As the third installment of our four-part series this fall on the Summer Enrichment Program (SEP), Rhea Jaisinghani ’21 shares about her experience in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Your third summer deepens your focus and encourages you to plumb the depths of your long-held or newfound interests. The Global Perspective summer is an opportunity to conduct an independent research project or learn about a new sector or part of the world through a more traditional internship.

Rhea studied at a culinary school for three months, following a study abroad semester in London, to earn a patisserie diploma.

Rhea: Global Perspective allows you to ask yourself, ‘What do I really want to do? What have I always dreamed of doing that I never thought was possible?’ Ever since the sixth grade, I’ve had my eyes set on culinary school as a food and patisserie lover and as someone who really appreciates the artistry behind the industry as a whole. Thanks to Morehead-Cain, I was able to make a small part of that dream come true. Here are some of my highlights!

One of my favorite parts of the summer was my commute to and from the school. My apartment was in Edinburghʼs city centre, but the school was about a 30-minute bus ride into the countryside.

I missed my bus stop one day and had to walk about a mile back to the school, but I still got a beautiful view from that accidental walk.

The school itself was behind a farm, so I would get off the bus and say hello to the cows before making my way into the building each day.

During the first month in Scotland, I spent time getting to know the city. I walked to the Stockbridge Market every weekend to buy local produce and browse the stands of various artists.

I found a favorite coffee shop, called Milk, on my second day in the city and spent many hours there reading and people watching. If I was motivated enough to wake up early, I would try to grab a cup of coffee before class.

Of course, the main part of my summer was spending eight hours a day in the kitchen classroom. Here are a couple examples of patisseries I created. This is pink French macarons with an orange buttercream filling.

This is a Black Forest gateau, or Black Forest cake, with tempered chocolate.

This is a dish I made for one of my weekly assessments. Itʼs a chocolate pastry with a cardamom pear filling and candied pears.

This is a Fraisier, which includes soft sponge cake, crème mousseline, and strawberries.

One of my favorite creations was for my afternoon tea final assessment. I applied an Indian flavor twist to some of the traditional French and English cakes we had learned in class, such as pistachio cheesecake and curry scones.

The school gave us many opportunities to learn outside of the classroom. I spent four days on a work placement in a Michelin-star restaurantʼs kitchen working with the head pastry chef. It was quite the learning curve, but truly something to check off my bucket list.

I worked some jobs with the school catering at various events. This is the view from the Secret Herb garden where we catered a small garden party.

We took a field trip to a strawberry farm about an hour from the school. Our head chef was adamant that we understood where the food we baked with came from, which I appreciate greatly.

I was able to have a little fun on my own as well that summer. My good friend, Francie, also from the Class of 2021, visited me for the weekend.

We spent time walking around the city and having picnics.

I took a solo weekend trip to the Scottish Highlands where the views were breathtaking.

Sometimes you have to just go out and visit sites on your own.

I met a friend in Amsterdam for the weekend and we also traveled to a small mountain town outside of Munich, Germany. I am so incredibly grateful for all these opportunities to bake, travel, and learn from around the world.

I decided to take a chance on the Global Perspective summer and pursue something that I really thought I’d never be able to do. I plopped myself into a new city, completely alone, and decided to just go for it.

It was one of the best three months of my life; I can say that with full confidence. I encourage any of you who are interested in traveling, or pursuing a hobby that you’ve put on the back burner, or just pursuing your dreams in general, to really take advantage of the Global Perspective summer.

If you want to learn more about my time in Scotland, I made an Instagram account where I posted all the pictures I took @rhea_in_scotland as well as a blog, so please feel free to check those out. Stay safe, wear a mask, and please be kind to one another! Thanks for following along on my Global Perspective summer. —Rhea Jaisinghani ’21

You can view Instagram Stories Highlights for the Summer Enrichment Program series on our account @moreheadcain.