Meet Emanuele Osella

Learn more about Emanuele Osella, Alumni (Class of 2020)

Where are you living now and what are you doing?

Right now, I’m living in a student residence in Sèvres, a town outside of Paris. I’m studying for a Bachelor’s Degree in Culinary Arts at Ecole Ducasse. After a month of academic lessons on communication, sustainability, food biology and safety and some language courses, at the moment I’m learning the fundamentals of cooking, such as cutting techniques, making sauces and stocks, and also to work with different raw ingredients.

Do you feel that ISL adequately prepared you for this next step in your life?

ISL helped me a lot, as it allowed me to become independent and to organize myself. It taught me to ask questions and clarification to teachers if I did not understand something. ISL also helped me with languages which are a big advantage in the food sector.

What has been the most challenging thing to overcome since leaving ISL, and transitioning to your new environment during a global pandemic?

To be honest the most challenging thing after I graduated from ISL was receiving the negative results of the IB Diploma in July and therefore having to leave behind my top choice university, in Spain, which had already accepted me. I had to look for other culinary universities and schools and luckily I was accepted into Ecole Ducasse. In August the new results from the IB arrived and I got my diploma. Unfortunately, it was too late to apply again to the Spanish University, so I decided to start the Bachelor’s Degree at the Ecole Ducasse. A part from not attending my top choice university, another thing that I missed was not having a proper goodbye with fellow teachers and students. 

At the new school, one of the most challenging things is constantly having to wear a facemask, as communication becomes very difficult and more detached.

Do you have any interesting anecdotes to share about your life at University in Covid times?

While we are cooking we need to taste the seasonings of the food and something that happens to everyone is that you forget that you have on the facemask. My induction week was spent visiting restaurants, brasseries and one extra luxury hotel in Paris. It was very interesting but it ended up with some students in quarantine because one of the guides tested positive to the virus.

What do you miss most about ISL?

I’m still very attached to ISL. I’ll always miss the wonderful teachers who allowed me to grow as a student but also as a person. I will also miss the sense of community.

If you could give any advice to ISL’s current Senior Class, what would it be?

My advice is that if for some reason you are not able to enter your top choice university, this is not the end of the world, as there can be other opportunities which might reveal even more interesting experiences.

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