ESCF Ferrandi Cuisine Program - February 2011 - Page 2

@spagetti07

I looked briefly at parisattitude.com.  The studios were small and $$$.  the larger 2bd were decently priced and can be shared comfortably.  Though I wouldn't mind a studio if in walking distance to ESCF.  That way, can also save on transportation cost even if rent is more expensive.  Finding a roomie would be ideal. I guess we are all waiting on the list from Stephanie for more info.

@cait

where are you from in the US? i'm in chicago and can't wait for paris!!

I took french through Advanced Placement in high school.  i don't remember much but i found a course online frenchclasses.com and things are coming back quickly.  inexpensive and it is helping already! 

Last thing (i'm clearly bored at work)...

Does anyone want to Skype? (i'm a dork who just discovered it and now i skype my mom who lives 20mins away!)

Has anyone read Feed Me, a blog by Joan Pan.  She completed Cuisine at ESCF a few years ago and has a blog about school (mostly).  I thought it was pretty cool to get a look inside, made me hungry mostly.

I'm Portuguese and as such i don't have Visa problems since I'm a member of the EU.

I could help out with the housing, point you to the right websites look somestuff up for you guys, but honestly even if i do live here, Stephanie as a whole lot of experience dealing with this kind of procedures, so just hang in there and I'm sure she will help you out.

I don't know how much you guys know of stephanie but I met her all ready 3 or 4 times and she is an amazing person she as been an incredible helper, it is always very nice to meet and to talk to her. The first time I showed uo at ESCF i had no apointment no nothing I even showed up with some Cordon Bleu papers in my hand ahaha, but she was very welcoming, talked to me, showed me around as a prospective student for the february course. I dind't get to enroll in february as intended but when i was finally able to enroll for the september program i again showed up unannounced and she remembered me and again was very very welcoming.

I delivered my papers and the 150€ check and 3 days later i had a reply, amazing.

I all ready told you guys I'm working in a bistro so as to get some money and to re-learn french and it's going amazing, it's not a place where i'm learning a lot but it definetly is a place where i am working A LOT so i'm getting some nice kitchen introduction ahaha !!

I learned French in high school for about 3 years, i never paid much attention to it, but it helped a lot getting into it and know i don't embarass myself that often :)

Even so i'm thinking about doing some course as i would like to re-learn how to wright it properly, and if you are considering some french course you have AF which is very expensive then you have the sorborne it's definitly the best and also the "mairies" give french courses.

@shopgirl yes, my email is zemsbg@gmail.com

 and @ericka1584 who is very bored at work ahahaha my skype is zemariasadabagomes

 !!!

I'm going to Ferrandi next tuesday so if you need anything just ask !!!

@erika  yes, the housing in Paris, expecially right in the city are very expensive and fairly small in size. I'm actually looking for a 1 bdrm apartment rather than a studio. I've been looking around for several apartments online and found a few interesting and nice ones along the way. But I'd prefer to take a look at it before signing on a long-term plan as you mentioned earlier. Anyway, I'm also open for having a roommate which in that case we can find a bigger apartment to share and practice my Pastry skills during the weekend or holidays

.

@erika my skype is: spagetti071. Speak soon!

@ab6788 Congrats to you too! Good luck and see you in Paris.

@zemsbg Since I've never been to Paris or France nor have I ever visited the school myself, would you mind taking photo within the school and around the area and share with us. I'd love to see how the school looks like and how large their facilities is as I've only saw the photo of the school's frontier and kitchen from some of those interesting bloggers' sites. Hope it's not too much trouble for you. Thank you in advance!

@spagetti07 Hi!  I'm bored at work (again) and saw you were online!

btw you can find my on fb Ericka Marshall (invite open to all!)

@ab6788 Good point about the female ratio!  Must be nice to already know someone living in Paris.  I am only getting contact info for friends of friends. Oh well, at least we'll all have each other!

