"'Eetz okay,' pronounced the chef in heavily accented English, after I had presented him with my apple tart. It was only my second day at Le Cordon Bleu, the culinary institution famous for producing chefs like Julia Child and Giada de Laurentiis, but for the nth time I felt myself slipping into a soon-to-be-familiar state of passive anxiety."
- via Bonjour Paris
This is me receiving my certificate in Basic pâtisserie. PC - ...the photographer LCB always uses. Currently trying to track down his name.
I've avoided writing much about everyday student life at LCB because there are countless others who have done it before and much better than I could. You'll probably find that most LCB student blogs deal in food porn (I'm an addict myself so I don't mean that in a derogatory way), but if you really desire to know what goes on inside 8 rue Leon Delhomme, I suggest you pick up a copy of LCB alumna Kathleen Flinn's The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry.
I read it over winter break and, honestly, it prepared me a lot more for my first day than anything the school ever sent me over countless emails, admission proposals, etc. Flinn was a cuisine student (I'm pâtisserie), but regardless her descriptions of the school and the characters in it are spot on. (The school sells the book on-site near the reception area, but I think they should consider making it required reading for incoming students).
So when the opportunity arose to write about my experience at culinary school for Bonjour Paris, I took it. The story is probably about as comprehensive as I'll ever get about being at LCB, so I encourage you to read it in its entirety if you get a chance.