I arrive at the school, a 15 minute walk, a few minutes before we're supposed to be there. All the staff is in the front lobby to greet us, give us our student ID, paperwork, and schedule. We're then guided into one of the demonstration classrooms where a nervous tension is spread like thick peanut butter in the room. I choose a seat in the front row and begin talking to my neighbor. She's from Canada and is only studying cuisine.

Our day begins. We are introduced to each staff member as they explain their roll. There is a translator in class, so everything is said first in French and then in English. We then meet two of the chefs who take us on a tour of the school and the classrooms. It's not a big place and the practical kitchens are small. But everything in Paris is small, so I'm getting used to that part. During the tour, the chef explains some basic safety guidelines like carrying your knife next to your leg when walking around the room and putting a little flour on the handle of a pot that's just come out of the oven - the universal sign of a hot pot.

During the tour, I glance at the faces of my fellow students. There's a phenomenal amount of diversity among the faces. 15 of us are from the US, 5 from Korea, 2 from Italy, 2 from Greece, and 2 from Mexico. The rest are from France, UK, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Bolivia, and Brazil. It's quite a melting pot, and I feel ten times better that everyone is in the same boat.

After our tour, we're given our uniforms and equipment. Uniforms are to be kept immaculate at all times - including our aprons. If they are not, we'll lose points in practical class. Does this mean I can't be messy any more?!

Back in the classroom, we review our schedules. The group is divided into four smaller groups for the practical classes, and we're all together for the demonstration classes. The schedule changes each day. On most days, I have class for 6-9 hours, including Saturdays. I'm dreading the couple days where I have four classes totalling 12 hours in one day.

For cuisine, there are 30 classes - demonstration and practical - and 20 for pastry. In demonstration class, we watch the chef prepare several dishes and take furious notes. In practical, we get to make one or two dishes that the chef prepared. Sometimes practical classes directly follow the demonstration, sometimes they're held the next day.

And just like that, we're done for the day. With my first day behind me and my second beginning at 8:30 the next morning, I head home. Oh the things I will learn!

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