This is a shout out to all of the culinary majors who know that no amount of stain remover will tackle that red wine from dining room 4 days ago.. or that pizza sauce from your bread lab practical.. or that dark chocolate from when you thought you could just push the entire bowl across the marble table like a smooth bartender from a movie. Cheers to you, because there is more to becoming a chef than putting on an apron, grabbing a fancy butter knife, and making your babe a sandwich. But, I'm sure you already know the struggle is real, all 22 of them:
1. "Yes, Chef" has become your go-to reply for, well, everything.
2. And it comes in handy when trying to explain to your chef that your group products are only as good as your weakest partner (which, for once, you don't think is you).
3. You have a list of food puns longer than your resume hanging on your bedroom wall, ready to be used at any given moment.
4. Which makes up for the fact that your tool kit has more items missing than it probably should.
5. But you don't allow yourself to feel too bad about it, because you're pretty sure the girl from your bread lab last term would like to have her bench knife back.
6. Lab shoes are killing your vibe..and your back..and seemingly every joint in your body.
7. Your lab pants have also become your lounge pants (and let's not get started on the sea of white T-shirts that flood campus on any given day).
8. Basically, labs have consumed your life.
9. Which results in your love/hate relationship with them.
10. When you're not in labs, you spend most of your free time in the laundry room.
11. Where you use your collection of bleach pens, Tide To Go, and a whole bottle of Shout just to make sure your uniform is spotless for inspections on Monday (all while defending your washer so your newly cleaned uniforms don't end up on the floor).
12. You joke that if the food industry doesn't work out for you, at least you can be a professional "iron-er."
13. Shopping for school clothes consists of buying a 24 pack of Hanes white T-shirts and crew socks.
14. But it doesn't end there, because you have a compulsive need to buy sharpies every single time you go to Wal-Mart.
15. Your plans to reach your aesthetic goals have been put on hold..indefinitely.
16. But, if you decided to test your lab fate, you have become a master at hiding piercings and dyed hair.
17. The new nose ring is a ray of sunshine, though, because finals have you feelin' some type of way.
18. So do practicals..and projects.
19. Every nine days.
20. Which is why you feel zero pity when you see your friends complaining about their four or five finals per semester on Facebook.
21. You go to bed every night with aching feet, cut hands, and burned arms.
22. But you wake up and do it all over again because there is nothing you love more than being in the kitchen.