Final Internship Reflection

My internship is coming to a fast end. Only a couple of days remain before Emma and I bid our farewells to our co-workers, the Burg Staufeneck, and Salach Germany. Unlike most of the interns that the Burg Staufeneck receives from the states, Emma and I chose to continue working in the kitchen until hours before our train to the airport left. It was not just commitment, but we did not want to leave.

Overall, this internship was one of my best working experiences in my life so far. I learned a multitude of new skills, concepts, and have been able to change my perception of plates and food concepts. I learned fundamental basics such as new product identification, meat fabrication, and advanced knife skills. I was taught advanced sushi rolling techniques and had the opportunity to master this skill and work towards speed and accuracy. I learned management skills and team leader proficiencies in working with a group on one station, communication, and team cleaning assignments. I strive to increase my speed in everything that I attempted, which includes knife skills, completion of recipes, and even running from banquet to banquet helping as many different people as possible. I continuously practiced these new skills every day that I worked at the Burg Staufeneck. 880 hours of pure learning experience in total during my internship.

Executive Chef Rolf Straubinger offered me a position at the Burg Staufeneck and expressed how much he wants me to return and work with him. I excitingly accepted and asked him to give me two years to finish my education at Johnson and Wales University and to learn German as a second language. These are my newest short term goals.

I received an A for my internship trimester, completing my sophomore year with a 4.0 GPA, my Associate's Degree in Culinary Arts with a 3.90 cumulative GPA and graduation with Summa Cum Laude.

Thank you for the wonderful life experience and opportunity Burg Staufeneck employees!