Today is our third day of lab classes. The RER train was delayed in this morning and we couldn’t take the bus to the Saint Pierre. We walked to the college from the Brunoy station for 20 minutes. The college stands on the hill, so it was like a hiking. Once we got to the lab room, we started to cook as always we split into group A and B.

Hiking to the school

Group A

The group A prepared the dessert which is White Chocolate with Pecan Tartlets.

Pâte Brisée for Pecan Tartlets

Pecan Tartlets

Group B

The group B cooked Toast with Red Mullet Pates and Egg Salad for appetizer and Fillet of Duck with Pear Cooked in Wine and Croquettes Potatoes for entrée.

Croquettes Potatoes

Duck meat

Appetizer

Entree

Everyone was satisfied with today’s meal especially fillet of duck! It was tasty. Tomorrow is our last day of culinary and baking class. I hope we will enjoy the last class.

 

Aya, Ambar, Henry, Gabriele, Bella and myself in front of sleeping beauty’s castle

Today a group of us woke up very early to go to Disneyland! We took the 13 to saint Lazare to take the RER, but the station was closed! So we had to take another train to get to the right stop. At first, I wasn’t sure I wanted to go but I caved and I went. I’m so glad I did! The train ride to Disney wasn’t that bad, but I think it was because I slept through the entire ride. When we got to the last stop, the excitement started building. Hundreds of little kids and their parents scrambled to get to the exit. The minute I walked into the park I felt like I was a little kid again. I have so many fond memories of Disney and being back here again brought a lot of nostalgia. We all kept stopping at every little shop and the first thing we purchased were Minnie Mouse ears. Your visit to Disney isn’t complete unless you have Mickey or Minnie Mouse ears! Out of the 7 that came, two were visiting Disney for the first time. I felt so excited for them because I know how magical Disney is and how it transforms you into a little kid no matter how old you are. We were so excited that we didn’t know which way to go first! We decided to head towards Adventure Land to get on the first roller coaster we saw. The line wasn’t that long we had to wait 30 minutes which is nothing compared to six flags! The weather was very warm today so we kept getting tired but that didn’t deter our excitement. At some point we had to stop to get some food because we were famished! We got little snacks and then got back to all the fun. My favorite part of the park was the tower of terror. I have this one memory of when I went to Disney as a child and being terrified of the tower of terror because I hated heights. But I got on because my father forced me too! When we got to the tower of terror I got the feeling I got as a little kid, the butterflies started kicking in! But it was all worth it. I enjoyed the tower of terror even more now that I’m older. To end our night, we are going to see the fireworks by sleeping beauty’s castle.

The finale of the fireworks show at sleeping beauty’s castle

Us on the tower of terror. Our faces are priceless!

1. 

   Tapestry in Sleeping beauty’s castle

   

   Gabriele and Henry’s first ever Disney experience

***2 weeks down, 1 more week to go****

The Versailles Group

Today, a group of 10 ( ironically we were all with our roommates) went to visit the town of Versailles, in which we got to explore the Chateau De Versailles and the jardin.

The day was rather hot, but not as bad as it has been in the past few days. We were able to get in relatively quickly considering it was a Saturday.

Golden Gates to the Palace of Versailles

King Louis XIV Statue

Le Palace

Gates to Versaille

Every step of the way, we were amazed by the intensity of the palace, and the size and attention to detail every part of the premises consisted of. To think that lineages of royalty and the history that has traveled through was mesmerizing.

We came across the grand canal, in which we rowed boats with each other and enjoyed the scenery and peacefulness that came along with every paddle. That, was certainly the highlight of our day.

We also stumbled upon the Trianon Hotel, which is operated by Waldorf Astoria, and features Gordon Ramsay restaurant, in which we were all inclined to visit the lobby and see the service-scape of the place. It was definitely a higher end clientele, however the hotel was beautiful and the staff was very welcoming.

We thoroughly enjoyed our day, and even contemplated staying for the new night show in the musical garden with fireworks that had started today, but unfortunately, all of our phones had died and the heat and the trip was extensive already as it was.

Rowing the boat in the Grand Canal

One of the many beautiful fountains in Versailles.

