{"id":22035,"date":"2026-05-08T09:39:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T08:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studandglobe.com\/10-situations-inattendues-que-tu-vas-vivre\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T09:50:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T08:50:24","slug":"10-unexpected-situations-youll-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studandglobe.com\/en\/blog\/10-unexpected-situations-youll-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"10 unexpected situations you&#8217;ll experience during your first internship abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"color: #21a0a0;\">10 unexpected situations you&#8217;ll experience during your first internship abroad<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>Are you about to leave for your <strong>first internship abroad<\/strong>? Great. You&#8217;ve got your ticket, an updated CV, maybe even your accommodation sorted.<\/p>\n<p>But there are some things <strong>nobody has told you<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Those little unexpected moments that turn an experience abroad into a unique adventure, sometimes funny, sometimes unsettling, always memorable.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the 10 unexpected situations you&#8217;re (almost certainly) going to experience.<\/p>\n<article>\n<header>\n<header>\n<header>\n<section>\n<header style=\"margin-bottom: 50px;\">\n<div style=\"text-align: center; margin: 40px 0;\"><a style=\"display: inline-block; background: #ee6146; color: #fff; padding: 14px 22px; border-radius: 50px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: 400;\" href=\"https:\/\/studandglobe.com\/en\/internship-abroad\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\ud83d\ude80 APPLY NOW<\/a><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/section>\n<\/header>\n<\/header>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #ee6146;\">1. The supermarket becomes your first real challenge<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Grocery shopping in another language is an <strong>adventure<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>You spend 10 minutes in the yogurt aisle trying to figure out which one isn&#8217;t fromage blanc. You mix up laundry detergent and fabric softener. You accidentally buy dishwasher salt thinking it&#8217;s coarse salt.<\/p>\n<p>But <a href=\"https:\/\/theinterngroup.com\/our-blog\/culture-shock\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">as several experts on living abroad explain<\/a>, these small everyday culture shocks are actually the most formative. They boost your <strong>adaptability<\/strong> like nothing else.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #ee6146;\">2. You make 5 international friends in a week<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>You thought you might feel lonely at first?<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ll discover that <strong>people on the move attract each other<\/strong>. In just a few days, you meet:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>your German flatmate<\/li>\n<li>an Italian intern<\/li>\n<li>another French person from your neighborhood<\/li>\n<li>a Brazilian student you bumped into at a language class<\/li>\n<li>your Spanish colleague<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You build a mini international circle faster than you would back home. And it&#8217;s one of the greatest rewards of the experience.<\/p>\n<h2><strong><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-22027\" src=\"https:\/\/studandglobe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_1733-2-scaled.webp\" alt=\"situation\" width=\"797\" height=\"448\" srcset=\"https:\/\/studandglobe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_1733-2-scaled.webp 2560w, https:\/\/studandglobe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_1733-2-768x432.webp 768w, https:\/\/studandglobe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_1733-2-1536x864.webp 1536w, https:\/\/studandglobe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_1733-2-2048x1152.webp 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 797px) 100vw, 797px\" \/><\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #ee6146;\">3. Homesickness hits you\u2026 at the most unexpected moment<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>It&#8217;s not on day one that you feel down.<\/p>\n<p>It usually hits in week 3 or 4, when the &#8220;vacation&#8221; effect wears off. You break down seeing a French bakery on your Insta feed. You dream of your grandma&#8217;s quiche.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s <strong>totally normal<\/strong>. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goabroad.com\/articles\/intern-abroad\/challenges-of-interning-abroad\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GoAbroad<\/a>, it&#8217;s actually one of the most common challenges for interns abroad.<\/p>\n<p>Good news: it passes in a few days. And it comes back sometimes, but each time, you become more resilient.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #ee6146;\">4. You speak 3 languages in the same sentence<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>By the end of the first month, your brain starts doing weird things.<\/p>\n<p>You start a sentence in French, finish in English, slip a Spanish word somewhere in between. You search for the word &#8220;boulangerie&#8221; and only &#8220;bakery&#8221; comes to mind.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s a name for this phenomenon: <strong>code-switching<\/strong>. And it&#8217;s a sign that your brain is truly adapting. You&#8217;re not losing your French, you&#8217;re becoming multilingual.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #ee6146;\">5. Local schedules drive you crazy<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>In Spain, lunch is at 2 pm and dinner at 10 pm.<\/p>\n<p>In Germany, shops close at 8 pm and everything is dead on Sundays.<\/p>\n<p>In Ireland, the pub at 5 pm is like &#8220;ap\u00e9ro&#8221; time back home.<\/p>\n<p>These differences throw you off the first few weeks. Then you adjust. And funnily enough, when you go back home, you&#8217;ll find you eat too early.