@spagetti07 I'll do that :) 

The School is at the 7eme arrondisement of Paris ... which is to say the left bank of the river, right in the center of paris ...

2 minutes walk from the school is the Grand Epicerie de Paris ... it's one of my favourite places in Paris ... The most amazing gourmet supermarket in Paris probably ...

There are a lot of traiteurs, good ones ... Joel Robuchon's Atellier is in the vicinity as well ... As is the Luxembourg Garden, the Senat and the Saint Sulpice church which puts Notre Dame to shame ... i think :)

There are 3 or 4 metro stations that you can and there is a Velib station nearby also ...

The School is a closed building ... you enter through a garage into a huge patio ... Right and Left you have multiple kitchens, ateliers ... but most of classes are in the upper floors i think ... There is a school restaurant ... a very good one i should say ...

But i'll take pictures and upload them tuesday ...

@spagetti07  I am planning to arrive in Paris the beginning of August.  I will most likely do the same thing you are in terms of finding temporary housing and then looking for somewhere more permanent once there.  If you still decide to do that then I would def be up for meeting and searching around for places! I have only been to France once, and it was only for a couple of days.

@ericka1584  I am from Texas.  I don't have skype yet, but am planning to download it on my computer soon.  

@ab6788  Congrats! I am also trying to figure out if I do in fact have to be able to show where I plan to live in order to apply for my visa.  From the CampusFrance website (does your consulate make you provide documents from CampusFrance also?) it looks like I might, but it isn't exactly clear.  

@zemsbg  Thank you so much for agreeing to give us an inside look into the school! It will be neat to see it and get an idea of where we will be spending so much of our time :)

By the way, my email is caitie.gantt@gmail.com or you can find me on fb Caitie Gantt

I'll be in Paris for a week in May and will be meeting Stephanie and hopefully looking in on a class while I'm there (@zemsbg - completely agree, Stephanie is very helpful!). 

Will also look at some places while I'm there but could be too early to get a place so it will probably be just a chance to check out which districts are good to live in.  I'm open to sharing a place too as it should give us more options especially if we want to live in the city.  By the way, as students we should be eligible for a small housing reimbursement from the government.

@spaghetti07 - not sure if we'll need to practice too much after school as I heard from other students there will be plenty of practice during class!

Hi Cait,

From what I read, you're from Texas? I'm applying for my visa in New York and at least on the form, it asks for an address where I'll be living...I'm not too sure what the exact policy is about this. I'm going to call the consulate sometime this week and find out if they really need that or not. Have you submitted your application yet?

-Anu

Congratulations to everyone who has been accepted at the school! It must be so exciting for you all.

Just a question, what is the email address you've been contacting Stephanie through? I've emailed her twice in the past 2 weeks and have not heard back from her. It seems no one has any troubles keeping in contact with her, so she's either ignoring my emails :(, or she hasn't been getting them.

I'm so interested in this program but i'm not comfortable applying without first speaking to someone at the school. It would be great if you guys can give me her email address :) thanks!

Hi Jamie,

Her e-mail address is scurtis@ccip.fr. If you've e-mailed her any time since the 15th, don't worry. I received an automated e-mail a few days ago saying she was out of the office from April 15th-April 26th. Hope this helps!

Thank you so much ab6788! I'll try that email and hopefully i'll hear back from her soon :)

@jamiedays ... the school as been closed for easter vacation ...

Btw her direct phone number ate the school is 0033149541809 ... but she might not answer since sometimes she is not in the office ...

So i have the Pictures ... not many since I was in a hurry ...

And i talked to stephanie and she said that the housing information should be emailed to everyone next monday ... she was working on it !!

I tried to upload the photos but its being held for moderation ... lol 

anyway i talked to stephanie today and she said that the housing detail should be sent monday, maximum ... don't expect miracles ... Paris IS expensive ...

i'll try to put the pictures on Picassa later ...

or Facebook ...

I'll put the link here soon as possible ...

