Graduation day.

Thursday morning  17th December - I didn't receive a phone call or an Email, so that meant that I passed the exam. Not a big suprise, but I was happy. YES, I did it!

Early afternoon, we (Jayne and I) went to the local cafe on the corner of Vaugirard for a coffee.

Here, we met Cris and Leanne (translator, Shiatsu massage). The ceremony at the school started at 15.00 hrs. Most students from basic cuisine and pastry and students from intermediate cuisine and pastry were there. Unfortunately, most of the intermediate cuisine people already left (Maldives, Canada, US or just didn't feel like coming...)

The chefs looked bored again, but hey, they do this ceremony every few months....
Juliette, the new director, had a few kind words and everybody received their certificate.

The top 5 of intensive intermediate cuisine 2009: James, David, Levi, Cristina and Catharine. Even 'Chow Chow' graduated.... that was a HUGE surprise. (no explanation!)

After the ceremony we had lots of champagne and a few sweet nibbles - the pastry chefs did a good job, thank you, but I missed the food they prepared for us last year...
Then we had drinks in the pub at Convention and dinner at a local restaurant in the 15th arrondisement with Jayne, Cris, Petri and Debra.

Here are some pictures of the graduation:

       

 

Later, I will put the rest of the pictures on Picasa....