s friend, Casey, attends the University of Wisconsin - Madison, she gave us a mini tour of the campus. It is amazing how many people attend UW-Madison and how big this campus is, it is like a small community within itself. As soon as the fun was starting it was time for us to head back to Fond du Lac because I had to work. I must say our journey to Madison was well worth it, and I hope to visit Madison again because there is so much to do. Well mates I hope you enjoy this journey because there is more to come! See you soon!

Cheers,
Lee IV

Tour of Moraine Park’s Beaver Dam campus

Welcome back Mates! March 14 was the day I was able to take a tour of Moraine Park’s Beaver Dam campus. That was the day I sat on a committee to help pick a nominee for the Student of the Year Award. I represented as the Student Ambassador and I sat with three other members from the three Moraine Park campuses. We interviewed 13 nominees for the award, and I must say each person had a unique personality and story about them. I was glad to sit on this committee because I was able to meet students who I never met before. Throughout the day I was able to tour around the campus to see what the campus had to offer. Although it’s a small campus, the Beaver Dam campus is in the process of renovating for a new library and a new student center. I’m looking forward to seeing the renovations once the project is complete. At the end of the day the committee concluded who should be nominated for the Student of the Year Award. To find out who was elected you can find out on May 4 at the Student Recognition Banquet in Lomira. As we left the campus I headed home to have dinner with my friend from Moraine Park to eat at Perl’s in St. Peter. The food was tasty, especially since the wings special was all you can eat for $7.99. I recommend if you want to try something new to check out Perl’s. Well mates after a long productive day, It’s time for bed, ciao!
Cheers,
Lee IV

Fun Day in March

G’day Mates, welcome back to another exciting voyage back to Milwaukee. On March 13, I headed back down to the Food Expo with the baking crew early in the morning. The baking crew was preparing quick breads and other tasty treats to demonstrate for guests to learn new techniques. Since they were doing that I was able to check out the show floor since I missed it the previous day because of competing. I met a lot of people that day from Fox 6, reporter Justine, Cheese Lady Sarah and many others. I was astonished about all the people I was networking with because they gave me a lot of tips of how I can improve my goals and help others with theirs. Not only did I talk to a lot of people, I was able to eat a lot of tasty foods from steak to gyros. The abundance of samples made me full, but I made sure I tried everything to experience flavors I never had before. I recommend if you ever have the chance to check out a Food Expo you should, otherwise you are missing out on a lot of things. After having a good time at the Food Expo it was time to head back to Fond du Lac, because I had class that evening. I must say although I haven’t had much sleep this week, I am having a great time! On my next voyage I’ll be sailing off to Moraine Park’s Beaver Dam campus. I am excited to tour the campus and help select a candidate for the Student of the Year Award. See you soon, ciao!

Cheers,
Lee IV

Game Day

G’day Mates! Monday, March 12 was the official day of the hot plate food competition in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the American Airline Center. After a day of practice our team was feeling pretty good about winning today, although we were a little nervous. I learned if you are nervous about something, that it means you really care about the thing you are doing. As we approached our destination I was becoming super excited to get our food competition started to show what we can bring to the table. Since we had some time to spare before we started, I decided to check out the keynote speaker Duff Goodman. He is famous for his hit television show Ace of Cakes on the Food Network channel. He was an excellent speaker; I was able to take a couple of pictures, and video clip of his presentation. Shortly afterwards it was time for our team to get ready for our competition. We started to plan out what order things were going to be cooked in, then once 12:30 hit it was time for us to start cooking. In the beginning we were talking, laughing, and having a good time because this is what we do best. Midway through the competition things got a little scary because some of the food wasn’t turning out correctly, but we kept our cool and “shake and bake.” The judges kept coming around, checking to see how well we were doing, and asking us questions about ourselves and food. With 5 minutes left we were pushing for time, and then within 30 seconds left I realized I needed to plate my rice. So I quickly ran to grab the rice and shape it on the plate, and then ran the plate to the judges. I felt like the television show, Chopped, when a contestant almost forgets the key ingredient, which is one feeling when your stomach just drops. Afterwards we clapped and took a group picture. Afterwards we had some free time to walk around before the judges came around to critique us.