Not many pictures thougth since i didnt have much time !!

@zemsbg thank you for taking those pics. they make me feel a few steps closer to being there myself in sept!

Hi everyone, I'm Emily and I'm currently living in Toronto, Canada and I'll be attending the pastry program for sept 2011. Nice to meet you all and thanks for those pictures zemsbg! I'm planning to home-stay since it seems to be the cheapest option (630 Euros/month). I found the information on this link, has anyone heard of this company? http://www.homestay-in-paris.com/ I'm also open to sharing an apartment if we can work it out. Anyways, I'm planning to go to paris in mid-August and I'd love to chat and get to know some of you before the class starts! You can find me on fb (Emily Shih, Univ of Toronto network). 

Does anyone know if the Facebook page for Ferrandi students/ex-culinary students was ever started?  Should we start one for the Sept intake - could be easier to get timely updates!

@bottomlesstummy - I'm also from Toronto but living in HK right now.  Have you started to the visa process yet?

@Feebs, nice to meet you! Are you going to be back in Toronto before you head to Paris? I've just started the VISA application and I'm working on the CampusFrance form. As most people have mentioned, you can't complete the application without confirming your housing arrangements for the first 3 months. I'm waiting to hear back from Stephanie but I'll likely be going with the home-stay option for at least the first 1-3 months. I'm looking forward to hearing about your visit in May!

There is a fb page for the Feb 2011 session which I've joined. I can't remember the exact name of the page but I'll let you know later since I can't use fb at work.

@feebs, the fb group i joined is called ESCF-Ferrandi Anglo 2011, mostly used by the students in the Feb 2011 session.

@bottomlesstummy 

I looked at homestay-in-paris.com as well as sarahomestay.com and paris-homestay.com

homestay-in-paris registration fee is $198 and is 630 euro/month or $934/month includes light breakfast and access to the kitchen, no dinners included in this price. Im pretty sure i'm gonna choose this one.

sarahomestay registration fee is $150 and is $1,242/month with breakfast and access to kitchen.  No way!!

paris-homestay has the cheapest registration fee of only $103 and cheapest per/month fee of 600 euro or $890 BUT there is also a one time fee of 650 euro or $934 so not the best option either.

i'm not sure if we can alter/cancel these accommodations after getting a visa.  3 months a long time, i'd rather spend that time in my own apartment or with a roommate! 

Thanks Emily.  I'll probably start the visa process mid May.  Was thinking to leave the address field blank but I'll get Stephanie's advice when I see her.

Will be back in Toronto before school - maybe we can meet then before school starts if you're still there!

@ericka1584

Thanks for posting the homestay info, that's really helpful. I'm going to check with some of the homestay contacts that Stephanie listed in the e-mail and if they don't work out, i'm also going to go with homestay-in-paris.

@feebs

I will be in Toronto until mid-August, let me know when you're back! 

Hi guys,

Unfortunately, I'm unable to make it to Paris and start the course this year (after already being accepted to the school) due to family matters. I'm very disappointed! But will try to find my way out to make it to become a Pastry Chef one way or another. So I had to give up my place to the next available person instead.

@zemsbg Thanks for sharing photo from the school and the places nearby. Wish I could be there to see it myself and meet all of you in person.

@feebs @cait @ericka1584 @Mashav @bottomlesstummy

@jamiedays  Good luck with your application.

For everyone else, if any of you want to apply and follow your dream to becoming a chef, I have never been to ESCF Ferrandi, but I did a lot of online research and believed that it's one of the best place that will guide you through and encourage you to be one of the best Pastry/Culinary Chef in the world. So good luck everybody who already got or getting the chance!!

Anyway, it was nice meeting you all here. Hopefully, our career path would come across and I would be meeting you guys, who would becoming many best chefs, in the future. Would be great if you could keep in touch as I'd love to know how the training will be for you all.

All the best!!

xoxo

Claire ^_~