WHAT OUR STUDENTS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT US!

The property I got was very nice. The staff and chef were really good and treated me well. If we used to make any mistakes the chef used to explain to us again and trained us well. I learned many desserts and cooked different types of meat. Being a vegetarian I didn’t get any issue with the food as the hotel used to cook Veg Food just for me. On weekends, we used to meet and cook together Indian food like Parathas, chicken curry. I thank Destiny Calling for the property and even receiving our calls on weekends, a bit late, but always helped us.

I learnt a lot in my internship and it was a wonderful journey. I was placed in different cuisines, I got to do Pastry for 1 month, learnt 2 months starters, and the rest 3 months I got to cook the Main Course. I experimented with many meats like beef, pork, chicken, seafood like lobsters, fishes and caviar. The chef was very nice and knew English. He also took us to the Biggest Wine Cave – Patriarche Baune. The team supported me a lot. I am also happy with the service of Destiny Calling as they cooperated with me and even for the great property.

It's pretty great, I enjoyed my experience so far. It has had its ups and downs but in the end it's all about getting out of the comfort zone and physically challenging yourself to do what you have to do. In the beginning if someone would have questioned me if I want to do this I would have definitely said no but now after working for over 4 months and 2 of them being extremely hectic with over 12 hours of work, I have got used to it and I really love how occupied and satisfying the experience is. There is so much to learn and more than just learning about French cuisine. This experience has made me learn so much more about the people and their culture as well in my new hotel. I have two Mexican and 1 Chilean roommate who have become my new Working family for the last 2 months. Working in the kitchen is a certain way of living which demands devoting all your time and strength to it. I know I have troubled you and everyone in Destiny Calling so many times but I'm so thankful for you guys to put up with me.

My name is Urvi Arya and I have been doing my internship in France through Destiny Calling.

The process of the Going France was way easier through Destiny Calling. I reached France on 3 July in Paris and it was more beautiful than I had expected, then I went to Lourdes and as I knew it was a small town but again beautiful than expected. I reached the Property met the owner. He was very welcoming at the start and he introduced me to the other staff members. And then the next day was my first day at work. I was very excited as I was there for a purpose, I wanted to achieve the experience I was looking up to. In some months, I learned the menu, I learned how to serve, learned the service sequence, I learned about different dishes I got to know a lot about the French culture a lot about, how to greet, how to behave, how to stand, things to do in front of people and things not to do in front of French people. With all the work I also faced some struggles here like I have never stayed alone in my life and I had to stay alone here for such a long time And I faced my fear out and I stayed for such a long time. My owner was way too rude with me, he always just abused us. Then I was supposed to get two days off according to my convention but I just got it for two weeks and then I just received one off, I complained about this to Destiny Calling so that I get enough offs and they were very supportive throughout and then I got some weeks off but I was informed that the main hotel was closing and every employee would leave and I will be alone in the Cafe and on top of that I wouldn't get any days off throughout November and December. So, I was so very scared of how I was going to manage everything that I wanted to leave the property but I stood up and I took this as an opportunity to learn everything and managed everything instead. I learned how to take orders, how to make all the drinks, how to take payments and handle the cashier. In short, my journey was not at all very easy throughout the months but I had faced all my fears and I had come up as a completely different person and this internship helped me a lot to understand myself better.

My name is Himani Wankawala. I am studying in Auro University in BscHospitality management and I am in 3rd year and I got the opportunity to go to France for an Internship.

I worked at A la cour d'Alsace. This internship is an eye-opening experience as you discover yourself in both personal and professional life. There were lots and lots of challenges I had to face and those challenges made me stronger and mainly made me emotionally strong. Learning about French culture, environment, work, language was fun, I was excited and that excitement within myself made me learn new things and a lot more things. Before coming to France I thought that it was going to be a very tough time but I never thought that I would enjoy it and smile every day. The people I work with made me feel so comfortable and confident and they seriously motivated me to do better and better. I worked 2 months in an entree station and then in a patisserie. It was amazing working in both stations. I learned so much about their traditional dishes and culture. They trust me that much that it’s been like 3-4 times I did service alone without my station chef. I am very happy with this progress within myself. Apart from working I made friends from different countries, 1 from Russia and 2 from Austria and went on trips with them like Metz and Germany and the best thing ever I did was to go Germany by cycle. I even made Indian food for them and they loved it and they love Indian culture as well. Overall learning in all perspectives. It made me grow in different aspects. I am heartily thankful for this opportunity to my University, Professors, family, colleagues and Destiny Calling for supporting me throughout my journey.

