The 2023 Advice on Staging in Europe Patisserie Scene

Hello Chefs - hello from Sydney, Australia! I've been working as a pastry chef (on and off due to lockdowns) for the past 2 years in patisseries and restaurants. Writing to seek your wise advice please about how to obtain a stagiaire pastry position in France, Spain or UK - I speak Spanish and is learning French intensively - I love everything patisserie so all the French vocabs makes sense fast and is fun to learn. I'm not after brands or stars, regardless of restaurant or patisserie - it's truly the level of skills, discipline, care for produce and internal human support that counts.

1) How best to go about contacting someone in Europe re staging? You might think this is a silly question. Here in Sydney, staging is not allowed - job trials beyond 2 hours must be paid, so no one I've asked personally had this experience. An example of asking would be marvelous! There is that fear of asking.

2) What skills levels might they be expecting? You might think this question is so broad! Some context. Here in Sydney, modern techniques seem not to be at the forefront of most restaurants' mind or patisseries (think 'rustic' like simple but tasty pavlova, cheesecake, tiramisu etc, often small scale with lower quality). We're a bit behind in terms of training too, and have seen this first hand in senior chefs eg they don't know how to make ganache or choux. There appears to be a general lack of interest in learning - in comparison to my home-baking business self-taught friends who exhibit more passion. I try very hard to supplement by practising the fundamental skills like crazy at home - learning from high quality books and spending most of wage on masterclasses. This is also a key reason why I want to go Europe for staging - have heard of the higher standards, volume and quality there. But unsure how to position myself.

3) What's the best time of year to go? I would love to go this European summer ie in 2 weeks! Imagine everyone would be busy and in need of a helping hand. A daredevil part of me whispers just buy a one way fight and go there...the rational part of me thinks that would be a terrible idea and it'd be rude to ask people in person.

Think at the end of the day, I want to be surrounded by people who love making and learning about patisserie, full stop. I have tried various places in Sydney and have not found this. If you have anything else you'd like to share, all welcome! It's lovely to have this special place to connect.