Over the course of a semester at the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, two students take us through the highs and lows of their induction to the tough world of F&B
Nasseem Mirtahmasebi has lived in Dubai for six years and previously studied at Jumeirah College. She hopes to work in Dubai in future.
We had our practical exam last month, which was quite scary to be honest. Personally I was hoping the public holiday would be announced so so we wouldn;t have to do it until after Christmas holidays, but no: everything went ahead as scheduled!
Luckily I was the last group to do the practical exam, so I had the advantage of asking my friends what it was going to be like, what I should start with and whether it was difficult or not.
I mean, we were cooking a three-course meal all on our own for four people — and it couldn’t be beans on toast, either! After speaking to my friends though, I calmed down and was kind of excited about it. The only thing I was worried about was time; as Chef Kitts always says, “your only enemy in the kitchen is the clock”.
The practical went quite well in the end; I did struggle a bit when it came to chopping the vegetables for the soup, but everything went smoothly after that and had all my meals out on time and perfectly plated, which was good. All in all, I think it went really well.
After that, it was time to get ready for the theory exams. Revision week was very hectic; we were staying up until early hours of the morning revising then sleeping for a few hours, waking up, and going over it all again.
Sitting the actual exams was so exhausting I think I slept the whole weekend once they were over! But the exams themselves were quite good. I was mostly scared about the four essay questions we had to write, but thank goodness there was a nice selection to choose from, so I was even quite happy with that.
After that, we moved on to our short placements. I am so happy that I got Grand Hyatt as my short placement venue. For the past week I have been in the kitchen and I absolutely loved it. At the beginning I was standing around, but once I got my chopping board out no one could stop me! So far, I have worked in the butchery area, commissary area and pastry. My favourite has to be pastry — I love cakes. All the staff are really friendly and take good care of you, so I really feel like I’m part of the team.
However I know how hard it is now to work in the real world and just how many hours go into preparing certain dishes. It is really tiring and I come back home just wanting to pass out.
I think the first day was the worst for me because I was so tired — I hardly slept the night before because I was worrying, not knowing what to expect, then kept waking up every hour! But it was all fine and I was panicking for nothing.
I have learnt a lot already, but I’m still not too sure if the F&B side is for me. I guess I shall have to wait until next semester is over to compare all areas of the hospitality industry and see which one suits me most.
Advertisement
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
