Anna C., Stanford University, Phillips Exeter Academy, USA

“I spent about 5 months in Tokyo, Japan, as part of my gap year between high school and college. During that time, I interned as a part-time pastry chef at Il Restaurante Luca Fantin run by Bulgari in the Ginza district in Japan. This internship was a great opportunity to experience cooking in a professional environment and take my skills to a much more polished level. As I was working in a Japanese kitchen with a mix of Japanese and Italian chefs, it was a great way to brush up on my Japanese skills as well as learn some new Italian vocabulary! The spirit of internationality within the kitchen definitely runs in parallel with the globalism of the Global Internship Program. As an intern for the pastry department, I learned to make biscotti, several different types of tarts, French choux pastry, and the restaurant's signature desserts. I gained new skills using professional-grade equipment, and I learned an incredible amount from the other chefs around me regarding ingredients, ambient temperature and humidity, and food safety. I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity I was given, and will never forget this experience.”