With 2 weeks of my internship already completed, it’s hard to believe that I’m already a quarter of the way through. I am beginning to become better acquainted with the city and my internship, from my daily commute on the metro to all of my coworkers, though I am far from knowing everything. Rather than taking more day trips, we decided to spend this weekend getting to know Paris a bit better, visiting some of the more well-known shopping areas and exploring the Île de la Cité and Montmartre.

Though many things at my internship are becoming more clear to me over time, I still have much to learn, as well as a good amount of ambiguous or unclear situations that I am sure to encounter on a fairly regular basis. I would say the biggest source of ambiguity for me is my interactions with guests. We welcome clients from around the world, with Americans and other Europeans making up the majority. Working with Americans, as well as Canadians, I have found, is pretty easy for me, as we speak the same native language, and I am familiar with their social expectations and conventions, such as small talk and other pleasantries. However, I find myself much more unsure when working with European clients. First of all, it is sometimes difficult to discern which language I should use when speaking to a client, as it is usually not immediately apparent. In addition, I am relatively unfamiliar with the social conventions of different European cultures. I know that some cultures are more talkative than others, and that certain topics should be avoided with certain groups, but without knowing specifics, it is not easy.

I also believe that this ambiguity is made more apparent to me as I work with the other employees at the hotel. Many of them are able to operate much more confidently in these situations than me, and not only as a result of experience. Due to the frequent flow of cultures between European countries, my coworkers are able to avoid much of the uncertainty that I experience when working with European clients. Many of them speak four or more languages, including English, Arabic, Italian, and Spanish, which allows them to communicate with many clients in their native languages. My coworkers are also very familiar with the conventions of many cultures, as some of them have family or spouses that come from other countries, or immigrated to France before. This means that they can carry out conversations and offer help with much more confidence than me. Of course, experience also helps. Over time, my coworkers have come to memorize the general preferences and habits of people from certain cultures, which allows them to anticipate their needs.

Unfortunately, the most I can do to really remedy this uncertainty is through observation and the posing of questions. Learning new languages is not something that can be done over the course of these eight weeks, nor is the memorization of all of our clients’ cultures. However, what I am able to do is begin to recognize the patterns in the needs and preferences of certain clients. For example, I have observed that American clients want their rooms cleaned more frequently than European clients, while Germans tend to be a lot less chatty than people from both North and South America. My colleagues have also made an effort to help me learn, sharing anecdotes from their own experiences.

Another source of uncertainty in my internship are the needs of clients every day. I have seen various complaints such as warm water not working, lights burning out, and keys not working, none of which are things that could be planned for. In addition, guests are frequently asking for our help in planning activities for the day, confirming information with organized tours, and setting up taxis for their morning of departure. I found that the best way to deal with these unanticipated needs of clients, especially the latter set, is to become as acquainted as I can with Paris. As people who have grown up in Paris, or moved to the city many years ago, my coworkers are able to be very helpful for clients who have questions about tourism, as they can suggest the most efficient ways to visit and get around the city. I am still very new to the city, so I am unable to provide very specific tips yet, but I believe that the more I get to know Paris, the more helpful I can be to other foreigners here. Fortunately, this is the perfect excuse to explore the city and stop by its numerous attractions when I have free time.