What is the best culinary school in India?
I don’t know if this qualifies as an answer, but a large number of Indian students of the culinary arts are making their way to Dubai these days. Dubai’s School of Culinary and Finishing Arts is one of the leading culinary institutes in the UAE at this time, and apparently has a soft spot for chef students from India, Nigeria, and Europe. The institute offers visa processing services, accommodation, and just about everything else under the sun that a foreign student might need.The school is popular because it is the only cooking school in Dubai that offers job/internship placement to students at the end of the course. Acquiring international experience is one of the most positively contributing advantages that a cooking school can provide. Most of the cooking schools in India are YouTube driven with hobbyists copy-pasting course content off the net and repeating youtube videos in theory-intensive classes. SCAFA in Dubai has managed to gain the attention of students from India because it has a curriculum that is taken from the UK, and a range of courses that help chef students get the type of culinary education they want.Source: I own a Bistro in India that I was able to start off after I completed a 3 month cooking course at SCAFA. The course was called the Professional Kitchen programme.
If I need to get into professional baking, what is the best pastry school in France I need to go to?
Check out your local community college. Many offer a certificate program, or even an associate's degree, in culinary arts. Going through a community college often reduces the cost dramatically, and offers a great education. After you're done, there are many choices for internships abroad, and your school will probably be a good resource for finding them.Don't go to The Art Institute. Don't go to Le Cordon Bleu. Don't spend $50,000 on culinary school. No matter what school you go to, you're still going to learn so many new things once you're on the job. And if you still really want to go to France, it will still be there.
Lonely study abroad student?
I'm spending the semester studying abroad in France. So far, I've been here 3 days, and I'm miserable and wishing that I never left home. My program is one that sent over around 20 students from my school for this program, and while I know some of them from previous classes together, none are friends that I hang out with when we're not in class. I thought I would make friends pretty quickly, but it seems like everyone had friends when they came here and they've stuck to those groups. In addition, I'm not exactly the typical college student, in that I don't like drinking or clubs, and it seems like everyone on the trip does. SInce I'm very shy, parties overwhelm me, and I find it difficult to talk to new people. I've made every effort to be as friendly and outgoing as I can be here, but I just feel like I'm not going to have any friends this semester. I can go off on my own, but this is a strange city and my French is not perfect. And I know that people will be taking weekend trips, and I don't think I'll have anyone to go with. It took me a long time to make friends back at my university in the U.S., and I'm terrified that this semester's going to be a waste and I;m not going to have any fun in Europe. I know that i'm lucky to have this opportunity, and I would feel really guilty about the money my parents spent on this trip if I didn't make the most of it. My parents really want me to have a good time on this trip, I really want to have a good time on this trip, but right now I've spent the last 2 nights, where we had free time, in my room crying. I just don't know what to do. Any advice would be really great.
I want to become a pastry chef/baker, but I don't know any good colleges/universities in my state?
I want to be able to set up a bakery/work for someone in a bakery in the future as a career. I want to mainly focus on decorating and building custom cakes (like the bakery you see on the show Cake Boss). I've made several cakes for neighbors and friends and I've been payed for them. People love the cakes/cupcakes I make and tell me to definitely pursue my dream in becoming a cake decorator. I live in Waynesville, North Carolina and I'm a junior in high school. I've been looking at colleges around my state, but none of them really focus on what I want to do specifically. I LOVE baking, but I DO NOT like cooking (like your culinary classes with meats, vegetables, and things you would find at a restaurant). I want to be able to take classes just on cakes and pastries and such. The actual question is, where is a school that I can attend that will fit my needs? I really don't want to leave North Carolina because the college expenses will be, well, EXPENSIVE! I'd love to stay in the state. Can anyone recommend any universities (even if it is out of state) to go to that will let me take all the classes I need without focusing on food that isn't cakes and pastries? I looked at AB Tech, but I only saw Baking I and Baking II. The rest were other culinary arts. I really don't want to go there either. I hope I made myself clear and I could really use some help. Thanks.
How does studying abroad change a person, what do those who do so gain, and what determines how much they change?
My study abroad experience (1yr in Israel) was probably the most important part of my college education, affecting my professional and personal life to no end. I am a professor now and when I speak to students about their future plans (what classes to take and so on) the 1st thing I ask is how are you going to study abroad.For me, as a USer it opened my eyes, mind, ears, and nose past the narrow assumptions that made up my daily existence. Everything from that moment on became a question of possible instead of a statement of absolute. This has allowed me to be more creative, experience a wider range of relationships, and well I believe enjoy more of life.As a designer it is vital to learn to think in another language. How we pattern the world around us helps us determine what is possible or feasible in that world. All in all, study abroad should be moved from educational "nice to have" to core differentiator. The only issue is money. If it wasn't for money I'd even suggest that a semester or 2 quarters abroad be a minimal requirement with extra emphasis on a full year out of your native environment/language.-- dave
Is culinary school worth it?
If you think you want to become a chef, it will be the most promising track. The CIA used to offer a short session on cooking aimed at university students who were not in residence and wanted to learn how to cook. If this is still offered and conveniently available to you, check it out. Otherwise, see if you can do some night school sessions while finishing your current program and if still interested, then enter culinary school after graduation. Another plan would be to try and get a job in the kitchen of a 4 star or higher restaurant and learn something about the operation. Best wishes whatever you choose.
Have you ever been insulted abroad for being American?
I’ve been to Europe, mainly Poland, over a dozen times since I was a small human of only 7 years.Never lived there, but the cumulative time I spent there would account for years of my life, mostly in my childhood and teen years.During the summer of 2004, I visited Poland yet again and arrived around early June. School was still in session in the small town where most of my friends and family live - known as Wschowa. It’s a sizable little township that’s really only known for being a stop on the way to somewhere else.While all my friends were still in class, I was horribly bored and had a whole lot of nothing to do. My aunt arranged for a pseudo-exchange student agreement with the school administration, to allow me to attend school as a student, but not be obligated to any classes, assignments, or grades. It sounded amazing!Walking to school through town with my friends, having class, lunch, and walking home together was a blast! News spread fast. It only took a day for the rest of the school to catch onto who I was and start whispering curiously as I passed. Before I knew it, large groups of boys older than me were approaching my friends and I hurling insults and making threats. In response, teachers and the administration made it a point that I travel nowhere in town alone - especially on the school grounds. I was allowed to travel with 2–3 friends at all times during school for the rest of the year and to bathrooms for my safety. During summer break, most of the boys moved onto other things to hate, but I still never went anywhere without my people with me.In 2003, the US invaded Iraq and Poland was one of the many European nations to join the coalition. Active servicemen were shipped out to the desert to fight the enemies of the United States. Apparently Wschowa was home to several young men fighting over there and wouldn’t be home for over a year, while another just recently came home with life-altering wounds.To them, I was to blame for this. I was the ambassador the United States sent to this small township, to taunt the locals for stealing their sons, brothers, and fathers away from them.Reality couldn’t be further from the truth. I was just a 13 year old boy, with nothing but Polish blood in my veins, that happened to be born on a continent away from home, trying to connect with my friends and family at the Ojczyzna (Fatherland).I didn’t visit again for over a decade.