{"id":842,"date":"2024-11-22T13:14:30","date_gmt":"2024-11-22T12:14:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/?p=842"},"modified":"2026-03-06T17:07:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T16:07:27","slug":"my-internship-in-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/2024\/11\/22\/my-internship-in-paris\/","title":{"rendered":"My Internship in Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_842 social_share_privacy clearfix 1.6.4 locale-en_US sprite-en_US\"><\/div><div class=\"twoclick-js\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\njQuery(document).ready(function($){if($('.twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_842')){$('.twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_842').socialSharePrivacy({\"txt_help\":\"Wenn Sie diese Felder durch einen Klick aktivieren, werden Informationen an Facebook, Twitter, Flattr, Xing, t3n, LinkedIn, Pinterest oder Google eventuell ins Ausland \\u00fcbertragen und unter Umst\\u00e4nden auch dort gespeichert. N\\u00e4heres erfahren Sie durch einen Klick auf das <em>i<\\\/em>.\",\"settings_perma\":\"Dauerhaft aktivieren und Daten\\u00fcber-tragung zustimmen:\",\"info_link\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.heise.de\\\/ct\\\/artikel\\\/2-Klicks-fuer-mehr-Datenschutz-1333879.html\",\"uri\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\\\/intern-abroad\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/22\\\/my-internship-in-paris\\\/\",\"post_id\":842,\"post_title_referrer_track\":\"My+Internship+in+Paris\",\"display_infobox\":\"on\"});}});\n\/* ]]> *\/<\/script><\/div><ul>\n<li>Applied Geophysics M. Sc.<\/li>\n<li>France, Paris\/ Clamart<\/li>\n<li>SLB Ribout Product Center<\/li>\n<li>03\/2024 &#8211; 08\/2024<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h4><strong>Application &amp; Finding an internship<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>The <strong><em>Joint MSc Applied Geophysics<\/em><\/strong> is a two-year, joint degree masters offered by TU Delft in the Netherlands, ETH Zurich in Switerland and RWTH Aachen in Germany. Being a student in this unique programme, I had the incredible opportunity to spend a semester in each of the three countries to experience their diverse, yet suprisingly resembling cultures. As part of the graduation requirements, we are required to conduct full-time research in the final semester, with a list of topics provided by the three universities to choose from.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly enough, there are also external opportunities outside of the three aforementioned universities. In collaboration with one of the programme\u2018s universities, previous students have worked at research institutes in Norway, companies in Canada, and more. For our cohort this year (2024), there is an internship position from SLB (formerly Schlumberger) in Paris, France. However, we have to compete with students from other universities outside of the programme for this position.<\/p>\n<p>To apply for the internship, I was required to submitted my CV, MSc transcript, and a motivation letter by November 2023. Fortunately, after just one round of interview, I was selected among more than four applicants to work at this prestigious oil and gas company starting from March 2024 for half a year! I must admit, I do feel slightly privileged to have received this internship opportunity, partly thanks to my MSc programme. Therefore I highly recommend that you start your search for an internship early\u20149 to 12 months before the start date should give you enough time for any administrative and visa applications that might follow. All the best!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Accomodation &amp; Living expenses<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Just like finding an internship, it&#8217;s best to start early when searching for a room or studio in \u00cele-de-France once your internship is confirmed. Besides the influx of tourists, this bustling metropolis is home to numerous universities, making student housing short in supply.<\/p>\n<p>When choosing a place to live, it&#8217;s wise to pick a location with night transport (<strong>Noctilien<\/strong>), ideally within Zone 3 of the IDFM transport network. Trust me, you don&#8217;t want to end up like me\u2014trying to save money by living in a remote area for 575\u20ac\/mo (17m<sup>2<\/sup>) with no late-night buses, only to find yourself increasingly relying on Uber to get home as your local social life takes off and the parties become more frequent&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>To start with, Cite Universitaire (not a university, but a student housing cluster) is a great option for finding a room. Located at the edge of the city of Paris, it offers excellent all-day transport links and, best of all, an exciting student life if you&#8217;ve chosen to be an extrovert:: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ciup.fr\/en\/\">https:\/\/www.ciup.fr\/en\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Another option is Twenty Campus, a private housing company geared towards university students, with SOME and only SOME of their residences conveniently located for all-day access to Paris: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.twenty-campus.com\/en\/map\/\">https:\/\/www.twenty-campus.com\/en\/map\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Remember to check reviews on Google or other platforms before selecting a residence!<\/p>\n<p>Besides, the French government offers housing assistance to students living in France through the CAF scheme, which you can apply for after your first month of residence. You can learn more about it here: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.feelfrancais.com\/apply-for-the-caf\/\">https:\/\/www.feelfrancais.com\/apply-for-the-caf\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>As for transport, you&#8217;re in luck! The IDFM network offers a student annual pass called the &#8220;ImagineR,&#8221; which costs \u20ac375 a year and is valid throughout \u00cele-de-France, covering Zones 1 to 5 all year round. You&#8217;ll need your RWTH enrollment certificate and your internship certificate to apply. Learn more about the scheme and save a LOT of money here: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iledefrance-mobilites.fr\/imagine-r\">https:\/\/www.iledefrance-mobilites.fr\/imagine-r<\/a><\/p>\n<p>(Best of all, since you are working as an intern in France, your company is required to reimburse a portion of your transport ticket cost. This means you might end up paying less than half the price of the pass!)<\/p>\n<p>Other expenses in France are quite comparable to that of Germany. Eating out might cost a bit more (at around \u20ac20), but trust me, the quality of French cuisine and their hospitality is absolutely worth the extra penny. And if you&#8217;re a young museum enthusiast, there&#8217;s even better news\u2014most French museums are free for students from EU universities. If you have some free time off work, don&#8217;t miss the chance to enrich your cultural knowledge and catch up with the Frenchies!