My internship at the Bureau International des Expositions - BIE

In September this year, a new adventure will start for my student and professional career. I am going to start an internship in the Bureau International des Expositions in Paris.

Source: Bureau International des Expositions

The master's that I am currently studying gives us the opportunity to either go on an Erasmus placement, to stay in Linköping with the regular subjects or going anywhere to do an internship. My case was the last one. At first, I applied for an Erasmus placement in France and I was given the lace at the University of Lille. However, a few weeks later, I have an interview with the BIE, and some days later I was notified that I had been chosen as the intern for the exhibitions department of the Institution.

Source:Bureau International des Expositions

I really wanted to do an internship because I think is very important for the CV and because in this way, I can discover how international institutions work together with countries. In fact, I wanted to mix both of my studies: Tourism and International Relations, and I think that having the internship in BIE suits best for my expectations.

The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), according to them as can be seen in their webpage, "is the Intergovernmental Organisation in charge of overseeing and regulating all international exhibitions that last more than three weeks and are of non-commercial nature ("Expos"). Today, 4 main types of Expos are organised under its auspices: World Expos, Specialised Expos, Horticultural Expos and the Triennale di Milano".

Source: Dubai Expo, UAE

The offer of the internship was for two departments: the communication department and the exhibitions department. I applied for the second one by sending an email with a cover letter and my CV; a few weeks later, I got a response and they gave me an appointment for the interview, which had to be made via skype since they are in Paris and I was in Sweden at that time. The interview was short but very precise, it took 12 minutes to talk about the knowledge I had about BIE, my experience, my motivations, and what they would expect from me. After a long week of waiting for the response, I got an email with the acceptance, and to be honest, I couldn't be more proud of myself when I discovered that such a prestigious institution had taken me into account to work with them.

During the three months (September to December) in which I will be working for BIE, I will have to do many things, but here I show some of the things that I will be doing: Support the daily work of the Exhibition Department / Compile, analyse and update relevant information and documentation concerning the political and economic situation / the presence in Expos and the BIE cooperation with Member States/ Coordination of meetings / Draft briefings comprising analyses and appraisal of existing and future cooperation between the States, their delegations, Expos and the BIE; / Assist staff with research requests/ etc.

Source: Bureau International des Expositions

I am super excited about working there. I want to give my best and I will do so in order to have a great experience and to show the people at BIE that I am really enjoying the fact that they have accepted me. Working in BIE in the future sounds like a dream to me and being able to do an internship is such an honour.

In this blog I will talk about finding accommodation in Paris, giving tips of advice on how to apply for internships and doing the interviews, and of course, my experience in Paris, which will start on the 18th of September.

Cheers!

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