It was my dream once to be able to come to France and explore French culture. France is a land of endless opportunities, new experiences, unexpected feelings, unexplored places, people and food but yet still to learn a lot from this new adventurous journey.

I came to France to work as an intern in the kitchen at Best Western Plus Hotel, Paris 6 months ago and this beautiful journey is about to come to an end in the next 15 days. This journey taught me something new every single day. In the beginning there were times when I felt homesick for my parents or food but I never felt alone as I had such great co-workers with me. My Head Chef is a great person at heart who always taught me to face hurdles with ease and laughter. He made me feel comfortable with the work environment and always came up with new techniques to enhance my culinary skills. There were times when I made mistakes and my chef was always there to correct me. I am filled with gratitude to be a member of this family where everyone is ready to sacrifice for each other. My chef always said one thing that together we can achieve anything. This always motivated me to work more and give my best I can. My chef has always been an inspiration to me and I feel destined to get an opportunity to work with such a mentor.

I would like to explore more such opportunities in future and thank my colleagues and the hotel who have made me perfect in all possible ways. Also I would like to thank Destiny Calling for helping me fulfill my dream and supporting me throughout my internship.

My internship programme experience was amazing. The hotel staff and owners were so friendly and helpful. I learned a lot about French cuisine and culture. My sincere regards to Jeff, Mathias, Morgane and Mr Santini and the entire staff. He took care of me like a daughter and also presented me a return gift. Morgane took good care of me, taught me French and even took me along for trips. I miss them a lot and wish to work there again in baking and patisserie.

This was my first solo experience, I traveled, learned and enjoyed so much.

From the very minute I stepped into the Chennai airport till the time I came back home from France, it has simply been magical. These 6 months of my life taught me who I really was. They changed my life upside-down. And I can proudly say that I've changed so much as a person and learnt a lot. Not just the hard-skills, but soft-skills too. New country, new culture, new people and a new language we're all too much of a change for the 17 year old me. But, these 6 months showed me how strong and persistent I am and how much I am more than I think I could be. The first week of the internship was orientation, where the chefs introduced me to all the staffs and they familiarized me with all the equipments and their French names. The following weeks, I started working in the "Entree" section. In total, I worked in the "Entree" section for 5 months and in the main course section for a month. The chefs and the staff were very friendly and were ready to help me with anything and clear my doubts. I can't thank Destiny Calling company enough for giving me such a lovely internship. Thank you, Destiny Calling.

Hello, here is a feedback of my internship at L'arnsbourg 

Overall, it was a great experience and I learned a lot ! During the first few weeks it was very difficult to adapt and the area is so cut off from the city so I faced some problems with transportation. But with time, I managed to survive :I could get along very well with the employees and they were always ready to help us (interns) to get out of the forest. It was also very tiring as I was not used to working for so many hours but with time and as I enjoyed the work, long shifts did not bother me at all. Throughout my internship there were many new interns so I made friends and lodging is also good. The employees as well as the owner are very kind and helpful and they were always there when I needed help. Food was my biggest problem but I could manage with that too. They used to cook something else for me when they cooked pork. However these four months really flew and there were ups and downs but the internship was really worth it as it will really help me in the future. I would like to thank the whole Destiny Calling team for my internship. A very happy new year to all of you and will hopefully come back for my next internship!

Bonjour, my name is Ishab Singh and I am glad to share my traveling experience from India to France, the place where every second person dreams to come and work. Finally, it was the day when I had to leave for my internship. I was excited as well as nervous because it would totally be a new experience for me. It was a big day for me as I was traveling all alone to this new venture of my life. And the commencement of this journey was with the blessings of my family. They came to see me off to the airport but they had to wait for half an hour as it was a long queue to get my boarding pass. The next stoppage was security check inn for which I sat on the bench and my name was announced and i felt nervous because my departure time was near but when I went there, they told me that they have detected an unallowed object which was my power bank and they had thrown it away which made me sad. But then I boarded my plane and got a seat next to a student who was traveling for work in another country. I had a good conversation with her. Next, I had a stopover at Russia which was a little bit confusing for me but somehow I managed to go through the security check but there was no gate number mentioned on my boarding pass so I asked the help desk but they replied to me in Russian so I went to the board where all the flight timings were mentioned and I somehow figured details about my flight and sat near my gate. And the weather was amazing out there, it was snowing all over.