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #ee6146;\">6. The office isn&#8217;t what you imagined<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>30-minute meeting in Germany? Precise and to the point.<\/p>\n<p>Coffee break in Spain? A real institution.<\/p>\n<p>First-name basis in Sweden? Including with your boss.<\/p>\n<p>Monday morning in Italy? The coffee-chat-with-colleagues ritual before getting to work.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ll discover there are <strong>as many work cultures as there are countries<\/strong>. And by adapting to a new one, you develop a skill every recruiter wants: <strong>intercultural agility<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #ee6146;\">7. You realize your English isn&#8217;t that bad<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>You thought your English was &#8220;average&#8221;. You realize you can:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>understand a manager who speaks fast<\/li>\n<li>defend an idea in a meeting<\/li>\n<li>get jokes<\/li>\n<li>make friends in that language<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In 2 months, you&#8217;ve made progress that would have taken <strong>2 years at university<\/strong>. Without even realizing it.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #ee6146;\">8. A silly little detail moves you deeply<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>It won&#8217;t be the big tourist visit that leaves the strongest mark.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;ll be:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the free coffee the baker gives you when you become a regular<\/li>\n<li>the neighbor who holds the building door for you<\/li>\n<li>your colleague teaching you a local expression<\/li>\n<li>the sunset from your building&#8217;s rooftop<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/housinganywhere.com\/living-abroad-benefits\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Several studies<\/a> show that it&#8217;s these <strong>small human moments<\/strong> that truly transform expats. Much more than the great monuments.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #ee6146;\">9. You change how you see France<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Even more surprising: your experience abroad helps you <strong>understand your own culture better<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>You realize what you miss (bread, healthcare, the art of conversation at the table). You also realize what annoys you (heavy bureaucracy, pessimism, the weather).<\/p>\n<p>You come back more clear-headed. More mature. And strangely, prouder of your roots.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #ee6146;\">10. You become someone different<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>When the time comes to pack your suitcase to go home, you look at yourself in the mirror.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re no longer quite the same person who left 3 or 6 months ago.<\/p>\n<p>You:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>make decisions faster<\/li>\n<li>handle the unexpected better<\/li>\n<li>take more risks<\/li>\n<li>know yourself better<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That&#8217;s the most powerful effect of an <strong>internship abroad<\/strong>: you go looking for professional experience\u2026 and come back with a <strong>personal transformation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<article>\n<header>\n<header>\n<header>\n<section>\n<header style=\"margin-bottom: 50px;\">\n<div style=\"text-align: center; margin: 40px 0;\"><a style=\"display: inline-block; background: #ee6146; color: #fff; padding: 14px 22px; border-radius: 50px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: 400;\" href=\"https:\/\/studandglobe.com\/en\/internship-abroad\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\ud83c\udf0e FIND YOUR INTERNSHIP ABROAD<\/a><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/section>\n<\/header>\n<\/header>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #ee6146;\">Why these situations are a blessing<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>No course, no book, no TED Talk can prepare you for these 10 situations.<\/p>\n<p>You have to live them. And that&#8217;s the magic.<\/p>\n<p>Each one of them, even the most uncomfortable, <strong>builds you up<\/strong>. They make you stronger, more open-minded, more international.<\/p>\n<p>And on a CV, that&#8217;s worth far more than one line: it tells the story of who you&#8217;ve become.<\/p>\n<p>The adventure often starts with a detail, a meeting, an unexpected moment.<\/p>\n<p>Now it&#8217;s your turn to live it. \ud83c\udf0d<\/p>\n<h2>Ready to live your first internship abroad?<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; 10 unexpected situations you&#8217;ll experience during your first internship abroad Are you about to leave for your first internship abroad? Great. You&#8217;ve got your ticket, an updated CV, maybe even your accommodation sorted. But there are some things nobody has told you. Those little unexpected moments that turn an experience abroad into a unique [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":22036,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[644,648],"tags":[796,746,787,752],"class_list":["post-22035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-destinations","category-students","tag-intercultural-experience","tag-international-career","tag-student-cv","tag-student-mobility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studandglobe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studandglobe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studandglobe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studandglobe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studandglobe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22035"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/studandglobe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22044,"href":"https:\/\/studandglobe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22035\/revisions\/22044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studandglobe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studandglobe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studandglobe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studandglobe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}