I'm gloating and I'm ok with it!

Yesterday after the daurade debaucle, Lauren and I went to meet up with E'Lane who had had the dreaded stomach bug that's going around for 2 days. She didn't care where she went, as long as it wasn't her house! We went to Le Bon Marché and walked around before coming back here to finish off the rest of the Italian Wedding Soup (which I must say was fabulous). Gill came over later and it was just heavenly- 4 girls sitting around chatting...what could be better than that?

I had to go to the Embassy AGAIN this morning to check the status of my passport. The gentleman told me that I wasn't permitted to bring any beverage into the Embassy, that I needed to chug my tea in front of him before entering the building. 3,000 burned taste buds and 15 minutes later, I was out sans passport. I hustled to school- not wanting to miss out on veal escalopes with fresh pasta and tomato sauce. As if the menu wasn't enticing enough, we walked into demo and heard MR. BEAN'S voice!!!!!!! Chef Clergue did our demo today and it was UN REAL. He's a superior cuisine Chef and his demo was so great. We all were so engaged the whole time, he never idled or told stupid stories (AHEM Lesourd) and we all were SO into it. When he finished- the classroom ERUPTED into a powerful applause, complete with hoots and hollers. That certainly hadn't happened before! We tasted the delicious breaded veal, fresh pasta and tomato sauce and chocolate and orange mousse and were all in heaven.

I came up from the locker room and saw this swarm in front of where they post the planning. OUR GRADES FROM THE WRITTEN FINAL WERE UP! Suddenly my heart started beating a mile a minute and I sprinted back down to get my ID card. We needed it to identify our grades. The crowd was similar to that surrounding the Chefs plated dishes at the end of demo. I tried to wait patiently, but I couldn't. I strained my eyes and found my ID number 480971. There were 2 grades- the first one was 100 and the second one was a 92. I couldn't really see too well what it said up at the top so Anthony read it to me. The first grade was the recipe memorization grade...100!!!!!! The second grade was the rest of the test 92!!!!!!!!!!!!! Once the crowd faded- I got a closer look to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me. I matched my ID card number to the grades at least 5 times. I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Only 2 people had beat me in the entire class. The highest grade was merely 3 points ahead of me, and most impressive was that my grade indicated that I had only gotten 2 questions wrong.

For someone who ALWAYS struggled with schoolwork and never was able to excel on tests- this was a huge coup. I am so excited, so relieved and so happy that all my hard work had paid off. I wanted to scream from the rooftops- I GOT A 92 ON THE WRITTEN FINAL!!!!!!!! I refrained and went to eat with Bruna, Lara, Anthony, Noor, Sara and Bruna's friends from Barcelona- the whole time wanting to run outside and make 2 phone calls- 1 to my parents (they would share with the sisters) and another to Carol Pratt. If anyone in this world can understand my academic struggles- it's her. I made it home and made the first call. Mom was so excited! I've since told Dad, Bird and Boo...and I bet if a stranger on the street asked me about it, I'd tell them too! I'm so excited that I'm not ready to stop talking about it yet...maybe tomorrow, but certainly not today! My email is not working properly or Carol would have an email in her inbox too. Too bad we don't actually get the tests back- or that bad boy would be sent to 36 Rumsey Road to be posted on the refrigerator (I think my acceptance letter to St. Lawrence was just recently retired...I like to relish in any academic accomplishments)!

Off to bed- I'll be breading veal at 8:30am tomorrow!

A Bientot!

ps. I GOT A 100/92 ON MY WRITTEN TEST AT ONE OF THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS CULINARY SCHOOLS IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!