[stir it up]

I agree with GRK! and those appreticeships I'm talking about in France if you're into that, are placements in pro shops. But I do love the pastry shops of Austria. I've been to Switzerland, France and Belgium but Austria really stands out in my mind for pastry shops. My fond memory of Belgium is stepping off the train and immediately smelling chocolate. But I wasn't there long enough to tell you much.

I think GRK has a great attitude about being able to learn more in a real shop, and maybe that's worth working for free for a while like he says, but perhaps you could offer to do that until you're not overwhelmed as you say by European pastries, say offer to work/train for a month for free then get paid from there on if you need the income to live.