A king and an internship
Door: Melanie
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Melanie
05 Juni 2013 | Frankrijk, Parijs
It is not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters. This quote of the Greek philosopher Epictetus is one of the take-home messages of the trainings I am assisting in my internship. And this internship is what has been keeping me so busy that I did not have much time to write a blog these months. Well, not only my internship, also visits of two Dutch friends :D (first Linda, and then Rachel), and many visits to the Netherlands for a wedding, a birthday, and a new-born baby (my family is pretty busy too haha), have been keeping me busy :). But here I am again! Hoping that I did not lose all my readers yet ;). Because let’s stay reasonable; this blog is about my master in Paris and if I am not careful this master is over without having written about the last part of it. So here we go!
Since March I am doing my internship in a French multinational company. And this internship is the next step of my integration in the French culture after living and studying the French way. I am discovering the French business culture, experiencing the working life in a French organization. This is again, adding a lot to my personal and this time also to my professional experiences. Because it is also again, confronting me with this culture that is originally not mine.
While my home country inaugurated a new King, I was dealing with my first issues of the power distance and the importance of status in my host country. I understand that as an intern, and as someone with no working experience in the business world, you do not have much to say in a big company. I also understand that you have to respect people that have more experiences than you. But I do not understand that there has to be this distance between people. I neither understand that people have to have a certain status and I especially do not understand that people have to show so bad that they have a better status than someone else. I am very conscious about the fact that it is up to myself to think differently and not to care about people that might think that they are better than me, a future Work Psychologist. However, this is easier said than done. Especially when you are coming from a culture where the power distance is lower and where status is less important.
When I told people around me proudly that my country has a new king, most of them did not seem to care. Well, I understand that they are less close to my country than I am haha, that is not my problem. It just made me realize even more how much power distance and status is part of a culture. The people here are often surprised that we love our royal family that much. They are probably even more surprised to hear that the royal family is not being distant from the people. I am not the first one that writes about this; the internet is full of international journalists prizing the Dutch royal family for being so human, for staying so close to the people.
So while the King and Queen of the Netherlands are touring through the lowlands (in order to meet people in every province!), I will continue adapting myself to a culture that I do really start to love more and more, but that still gives me some hard times with certain issues. And with a bit of luck, and mostly a lot of hard work for one more month, I might graduate this summer.
Since March I am doing my internship in a French multinational company. And this internship is the next step of my integration in the French culture after living and studying the French way. I am discovering the French business culture, experiencing the working life in a French organization. This is again, adding a lot to my personal and this time also to my professional experiences. Because it is also again, confronting me with this culture that is originally not mine.
While my home country inaugurated a new King, I was dealing with my first issues of the power distance and the importance of status in my host country. I understand that as an intern, and as someone with no working experience in the business world, you do not have much to say in a big company. I also understand that you have to respect people that have more experiences than you. But I do not understand that there has to be this distance between people. I neither understand that people have to have a certain status and I especially do not understand that people have to show so bad that they have a better status than someone else. I am very conscious about the fact that it is up to myself to think differently and not to care about people that might think that they are better than me, a future Work Psychologist. However, this is easier said than done. Especially when you are coming from a culture where the power distance is lower and where status is less important.
When I told people around me proudly that my country has a new king, most of them did not seem to care. Well, I understand that they are less close to my country than I am haha, that is not my problem. It just made me realize even more how much power distance and status is part of a culture. The people here are often surprised that we love our royal family that much. They are probably even more surprised to hear that the royal family is not being distant from the people. I am not the first one that writes about this; the internet is full of international journalists prizing the Dutch royal family for being so human, for staying so close to the people.
So while the King and Queen of the Netherlands are touring through the lowlands (in order to meet people in every province!), I will continue adapting myself to a culture that I do really start to love more and more, but that still gives me some hard times with certain issues. And with a bit of luck, and mostly a lot of hard work for one more month, I might graduate this summer.
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05 Juni 2013 - 20:14
Manon:
Yeah MEL! Nog even doorzetten en je hebt die master in the pocket! Zal niet altijd even makkelijk zijn, helemaaaaal niet omdat het allemaal ook nog een in het Frans is, maar wederom heb ik weer alle vertrouwen in je!! SUCCES!
Liefs x -
05 Juni 2013 - 20:45
Laura:
Hi Mellie,
Fijn weer een blog van je te lezen :). Ik had het niet meer verwacht gezien jouw drukte met van alles en nog wat. En oei, wat zul je het af en toe zwaar hebben met de franse cultuur. Goed om te horen dat je je desondanks blijft aanpassen en dat je er steeds meer van gaat houden. Wat dat betreft is de quote die jullie jullie collega's meegeven om over na te denken ook mooi toepasbaar voor jezelf ;).
Succes met de laatste loodjes! En ook ik heb er alle vertrouwen in dat alles goed komt. Toi toi toi (leuk voor Phil om te vertalen ;).
Dikke kus van ons allemaal -
05 Juni 2013 - 21:02
Bernadette:
Go Mellie!!!
Je bent een echte doorzetter en je bent er bijna! Ben supertrots op je en weet zeker dat je dit laatste stukje ook goed gaat afronden!!!
Daarna mag je weer fijn naar je oude vertrouwde landje om van een welverdiende vakantie te genieten!!! En als het meezit kan je onze mini ook nog zien :)
Maar voor nu eerst nog heel veel succes met die laatste loodjes!!!
Dikke kus! -
05 Juni 2013 - 21:12
Phil:
Good luck baby met de laatste loodjes!!! -
05 Juni 2013 - 22:41
Soledad:
My dear youngest daughter, wish you all the best. Hugs and kisses. -
07 Juni 2013 - 11:34
Nihayra:
Hey Mel,
Nog een maandje! Dat is niets vergeleken met twee jaar.
Kuskus (en zal blijven lezen) -
13 Juni 2013 - 13:04
Rita:
Hoi Mel, ik had je al een beetje gemist en ben je dus niet vergeten. Het gaat goed met je zo te lezen. Het verschil in status is ook hier hoor. Maak je er maar niet druk om, zolang jij maar niet zo word, ik denk het niet. We weten weer hoe het met je gaat en blijven je verslag lezen. Groetjes en XXX Rita
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