One aspect of French lifestyle I adore is the long lunch breaks. Not only does it help to eat slowly and enjoy food, helping digestion, it’s a great opportunity to socialize with colleagues and build new connections. One afternoon, I was contemplating what to get for lunch when my maître-de-stage or supervisor showed me a new bakery close to the research institute. When we walked in, the first thing that caught my attention was a set of pastries that resemble fruits. These are called trompe l’œil, which literally means to deceive the eye.
I will definitely be trying this out for dessert one day; the colors and detailing is beautiful and I’ve heard it’s creamy and delicious. But I feel like this pastry and the concept of it relates somehow to my internship life. For one, I do not believe anyone is trying to be deceitful; it’s more about me listening to something and not knowing how to interpret it. In the context of a bakery, where I found these laid in the display case, I would understand immediately that these are the pastries and not the fruits. However, if someone were to take a picture of these in a bowl, or even a plain white background, I would still eventually realize, but later. Communication, just like visuals, is dependent on context.
We discussed high-context and low-context cultures prior to starting our internships, and I believe that is where a lot of the ambiguity in communication comes from. France is a high-context culture. A lot of communication lies in body language, facial expressions, and personal relationships. In other words, it is implicit and requires observation. In the United States, people are a lot more straightforward and mean what they say.
My internship supervisor gives more open-ended instructions than what I am used to from my jobs in the US. In the US, I have always gotten very specific, detailed instructions for each task to be done a certain way. Here, instructions are a lot more general. That does not, however, mean doing whatever I want. There is definitely still an expectation for how things are meant to be done, and in fact, the expectations for a task are still very specific, even if not mentioned explicitly.
At first, I thought that I had to be the one to create tasks or figure everything out on myself. However, one day when I did this, I ended up frustrated and spent much more time on a task than was needed. While it is more encouraged to be independent, in certain situations, asking questions on how to move forward will save time and make work more efficient. I learned later that whenever I found something unclear, questions would be helpful, but they need to be thoughtful and more targeted and specific. For one, it is appreciated since it shows you have made an effort to figure something out, but also, it’s more likely you get the answer you want that way. Everyone is busy and you need to do your part to stay in the loop.
At the same time, in France, once something is said, it is expected it will not have to be repeated. I wanted to avoid asking repeated questions, so I made the habit of taking detailed handwritten notes and documenting details from conversations more often, as well as making myself detailed plans for each day. Starting out with new projects, this has helped me quite a lot; a lot of tasks or steps in projects take much less time because of these notes. The key to understanding can be looking back to notes or to a list of resources. Once I spend more time on a project, I no longer need to take as many notes.
My strategies for being efficient and making a good impression are asking less questions, but more detailed and thoughtful ones, as well as taking meticulous notes. Even if I personally understand something, it becomes easier to explain and talk about what I have done if it is on paper. I am definitely going to adapt to more situations and learn how to solve other kinds of problems during the rest of my internship. I will have to be honest; sometimes, though a lot less now, I feel that I am lost, especially with the fact that French is not my native language and some important details are lost because I do not have the vocabulary. I convince myself to stay persistent and to ask politely and calmly whenever I do not understand something and would appreciate them repeating the phrase.
On a more relaxed note, Monoprix, Franprix, and my favorite bakeries have also kept me motivated! I love having a pain suisse as a treat or grabbing fresh produce and a new cheese to try every now and then. My French friend recommended that I go to a Carrefour hypermarket and buy a cheese platter. It’s an amazing deal with four cheeses and a serving of fruit jam to go with it. I got the Savoie selection and had sampled Abondance, Tomme de Savoie, Saint-Marcellin, and Délice des Alpes. At first, the scent was strong and I needed some time to adjust, but trying out the cheeses was lovely. My favorite is definitely Délice des Alpes; it reminds me of brie because of how creamy and thick it is, but it’s stronger and has more personality to it. I think I will definitely get one of these platters each week for the rest of my time here.
