About The Program
Work directly with local faculty to produce a specific research project linked to your major or interests. After 5 weeks of coursework, cross academic borders and work with international professionals to gain valuable skills for your career or graduate studies. A 12-week internship with an organization that can support your research could have you analyzing data for government ministries, interviewing officials for a French magazine, or documenting lab experiments. At the end of the program, you’ll have a published research paper, distinguishing you from your peers. The program includes cultural activities, including a visit to Fontainebleau and nights at the theater.
Where you'll study
Located in on a quiet, quaint street off the bustling rue Faubourg Saint Antoine is the Institute for Field Education (IFE). IFE’s teachers come from French and Belgian universities. The faculty and local professionals work together to create research and internship opportunities that are complex, stimulating and creative. The Faubourg district, where you’ll study, is situated between the 11th and 12th arrondissements. Small businesses and startups mix with the traditional French businesses like furniture makers, cafés, galleries, and markets. Classes are taught in the large rooms with plenty of sunlight on the refurbished ground floor of an old Paris building. Your study location has computer labs, study and relaxing spaces, and an equipped kitchen.
Media Gallery
TRIPS AND ACTIVITIES
The study center arranges field trips and activities to introduce the local culture and special features of your host country. There may be other optional excursions, which you can explore after arrival.
Guided tour of the opulent Château de Fontainebleau
Workshop series on improv, digital storytelling, and other topics
Theater and cinema nights
From The Californian Abroad
While I did face challenges, I had an incredible experience. I proved to myself that I can be self-sufficient, live and work using another language, and adapt to life in a different country. I have a new confidence to strive for the things I wish to do.
Working in a professional setting in another country is eye opening in terms of being able to explore different environments and how they function. I now have some background interacting and communicating with professionals in another country and language. I am inspired to pursue opportunities that involve working with the language learning process and I am looking forward to applying this direction to my career path.
My UCEAP internship taught me the value of language immersion and has inspired me to work for an intercultural exchange organization in my future career. My French improved drastically and being in an immersive professional setting played a huge role in that improvement. My experience left me with soft skills such as active listening, adaptability, and cross-cultural communication. Through hard work and perseverance, I gained the hard skill of foreign language proficiency in French and I am more excited than ever for life after UCSB. I am confident that I can contribute in meaningful ways to my future workplace, regardless of whether it is abroad or domestic.
Thanks to my internship abroad, I've gained invaluable memories and new perspectives I'm eager to share. I also have confidence in myself, my work, and my ability to thrive and make meaningful contributions in new environments.
While I've not entirely shaken off imposter syndrome, navigating study abroad in Paris re-established my confidence in my abilities and speaking French. One's life shouldn't be measured against another's. This experience taught me invaluable lessons in personal growth that I couldn't be more thrilled to take with me in my future academic and professional endeavors.
This internship helped me plan my next steps after college when I didn't know where to start. Now, I plan on getting my master's degree at Les Beaux Arts de Paris, Marseille, Toulouse, or Montpellier.
My first weeks were a crash course in shutting up, listening hard, and helping where I was actually useful. I was constantly outside my comfort zone, and that was exactly the point. I was working in a place designed to be a zone of peace for people who have had to live outside their comfort zone every single day. The second week, I did intake for a trans girl who had almost been killed in a hate crime. It was heavy and terrifying. The turning point came on mobile clinic visits as I walked muddy paths and shared tea in paper cups, talking about life instead of health - that was where the walls fell. I learned that in medicine, credibility comes from respect, consistency, and showing up for the right reasons.