I started learning French when I was four years old. I was
enrolled in a private school that valued language learning from a young age. I
did not learn much more than catchy songs or basic greetings before I
transferred to public school, but the love of the language had already taken
root in my head. I grew up obsessed with everything related to France – the food,
the architecture, the history, and of course the language. After 14 years of
this obsession, I was finally given the opportunity to travel to France when I
was 18 thanks to the LSA internship abroad program at U of M. I spent two
months in Marseille during the summer after my freshman year of college, and I
still consider those the best two months of my life.
The famous Notre Dame de la Garde cathedral on the hill over the city center
Deciding to travel to France alone at age 18 was an easy decision, although looking back, I should have been more afraid. I think that, for me, the total value of this decision based on the value equation was very high – what I expected to get from the experience (the trip to France that I had always dreamed about) was greater than the cost of a plane ticket and greater than my fear of traveling alone (Babin & Harris, 2016, p. 28). So, I responded to the ad about an internship, interviewed the next day, and booked a plane ticket the day after that.
As much as it felt like it, I didn’t go to France just for
fun. I worked as an Intern for Kedge Business School during their busy
recruiting process. Every candidate for the business school was required to
visit for an interview, and I helped coordinate the travel, lodging,
entertainment, and interview schedules of the students.
The Kedge interns! Plus a stunning view, if I do say so myself!
A typical day for me started with work – I would confirm the
interview timeslots of the day’s candidates before beginning to welcome and
register them. Once everyone was present, all of the interns would perform a
welcome dance for the candidates. I really hate dancing, but I always participated
because of the influence of my formal group – the group of interns with whom I
worked shared the same work-related values and codes of conduct (Babin & Harris, 2016, p. 158). That
group and their love for the school influenced me to do something I hate every
single day, and by the end, it was actually kind of fun.
The interns doing our daily welcome dance - yup, that's me, third from the left. Yikes.
On a typical afternoon, I would help the candidates finish
up their interviews, confirm the schedule for the next day, and head out. My
favorite part of the day was always going into the city for food with an
informal group of peers that also worked at Kedge but who I mainly met for
meals and other fun activities, so we did not have the same set of rules as my
formal group (Babin & Harris, 2016, p. 158).
Did I mention that my favorite part of the day was any time
I was eating? I did? Well, it’s worth mentioning again, because the food in
Marseille is amazing. The city is located right on the Mediterranean Sea, so
the restaurants are filled with fresh seafood while still maintaining the
common Italian and Parisian influences that are famous in Europe. While I
visited cool restaurants technically for utilitarian value, the experiences provided
hedonic value because I gained so much pleasure from them (Babin & Harris, 2016, p. 29). While I
definitely ate my fair share of unique food, I do have one regret about my
dinner choices. I was a tourist in Marseille, and naturally I did not want to
eat the same thing twice so to experience the culture of the city. However, my
social group of Marseille natives were used to the food and wanted to go to the
same restaurants. So, I often gave up my quest for new restaurants, eating at
the same Italian restaurant as many as four times a week. That experience
definitely taught me the power of group influence (Babin & Harris, 2016, p.157).
When in France, eat crêpes!
Hopefully this blog taught you some of the ups and downs of
my internship abroad. I strongly recommend doing an internship abroad if you
have the opportunity. There are programs all over the world for different timespans
and in many target languages, and you will be so happy you did it! Check out the LSA International Internship Program website or the Ross Global Study website for
more info!
Catch me next week as I talk more about Marseille, the most
beautiful city in the world! Au Revoir!
Wherever you go, go blue!
References:
Babin, B. J., & Harris, E. G. (2016). CB7. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
*All photos are my own!
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