Jardin de Versailles

Chandelier Room

Everyone was very excited for our second day of  lab classes. It was also our first time traveling as a class without Professor Warner. Once we arrived we were pleasantly surprised that we had to serve Kindergarteners breakfast. After changing into our uniform we went straight to work. The class prepared scrambled eggs, bacon and toast for our guest.

Kindergarteners eating the breakfast we prepared for them.

Group Photo of the Kindergarten class.

After our breakfast with the children, we prepared lunch for ourselves and the professors of the school. as always we split into two groups, A and B.

Group A, The group I am in, prepared Lunch. For todays appetizer we had mussels. and for our entrée we served Rabbit, with celery puree, blue chips and asparagus.

Appetizer of Mussels

Entrée of rabbit with sides.

Group B went into the pastry lab to prepare different Flavors of Macarons.

Group B preparing the Macarons.

Chocolate, Lemon and Coconut Macarons. (not picture Mango-Passion Fruit Macarons).

After we ate the delicious food we prepared, everyone cleaned the kitchen as a team. Then We changed into our street clothes and headed back to our hotel, to rest from the long productive day.

Today is the first day of culinary and baking classes for out Thomas Ahrens International Study Program!!!!!! Usually, we would do tours in hotels, restaurants, and parts of Paris but today, we do not have tours, we had a culinary and baking classes at St. Pierre.

Coffee to prepare ourselves! *-*

We all had to wake up early because cannot afford to be late, especially as hospitality students, we must display our professionalism. We all met up at the hotel lobby around 6:40 in the morning and left at 6:45 am. First, we would walk to our metro station Malakoff Plateau de Vanves to take the Metro 13 train and get to St. Lazare to transfer to the Metro 14 train. Then we would transfer to the RER D train at the station because the college was outside of Paris. We took the RER to the station Brunoy and then transfer to the bus that will take us to the school.

As we arrived, we changed into our chef uniforms, it gave us many memories because of the classes we took at City Tech.  Since there are two classes, we separated into out groups A and B. Group A gets to take the baking class and group B gets to take the culinary class.  Since I am part of group B, I will be participating in the culinary class, unfortunately, I will not know what will be going on in the baking class, but group B will definitely get a chance to be in the baking class tomorrow!

Our Culinary Chef Professor!

The culinary class was in charge of making today’s first and second courses. The first course is Warm Salmon, Pate de Tete with Seasonal Vegetables. The second course is Fricassee de Volaille Legumes Printaniers. The culinary chef professor had split our group in half, half the group will work on the first course and the other half will work on the second course. I was working in the first course. One of the important factors of the day was teamwork. With teamwork, everything was finished deliciously. Later, we had a family meal and everyone was satisfied. We will definitely look forward to out next class tomorrow!!

First Course- Warm Salmon, Pate de Tete with Seasonal Vegetables

Second Course- Fricassee de Volaille Legumes Printaniers

Today, the class awoke at the crack of dawn to visit the Rungis International Marche. Rungis Marche is located in Paris of the southern suburbs and is currently the largest wholesale food market in the world. Our tour guide was an in informative and inviting woman named Natalie. Before venturing out on our tour she gave us a few outstanding fun facts on Rungis. Each year Rungis Marche receives over three billion euros a year in revenue. Incredible business! There are five different types of categories of the market including Fish, Meats, Dairy, Florals and Fruits/Vegetables which is the most lucrative and largest in space having eight warehouses dedicated to their category alone.

What I found especially interesting is how early and quick the buying and selling happens between purveyors and customers. For the fish warehouse activity begins in the middle of the night at 2am and ends 6am way before most of us wake up in the morning for our day. In many businesses the early bird gets the worm and here at Rungis Marche the motto is no different. Buyers coming from all over France whether from restaurants, bakeries, supermarkets trying their best to be the first ones at the door to get the freshest ingredients, best deals and widest selections.

In my experience I enjoyed the visit. I was able to see all the action and work that goes into food before it is served on a plate in front of me.  I will open a restaurant or catering service of some sort in the future and this information is great to have. In the market, my senses were alive. For the first time I was smelling truly ripe, fragrant raspberries and seeing super shiny, completely clear eyed catches of the day. It was a positive, insightful, experience. Who knows, one day I will come back buying produce, meats and cheeses for my very own eatery and I can use all the cool tips and knowledge I gained today.