<\/p>\n<p>Digital payment is very common in France, so you can definitely get by without cash for long \u2013 unlike in Germany. Here&#8217;s a breakdown of my average monthly expenses in Euros:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Accommodation 575 \u20ac<\/li>\n<li>Food (and groceries) 250 \u20ac<\/li>\n<li>Insurance 70 \u20ac<\/li>\n<li>Travelling\/ Misc. 230 \u20ac<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u2026bringing my total to around 1150 \u20ac per month for everything. Pas mal !<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Everyday<\/strong> life\/ the internship<\/h4>\n<p>While I can&#8217;t share the technical details of my internship, a typical workday generally goes like this if I&#8217;m not teleworking: It takes me 45 minutes to get from my residence to the office (thanks to my less-than-ideal location), arriving around 10:30 am. I code for a bit, then enjoy lunchtime with my fellow interns from 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm. After that, there\u2019s more coding and occasionally some meetings in the afternoon. I usually leave the office by 5:30 pm at the latest. Although I work 35 hours a week, I&#8217;m allowed to telework about two days a week on average. So, the work is pretty flexible, as my supervisor put it: &#8220;Just finish the work on time, and you\u2019ll be fine. Don\u2019t let me know where you work.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Are the French chill at work? I guess it depends on the workplace. Since SLB is a global company, some colleagues do end up having to be available at 3:00 am for meetings with American and East Asian headquarters. While my colleagues aren\u2019t too surprised to receive Teams messages outside of official work hours, I have to admit, this did shatter my fantasy of the laid-back French workplace&#8230; Hierarchies were flat, though, so there is nothing to worry in this regard.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t take my everyday life in \u00cele-de-France as a reference, though, since the city was in full swing preparing for the 2024 Olympic Games (Jeux Olympiques) while I was enjoying the higher-than-normal living standards in the metropolitan area. Transport was smooth, stations didn\u2019t smell like human excrement, and everyone was surprisingly willing to (try to) speak English rather than French. There was abundant security and police patrolling the streets&#8230; All my friends who have lived in Paris for a long time say this was just a dream, and I\u2019ll definitely experience the renowned Paris syndrome the next time I visit.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, whenever the weather is nice, I like to head into the city, stroll around, visit some museums, take pictures for memories, and indulge in some of the best pastries in the world. I also meet up (or party) with my friends every week or two, eventually causing myself to order an Uber more and more, though it\u2019s definitely worth it.<\/p>\n<p>And if you want to add a touch of romance to your time in Paris, play some songs by Laufey, or any bossa nova in your earphones \u2013 it\u2019s an absolute sensation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Free time\/ tips<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>\u201cIf you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.\u201d \u2015 Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast<\/p>\n<p>C&#8217;est vrai.<\/p>\n<p>But what did Hemingway mean by \u201amovable feast\u2018, though? I suppose it differs from one to another person. It can be your romantic life, a galore of museums, endless pub crawls, or just simply the scrumptious food that Paris has to offer. I can\u2019t personalize any solid advice to you reading this now, but do make the most of your time in Paris. Don\u2018t just stay at home working \u2013 that you have done plenty already in Aachen.<\/p>\n<p>I hope the tips and links I\u2019ve written above are practical and helpful. If not, here are some additional \u00a0general tips that I\u2018ve brainstormed:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Moving from A to B within Paris (zone 1 \u2013 2) usually takes 30 minutes, while travelling to\/from outside Paris can take about an hour. (Again, try to find a place to live within zone 3!)<\/li>\n<li>Purchasing pastries from supermarkets, especially baguettes, is a crime.<\/li>\n<li>There\u2019s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.<\/li>\n<li>Tap water is LEGALLY free in Parisian restaurants.<\/li>\n<li>Always be a bit more cautious of your valuables.<\/li>\n<li>Generally, districts south of the Seine and to the (south-)west of the city are safer.<\/li>\n<li>Learn some French from Duolingo or any similar apps before you arrive. Definitely useful when you take an Uber or venturing outside of Paris&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>Use both IDFM app AND Citymapper to traverse around the metropolitan.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And as a final tip: travel more! You can earn your expenses back when you start working, but you might well only be in Paris\/ France once in your lifetime. France has so much to offer \u2013 from the snowy Alpine resorts to the relaxing French riverera, from the historic Normadie to the unique Basque country, you\u2019ll need to visit France 1000 times to truly grasp what the hexagon is all about. The same goes for Paris, that she is both modern and historical, elegant and filthy, refreshing and gothic.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Do I have Paris syndrome?<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps I caught the opposite syndrome \u2013 I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d enjoy Paris, only to find her seductive allure lingering in my mind now that I\u2019m writing this.<\/p>\n<p>Paris is a horrible place. It\u2019s dangerous, it\u2018s dirty, everyone is rude as hell and don\u2019t speak English, everything is expensive, and it\u2019s not romantic at all.<\/p>\n<p>With that, you are all set to explore the city. Enjoy \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Applied Geophysics M. Sc. France, Paris\/ Clamart SLB Ribout Product Center 03\/2024 &#8211; 08\/2024 Application &amp; Finding an internship The Joint MSc Applied Geophysics is a two-year, joint degree masters [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6201,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"c2c_always_allow_admin_comments":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,183,10,177,184],"tags":[185,105,132,48,186],"class_list":["post-842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allgemein","category-applied-geophysics","category-france","category-internship","category-paris","tag-applied-geophysics","tag-france","tag-internship","tag-master","tag-paris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6201"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1394,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842\/revisions\/1394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}