INTERNSHIP AT PARIS: PROS AND CONS?

Giovanni Arghenini Escrito hace 5 años

Hi everyone!

Just to explain my situation: I got this week an offer by a France company to do a 6 months full-time intern in their office at Paris, from the middle of March till September. The company is simply perfect (cool stuff, good salary, a lot to learn, opportunity to develop the thesis with...), the only problem is the city itself: very expensive and full of racists.

What's more, I would live this adventure as, let's say, a worker, and not as an Erasmus student anymore; which means having less time or availability to enjoy events and parties during the week, which is fine to me, but on the other side that also means having less opportunities to meet other people in my same condition (or students as well) and make my own group of friends. Plus, starting my intern in the middle of March instead of February, like the majority of Erasmus students, may be disadvantageous.

Considering I'd probably be the only intern in that enterprise (maybe an other one, checking on the company careers), there could be the risk to be alone either in the work and in the private life, which scares me a little bit. I'm not even quite interested about the French culture or language (nothing against that of course, but if I had to learn an other language I was personally more curious to study German), and don't know if that is irrilevant or has its own influence in a city where native citizens are pretty "patriotics".

So did someone of you guys deal with a situation like this, or do you know someone you met there during your erasmus even if he/she was not an Exchange student? Did you enjoy some useful events for foreigners in Paris that were easy to attend even for workers or volunteers? How did you manage your time in the French Capital to avoid feeling alone?

Any experience or opinion is welcome, thanks everyone and good luck for your intern :) !