I made a new friend over there who was Japanese but she was sort of lost and I helped her to find her gate number. After waving off her it was time for my flight to board. I traveled by airport bus to the plane. The meal in the flight was delicious. Ultimately, I landed in France. After check out, I went to buy the train tickets but there was some issue because the machine did not accept my card so I panicked but somehow an old Indian man over there came for the help and paid for my ticket. With all my luggage I boarded my train and within an hour I was at Grenoble station. I took a taxi to the Uriage Les Bains which is on the outskirts of the city, where my hotel was. The taxi man was a nice person, he gave me some information about the area and dropped me to the hotel. I went to the reception and told them about the details so they allotted me the room and food timings were told to me. The service staff people were warm hearted and treated me nicely as I was new to their work environment. They showed me the property and gave me the necessary information regarding my shifts for the work. There I met with a cheerful person who came out to be the chef under whom I had to work. His name is Chef Romain. The gastronomy staff was also very kind.

Coming to the place where I had my accommodation, wifi and washing machine installed. After a few days I had a refrigerator. And my room had a very scenic view with park facing all my windows. All my experience was quite good. My neighbor is my colleague who is the gastro chef, Huges, who takes me to the city whenever he goes there. We celebrate every Sunday night after the shift is over. I have another neighbor who is a sommelier her name is Veronica and when I get time I go on evening walks with her. I am liking this environment because people over here are very cheerful and always try to help others. They have different culture from us but I am trying to adapt with the changing environment.

Internship at - Les Suites Du Nevada, Tignes - France

College - Auro University, Gujarat, India

It was great getting an opportunity to do my internship in France, learning and experiencing the culture and language which is definitely going to help me in future. Learning a new language is difficult but given some time and practice it is easier to gain confidence in the language. Talking about myself, when I started my internship in Restaurant Service, at the initial stage I was very nervous about catching up with language and the working style of the restaurant, but then as I started putting efforts for learning and gaining knowledge and daily practices I was able to cope up with the situations somehow. Later, I set a goal to myself about; improving my language and communicating more in French with my customers and colleagues and hopefully I was able to reach my goal to some level. This was a little achievement within me which motivated me to work happily and with courage. The most important thing I would like to mention is - it is said that interns in restaurant service or kitchen are mostly given the basic work and majorly the back of the house work where you don’t have to deal with language issues and other such issues, but I would like to say this does not apply to my internship. I do majorly the front of the house work just as other permanent employees. This is one of the biggest motivations for me to work in the department and I have actually learned a lot and had a great experience.

Dear Destiny Calling Team,

The opportunity of doing an internship in France and learning of the amazing French culture and language is something that I would always cherish in my life.

I was introduced to real french gastronomy which motivated me to give my 100 percent at my work. My colleagues and seniors taught me a lot of things about the hotel industry and motivated me always to work better. I made some really good friends who were very helpful and always supportive during my work in the hotel.The hotel was like my home(Jiva Hill Hotel) and I have amazing memories working in the hotel right from the General Manager to the Gardener, they were all amazing. We also managed to look around the beautiful cities of France and Switzerland from Lyon, Geneva to Paris. I am really grateful to Destiny Calling that you gave me this lifetime opportunity and that I am completely happy with my internship experience.

Thank you so much.

I'm Aarushi Agrawal, currently in 3rd year studying Bachelor of Science in Hospitality and management at Auro University, Surat. With the aid of Destiny Calling, I found a placement at Hotel Du Parc, Restaurants & Spa for six months.Initially I faced certain problems due to language barriers as my hotel only communicated in French. But with constantly striving to improve myself, after a month I could understand all that I was asked to do and after two months had started to communicate in French. According to my preference, I worked in two departments i.e Food and Beverage and Housekeeping. All the supervisors at my department were really helpful and always encouraged to give their best. In order to give your best in 6 months, you need to be patient to deal with barriers and constantly strive for best. Thank You