Today was our second Monday at Paris and the first time we had a weekend here. For our first weekend off I think everybody was on time and ready to start the week off with positive energy. Our first tour was at Mamie Burger. It was so much more than what everybody expected it to look like. The places is beautiful and is decorated in a way that makes you feel at home. Mamie Burger has 5 restaurants in Paris and the owner is very young. What impressed me the most was how young the owner was and how ambitious he is. It feels great to see how young people in Paris can be very successful if they work for it. our tour in Mamie Burger was very welcoming and descriptive. Some also had lunch at the restaurant afterwards. I hope the owner continues to strive and reach his goals.

The second tour we had today was to a restaurant called Chartier. Chartier is one of the oldest restaurants in Paris. It was made by two brothers and is a family business. Chartier has a lot of clientele and is fairly priced. In my opinion Mamie Burger was better looking and If I had to go to any of them I would choose Mamie Burger.

Today is June 7th, the fifth day in Paris. We took the RER to Chantilly-Gouvieux and walked to Hotel Auberge Du Jeu De Paume. We took a tour of the hotel; we went to visit the classic rooms, deluxe rooms, and presidential rooms. The rooms were surprisingly expensive, ranging from 650 Euros to 6000 Euros per night.  At the end of the tour, the staff provided us with juice, Chantilly and puff pastries. The hotel was built for people who come to Chantilly for the Chateau. The Chateau was full of original painting and other antiques; it was preserved very well. We also visited the Musee Du Cheval and saw some horses and ponies. This year will be the last year of the horse race in Hippodrome de Chantilly since the racecourse in Paris will be reopening. The race will take place during early October, and it will be attracting a lot of people.

Group Picture at Auberge Du Jeu Paume.

Enjoying the long walk to the hotel.

Chantilly at Chantilly 😉

The beautiful Chateau & Musee du Cheval.

Lunch with Prof. Warner, Michelle, Nagisa, Angela & carol.

June 8, Thursday
Unlike the norm, today was slightly different because our tour started later than the usual. Our first tour was a visit at Marriott Paris Opera Ambassador Hotel. It is located on 16 Boulevard Haussmann as we learned why. Baron Haussmann had a lot of influence to the changes and the beautification of Paris and as well as the avenue de l’Opera was created by him. We also learned that before the hotel were under construction it was once a total of 600 rooms, but now it has 298. There are 11 meeting rooms and the biggest one is called Le Lindbergh. Ambassador is a hotel that targets both the business groups and leisure travelers evenly. The hotel is a representation of modern and class. One of the most interesting information shared today was that the Marriott Brand hosts a network program from many other hotels worldwide.
Tour number two was about the group whom presented the Sacre Coeur. It is one of the most religious churches in Paris and the second tallest after the Eiffel Tower.The journey was fascinating because it was village completely different to what we’ve seen thus far, in my opinion. There is a huge amount of souvenir shops and small restaurants. I haven’t seen that many stores and restaurants in one place in all the previous tours, and the view at the top was nothing short of spectacular and surreal.

After the Sacre Coeur group presented, everyone decided to continue their journey of exploration and mine was amazing. I was able to grab a bite at a cafe called Le Cemi’s right at Monmarte. It was a steal because there were choices of a 16€ and 19 € prix fixe menu, and not to mention the food was good too. Soon after a delicious meal myself and other colleagues decided to tour the inside of the Sacre Coeur church, but on the way there we stumbled upon mesmerizing and soothing music played by men using the “hang”. While roaming the inside of the Sacre Coeur I was a bit emotional and highly appreciative  of the level of craftsmanship. It was a beauty to watch and also a blessing to physically experience every bit of it.

Below are some images taken…

Group picture in one of the meeting rooms at Marriott Paris Opera Ambassador Hotel

1. 

   A very cute hat boutique shop on our way to the Sacre- Coeur

   

   The outside of the Sacre-Coeur

2. 

   Ran into our Liaisons on St. Montmarte at Le Cami’s Cafe, so we joined them for lunch

3. 

   Never thought I would discover an instrument similar to my national instrument ” the steel pan “. It was very relaxing and soothing. It is called the “hung”