Abstract
The second year of Marketing and European Management, within the international school of management IDRAC Lyon, begins with a cultural trip of two months, named International Work Experience. This stay, is not in a French-speaking country, and enables the students, on one hand, to discover a foreign culture thanks to the contact with the local population and, on the other hand, to practice a foreign language. In order to use that opportunity to go to discover a foreign culture I decided to not stay in Europe. I made my IWE in the United States, in Charleston, South Carolina. This journey, counted for the validation of my second year, and took place from 20/06/07 till 27/08/07. During these two months, I had the opportunity to work in a restaurant, as dishwasher and cooking assistant, in order to be self-financed. Parallel to this, I used to visit museums and landscapes in Charleston and New-York. I've been integrated into the American youth, and borrowed their lifestyle. The first step, which was to find a place to live, was rather stressful but was less hard than I thought. A contact that lived in Charleston advised me and spoke about my situation to those around him. At first, I did not get too many responses, and the search for a flat via the internet turned out to be really difficult since the beginning. Many times I was about to find an accommodation but the problem of the transport was generally a hindrance, as I don't have a driving license. A financial problem also existed because Charleston is a "VIP" city, and the rents was close to 1000$ per month, for a small flat.
Extract
[...] These quotations are mainly used as motivation? It's necessary to underline that the redundancies is a notion easier to execute than in France, everything is made to encourage the growth of the company and thus its internal dynamism. It's rather easy to lose its work, while in France the financial (severance pay?) and legal constraints protect more the employees and discourage many attempts. But this is a reality more frequent in the USA, and anchored in customs because the workers think themselves that the redundancy is a good way to surpass itself and to be always competitive, except in a case of abuse or unfairness, of course. [...]
[...] They are really at ease in that kind of situation, due to their open-mind?maybe due to their national history linked to the immigration. And who talks about immigration, talks about a multitude of language, so they are used to break the obstacles that could exist between two persons. While French people seem to be more shut-in, it means it's more difficult for them to engage a friendly chat. About town plans, the USA pitched on a checkerboard plan, it means the streets are parallels are perpendiculars. [...]
[...] The first vote (make by the citizens) give the last result, but that system stems from the US Constitution, because the USA consider every national event like aggregate of the nations. It means USA act like a country and like United Nations? The politic life is also different for the speeches, as it were they don't take heed of some French policy. I want to say that it's not surprising to watch a campaigner in a comic show, coming to talk about his activities but in a comic atmosphere. For example, I watched Barak Obama talking about his believes wearing jeans and T-Shirt. It seemed to be really relaxed. 7. [...]
[...] I received a very interesting offer some days later, from the manager of several restaurants, situated on the main street of Charleston. He offered me to be a dishwasher and one of the assistant of the cooker. But, like we are going to see, further in my journey I have had two other jobs. 1. Dishwasher and assistant This job was found in France, as explained previously. From my arrival I was driven to the restaurant where I will work, in order to meet the chef, the staff and my employer. [...]
[...] Generally, between 1 PM and 5 PM they work in a company in order to learn by experience, while French students have a full schedule from 8 AM to 5 PM. That job permits them to earn little money and a lot of experience helpful for their future. Moreover they try to find another job for the night, between 8 PM to 11 PM, in the purpose of earns enough money to pay the dailies spending. In that case the college is perceived like a real transition with the professional life. If they have less homework than French students, inversely they read a lot of books corresponding to their studies. [...]
