You’ve got your ticket, your internship, and your motivation.
Next step: avoid arriving as a complete tourist and learn a little bit about how people live, work, and interact in your future country.
The good news is that you can start immersing yourself in the culture well before you board the plane… and continue doing so once you arrive.

1. Before you leave: lay the cultural groundwork

The idea is not to become an expert in the country’s history, but to avoid major misunderstandings and understand the main codes.

Identify the ‘big picture’
Find out about:

important holidays,

religion or values that are very present,

the overall political situation (just the main trends).
This will help you understand the general atmosphere and certain sensitive topics to avoid at first.

Basic social codes
Ask yourself some simple questions:

Do people use informal language easily, or do they use formal language for a long time?

Is punctuality sacred, or is it more relaxed?

Do people show their emotions in public, or do they remain reserved?
These are small details… but they can completely change the way your actions are perceived.

Work culture
Try to find out in advance:

how meetings are run,

what the hierarchical distance is between interns and managers,

whether the atmosphere is more formal or relaxed.
This will allow you to arrive at the office with a basic understanding of how things work.

2. Use films, books and social media to get a feel for the country

Before you leave, you can already immerse yourself from the comfort of your sofa.

Local TV series, films and YouTube channels
Watch content created in the country you are visiting:

popular TV series,

local vlogs,

channels that talk about everyday life, food and the city.
You’ll pick up on jokes, references, clothing styles, ways of speaking… in short, the atmosphere.

Social media
Follow content creators, restaurants, cultural venues, and ‘what’s on in [your city]’ accounts.
You’ll see trends, topics that get people talking, and places where locals really go (not just tourists).

Books, blogs, expat testimonials
Read articles or feedback from people who have done an internship or studied there.
They often reveal the ‘unspoken’ aspects: things you won’t find in guidebooks, but which you’ll sense when you arrive.

3. Prepare your perspective: break free from clichés

To truly understand a culture, you have to accept that some things will surprise you.

Challenge your reflexes
In your country, certain things seem ‘normal’ to you (speaking frankly, arriving right on time, eating at a certain time), but this is not universal.
Telling yourself, ‘OK, here, it’s not better or worse, it’s just different’ helps enormously in staying open-minded.

Accept culture shock
You may go through several phases: excitement, fatigue, annoyance, then adaptation.
Knowing that this is normal will prevent you from thinking ‘I’m not cut out for this country’ at the first sign of trouble.

Stay curious > judgemental
When something surprises you (‘Why are they all doing that?’), turn your judgement into a question: ‘What does this say about their way of life?’.
This will help you learn rather than become defensive.

4. Once you arrive: turn every day into a culture lesson

When you arrive, everything becomes a source of information: the street, the supermarket, the office, public transport.

Really observe
Look at:

how people greet each other,

how they dress for work,

the tone they use with colleagues,

how they queue, cross the road, talk to service staff.
These are very concrete clues about how to live and respect each other.

Ask questions (tactfully)
Don’t hesitate to ask your colleagues or flatmates:

‘Is there anything I should avoid saying/doing here?’,

‘How do you normally do…?’

‘Is it important for you to…?’
Most people will be happy to explain their culture to you if you show genuine interest.

Say yes to invitations
Colleague get-togethers, family meals, local festivals, football matches, festivals… this is where you see the culture ‘in real life’, not in a guidebook.
Even if you’re tired, accept invitations from time to time: these are often the moments you’ll remember most.

5. Get out of the expat/student bubble

It’s tempting to stay among people who are going through the same experience as you… but your understanding of the country may remain superficial.

Limit the ‘all in French/English’ approach
Keep spending time with people who speak your language, but also try to connect with locals.
You’ll see other neighbourhoods, other ways to spend the weekend, and have different conversations than those you have with international students.

Join local activities
Sign up for:

a sports club,

a cooking workshop,

a dance class,

an association, a volunteer group, etc.
There, you’ll see how people interact with each other, not just with foreigners.

Explore outside tourist areas
Get lost (within reason) in other neighbourhoods, markets, parks, and local cafés.
You’ll get a better understanding of how locals really live: where they eat, how they get around, what seems important to them.

6. Keep track of what you discover.

Your perspective will change over the weeks, and it’s really interesting to follow.

Keep a ‘culture’ notebook.
Write down what surprised you, what you think is great, what upsets you.
For example: ‘Meals here take a long time’, ‘People apologise a lot’, ‘Colleagues go out together after work’.

Compare without judging
You could write:

‘At home, we do it this way… here, it’s different, and this is how it changes everyday life.’
This also helps you to better understand your own culture, not just that of your host country.

Share your perspective
If you create content (blog, social media, podcast), talk about these small differences and what they teach you.
You put your experience into words and consolidate what you have understood.

Basically, ‘learning about the culture’ isn’t just ticking a box on a to-do list, it’s an attitude: curiosity, respect, a desire to understand before judging.
And the more you play along, the more your internship becomes more than just a line on your CV: it becomes a real immersion in a different way of living and thinking.