While still waiting for my flight to Paris I’m listing everything that concerns me the most in the entire upcoming year. Not necessarily in that order.. This will be an updating page, so keep posted.

1. Cutting a finger off. As inevitable as it is to get a cut, I hope for nothing too serious. I read in some other student blog about her finger cut and she said that the knifes are so sharpen, she didn’t feel the cut until the blade hit her bone. Yaiks!

I have had some cuts and burns but nothing serious, didn’t hit the bone or anything like that, though I’m aware that it’s pretty much inevitable in the long run. The pain of the cut is not too bad, what’s annoying is having to stop everything, clean it, go for the first aid kit, discover the bandages just ran out, go down to the nurse, waite for her to finish a phone call of 15 minutes, take the bandages, put this rubber protector from the water. Go back to work and then after loosing that time, having more difficulty using the hand now that it’s bandaged and wrapped in rubber.

2. Physically hard work that I will not be able to handle. That includes the hours of standing, lifting and caring heavy stuff (I have weak arms!), and neck pains that I have tendency to develop along with migraines. I worry this will either prevent me from functioning normally or will cause some more damage.. Like the advil addiction I’m trying hard to avoid… 🙁

The most surprising thing for me is that I felt pretty good. There were things to carry, like pots with hot liquids which is the worst, but I came back every evening full of energy, couldn’t go to sleep. And the neck pains frequency got lower. Important tip: have a personally made insole for the shoes, they are pretty shitty pair and this thing kept me standing with no leg pains or something like that. 

3. Being disappointed. I have high expectations so it’s easy to get disappointed. Of the program, of the staff, of the class mates, roommates, etc…

It wasn’t perfect but if you consider all the culinary schools’ programs available all over the world, I think I made the best choice. Ferrandi is so professional, great teachers,  big kitchens with a lot of equipment, the program is very diverse but comprehensive. We got very good products, we cooked delicious food which then I took home and kept eating. We had the restaurant, the regional meals, the special courses (bread, charcuterie, fish..) and pastry day once a week. It’s a great program, no doubt. 

4. Hot and cold. It gets so hot in the kitchen, will I melt away? It gets so cold outside at winter, I’m not used to cold weather. Will I freeze?

There were some days when we opened all the stoves and the ovens, then the heat was bothering. It was not as bad as I thought, just while taking stuff in and out of the oven or standing in front of the stove while it’s one of these days when you really get sweaty. After the second day I got used to it. The cold was maybe harder for me to handle. Some days I had to work mainly in the garde manger where there’s a constant cold wind to cool down the room. Standing there filleting fish was freezing. I had to put a bucket of warm water to defrost my fingers and once in a while go back to the kitchen and warm my hands over the stove. 

5. Leaving Shuarmi (my cat) for the care of my family. It makes me nervous because I worry he’ll run away, cry to my parents, get even bigger and couch potato.. Also It’s gonna be hard without this huge lump of soft fur to cuddle with.

Was as hard as I thought. I wish I could have him here to cuddle. 

6. Having to decide again what to do after this year finishes. Will I be in the same state of mind? Will anything change?

Nothing changed with this fear.

7. Gaining a lot of weight from all the butter and fois gras. I love fois gras, and it’s hard to stop sometimes.

I did gain a bit of weight over the past 5 months. Not too much considering all the food I ate, all the butter and cream, the duck fat and the baguette. Lets just say that the exams period in the university was worse! It’s under control and I believe working hard in the stage will make me go back to normal in no time. 

8. The French. Reading will be easier, but I find it so hard to understand people talk (they talk fast!) and speak for myself,  still lacking so many words and vocabulary.

Unfortunately I was hoping for a faster progress with my French. The French classes in school were a joke and I leaned a lot of the profession terminology and vocabulary in the kitchen and homework. I still find it very hard, I wish school classes were more in French than they were, but at least I can read recipes in French now pretty easily.