Syllabus Day

**Note: this post was written on Monday 8/30! (I am desperately trying to get caught up!!!)**

European electrical outlet: 1
Remington T Studio hair straightener: 0

I fried my first American electrical appliance this morning while running around trying to get ready for my orientation...Oh well, it was old anyway, and I look at it more as a rite of passage or something...

So, naturally, me being me, I was literally flying out the door at the very last second in order to get there on time, and believe it or not, I was EARLY for my 09:30 orientation!!  We started off with a welcome session and went through the standard first day of school administrative stuff.

As I was sitting in the classroom kitchen, I could hardly pay attention because I was so excited, and I couldn't believe that I was actually there (and I couldn't wait to get the schedule so I can spend time carefully putting everything into my day planner...)!!  Sometime between arriving in Paris and walking through the front doors for the first time, I got this wild hair that I would actually sign up for the Grand Diploma -- which would award me with a Diploma in both the Cuisine and Pastry programs (9 months total, plus a 4 month internship).  I eventually came back to reality and decided to start off with registering for the Basic Patisserie course (in addition to the Basic Cuisine class I was already taking).  My plan is to figure this out a little bit down the road, and sort out whether or not I wanted to invest a lot more time and money into this crazy adventure (I am banking on a brick falling from the sky and telling me what to do...I will let you know if that happens).  After a little bit of haggling with the Admissions Office, my badge said BC and BP --- I still haven't picked up the revised one yet, but I'm pretty sure that is what is says...I hope...

Anyway, back to Orientation Day!  We took a tour around the school, which took about 5 minutes...I kid... but seriously, I think there is a competition or something for the number of people they can fit into 3 teeny, tiny floors and a basement...it is nuts...let's add some hot ovens, knives, burners, etc...you get the drift.  THEN, we got to the REALLY fun stuff --- our uniforms and really expensive, super wonderfully nice knife set!!!!!!!!

In total, we got:

3 uniform jackets

Pretty official, huh?  What am I doing here?!

2 pairs of pants
2 neck ties
3 tea towels
3 aprons
2 hats (think WWII nurse meets Waffle House short-order cook...)

AND the coveted knife set...

ready to see it yet???  Meet my pride and joy!  This thing stays under double lock and key at all times when not in use.

Don't you love it?!?!

All I have is a picture of the bag because I am not ready to share it with the world yet!  (Just kidding, I forgot to take a picture of all of the goodies inside, and now it is locked up at school...)

After we got all of our stuff, we had a couple of meetings, and then it was time to figure out how in the WORLD I was going to get it all back home.  Well, the crazy bag lady definitely came out and I carted it ALL the way to my apartment -- 23 minutes and 45 seconds later, I was home.

Not the best picture from the elevator, but you get the idea of what I was working with.

It doesn't look like a lot when it is spread out, but trust me, it was!!

 Well, Orientation Day came and went and it was very successful!!  I am nervous about keeping the uniforms clean and pressed for every class.  Now that I am signed up for both the Cuisine and Patisserie courses, I will be at school a lot more, therefore, I will have a lot more opportunities to get very messy!  Oh well, I supposed I will sort it all out...and spend a LOT of time with the washing machine and ironing board!

I have a day off tomorrow to get everything sorted out (hopefully), and then the craziness commences!

- à tout à l’heure!