Thirty minutes passed and the judges came by to critique us, and it wasn’t too good. The way we were judge on didn’t seem like the judges liked our food because there were mixed reviews. After that our confident level went down, and we thought our chance of placing was shot down. Therefore going to the award ceremony we were sad, but something changed our feeling. As they announced the 3rd place winner, they called out Moraine Park team 2. We were stunned; I was like is this real and once it was, I jumped in joy and I think I screamed a little but it didn’t matter because I was glad our team placed. We haven’t placed in four years, so this was a huge accomplishment. Afterwards we took group pictures with our medals and trophy. After an emotional rollercoaster day, our hard work paid off. Some of us were even thinking about competing again, and our next goal is to beat Fox Valley Tech since they came in first this year. We headed home in tears of joy and celebrating our goal. Well mates after a long emotional day, it is time for me to dock the ship because there’s another early voyage tomorrow as I finally get to check out the Food Expo floor. Until then ciao!

Cheers,
Lee IV

Practice Day for Wisconsin Restaurant Expo Competition

Ahoy Mates! March 11 was one of my longest days because we were practicing for our hot plate competition in Milwaukee. Although we were told by our instructor it would be a long day, going through the emotions can take a toll on the body. Since we were determined to win, our team did whatever it took to place in the competition. The hardest part about this day was it was so warm and lovely outside that unfortunately we had to stay inside and cook in a warm kitchen. I learned dedication is a key factor in doing anything in life because motivation will guide you through obstacles that may occur. Throughout the day we changed our menu to fit our likeness until we felt which foods would be the winner. After going though several recipes we finally picked which food we were going to compete with. That was the easy part compared to the rest of the task we had to do for the rest of the day. We had to make a checklist to make sure we had everything to bring down to Milwaukee with us, then once that process was finished we had to cost out our menu. As the day ended we were beyond tired, and we were at Moraine Park for 12 hours. Once we finished it was time for us to head home, but I decided to go bowling to release some stress and have some fun. I headed over to Ledgeview Lanes to bowl three games. I did pretty decent for not bowling for a month. My averages were around 155 for all three games, but I was just glad to get some fresh air before competing the next day. Afterwards I headed home and got some sleep for the big event day. On my next blog I’ll tell you about my experience at the Wisconsin Restaurant Expo event in Milwaukee. I will even have some mini clips of my journey. Stay tuned, ciao!
Cheers,
Lee IV

Lunch ‘n Learn

G’day mates! Welcome to another journey! On March 6, Student Life held a Lunch ‘n Learn event for students to attend speaker, Adam LoDolce. Adam LoDolce is America’s dating coach on social freedom. He is also known for his best seller book “Being Alone Sucks” and was seen on numerous television networks. His focus is to break social norms, and to challenge our self by talking to people who we don’t know, and meeting new people. When I saw posters about Adam coming to Moraine Park, I made sure to check out the event because this is something right up my alley, to speak and meet people. During this time we were offered free lunch with our student I.D. card. On the menu we had an open nacho bar, ice cream, and a choice of beverage. Everything was good especially since it was free, so I couldn’t complain. As Adam spoke I gained some useful tips I can use in my life. Such as learning the number one thing people fear in life is Public Speaking, which is interesting because we speak to people every day. Adam pointed out how he made a difference in his life by changing his old appearance, and doing things he wanted to do. There are a lot of things you can learn from Adam LoDolce. You can check out his homepage at http://ultimatesocialfreedom.com/dating-expert/ . I am also looking forward for the upcoming event Student Life has to offer for the upcoming month. Until next time, ciao!
Cheers,
Lee IV