What to expect on your first day…

Be Prepared for the first day at Le Cordon Bleu

What to expect on your first day

General levels of awareness about the school, how it works and what to expect of Le Cordon Bleu I found to be generally pretty low, and to be honest I felt pretty blind going into my first day. Even those who had toured the school still had no idea what was going on… But the good news is I’m here to help!

It’s a scary thing starting a new school, especially if like a lot of Le Cordon Bleu Students, you haven’t done anything remotely similar in years. Let me tell you first, you have nothing to worry about. However, in order to try and shut down any of the remaining anxieties you have about your first day, this article should be useful.

So, there are kind of two first days at Le Cordon Bleu (LCB). One is the induction day, which consists of basically a tour of the school and receiving your knife kit/uniform. The second ‘first day’ is the one where you will have your first actual classes.

I’m here to walk you through roughly what happens in both. 

The induction/orientation day

Before you start any of your classes, you will need to attend the induction/orientation day. This will be on the day that your course is due to start (the start of my course on LCB website was Monday 4th April which was also the day of my induction, but not my first class). You will be given the time for this via email the weekend before your course is due to start. Groups of about 15 will come in at staggered times throughout the day. Mine was at 8am - as you will discover, late starts are a blessing at LCB!

The run of the day:

Arrive a bit before the time they give you (10 minutes is plenty). You really don’t need to bring anything with you except the things they ask you to bring, such as your passport. It might be a good idea to bring your chef shoes which you will need the following day. You can leave these in your locker during the tour. Wear casual clothes. The arrival is probably the scariest bit – for me it involved a lot of very nervous people sitting around not really talking… until one person breaks the ice and within seconds it’s all okay. Like any new group situation, initial awkwardness is to be expected. Don’t worry, it won’t last long. 

Next you will be given your student cards and numbers (written on your student card if you ever need it!). This number will make up the beginning of your LCB email and also be essential for logging into the system. 

The tour: I won’t reveal too much here as there are some things you will want as a surprise. All I will say is that the school is pretty impressive. Try to make a mental note (or a note on your phone of the rough location) of the classroom names and where they are - this will help you a lot during your first couple of weeks. Classrooms are named after famous chefs and are on plaques outside the rooms.

Halfway through the tour you will get the opportunity to confirm with the admissions what stuff you have ticked off the “list.” This is a list of things you need to complete as a result of moving to France. 

A quick about this list (if you are LCB in Paris, although some of this might apply if you are an international student in London):

• Visa validation – this takes 5 minutes do it in the first week to get it ticked off, LCB have instructions on exactly how to do this.

• Social security – you will need a French phone number and bank account for this. Getting a phone number is super easy if you get it through a place called “Free,” you can literally get it at a machine in 5 minutes. The shop assistant will help you. The closest one to school is along Rue de Commerce (also some good shopping along there…).

• Finding accommodation – a lot of people come to Paris and find their accommodation whilst they are settling in. Some people (if they can afford it) arrive a couple of weeks early to do this. I was not in this category, and many others do this in their first couple of weeks at the school. Accommodation in Paris is not an easy thing to get right, and if you aren’t careful you might end up living in a cupboard for over a thousand Euros. See my blog post on apartments for further details on this. 

• They’ll ask you if you want French classes – I would highly recommend this if you have the time (if you don’t do Grande Diplome!)

  Next you will receive your uniform & knife kit:

  They will provide you with:

  • Two pairs of checked trousers - there are pop in buttons at the bottom of these to help the more vertically challenged people

  • Three Chef’s shirts

  • Two aprons

  • Three neckties

  • Three chef’s tea towels

  • Two hats – always choose these one size bigger than you think you’ll need

In your Knife kit: (get ready..!)

• What happens 

• Who you will meet 

• What you need to bring

• What you will take home

• Schedule changes week to week – timings etc, different blocks (intermediate Saturday classes)

• How programme is set up – demo/practical etc, theory classes, hygiene, 

On your actual first day:

The things I would advise you buy before your first day that everyone else may not yet have thought about:

So in terms of getting ready on your first day, if you have followed my instructions, you will already have some useful bits in your locker. 

You will be starting with a demonstration. One thing to note is that you can’t attend a practical without seeing the demonstration of the dish. So, before every practical comes a demonstration. 

For demonstrations, you will need to wear:

• Chef’s shoes – see uniform tips on which ones to get

• Black socks – get comfortable ones (affiliation link here)

• Checkered trousers – do buttons up at the bottom in you need to

• Your white LCG button-up chef’s shirt – I also know quite a lot of people who wear a vest or top underneath this. If you are from a hot country and aren’t used to the cold, this is a good idea as for some strange reason demonstration classrooms can be fairly Baltic. Asking the chef’s to turn the heating up hasn’t worked for me so far…

• Neck tie – don’t think you can get away without wearing one, they will always catch you out. 

• if you have hair long enough to tie up, do it. They don’t like any hair down.

Bring a pen and paper ready to take thorough notes

For your first practical:

• You get a hair net from the desk downstairs (don’t bother buying them they have thousands!!)

What to expect on your first day/then for first few weeks

• What to bring with you (induction vs first actual day)

• Timing for the newbies - how long it will take you to get dressed at first (this will subside after a while)

• Know some people who literally had a breakdown every day for the first month or so.