University of Groningen
Track: International Relations and International Organization (general) Winter 2020/21
Embassy of Mexico in France, Paris
Placement Report
Amely Katharina Serian Flores
E-mail: A.K.Serian.Flores@student.rug.nl University supervisor: Drs. C.A.M. Wagstaff Placement supervisor: Ms. Laila Porras
Address: 4 rue Notre Dame des Victoires, 75002 Paris, France Time period: 01. December 2020 – 31. January 2021
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Content
1. Introduction ... 1
2. Orientation and preparation for the placement ... 2
2.1 The chosen institution ... 2
2.2 Reasons for choosing this placement ... 2
2.3 Preparation ... 3
2.4 Expectations... 4
3. The placement ... 5
3.1 Activities and Tasks ... 6
3.2 Evaluation of my placement supervision ... 8
3.3 Evaluation of my general working attitude ... 9
4. Connection to the IRIO degree program ... 9
5. Conclusion and Outlook ... 10
6. Annex: For future Interns ... 12
A. Tips and insights regarding housing, cost of living and social surroundings in Paris ... 12
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1. Introduction
I have always been interested in understanding the big picture and how the world works. This was and is also one of my main motivations of why I started the International Relations and International Organization Master at the University of Groningen. During this Master program, I have already been able to learn and understand many ties that are present in today’s world and that are and have been shaping world politics. In many ways, I was also able to connect this new theoretical International Relations knowledge to my previous Bachelor studies in Communication and Economy. Now, to finalize my last step within the Master program, I have successfully completed a two-month study-related internship, from the 1st of December 2020
to the 31st of January 2021, at the economic department of the Embassy of Mexico in France,
Paris. This valuable experience enabled me relevant work experience and detailed insight into one setting of the field of Economics in the context of International Relations, thus bringing me one step closer to my overall goal of understanding the current international dynamics in the world and my plan of working in an economic area after my studies. I have thus been very motivated to do my internship at this diplomatic mission which I will be detailing below. In this placement report, I will be describing my orientation and preparation period which will include a general description of the chosen institution, my reasons for choosing this placement as well as my detailed preparation and expectations. I will then move on to my experiences during the placement, detailing my activities and tasks while adding my personal reflection on my respective learning process. I will round this up by also including my general evaluation of the placement supervision and my working attitude throughout my time at the Embassy. In addition, I will then analyze the connection that this placement has had with the International Relations and International Organization (IRIO) degree program. Furthermore, I will also in-clude general information on the living situation in Paris and tips for future interns at the Mex-ican Embassy in France, Paris. This report will then be finalized by my conclusion and a per-sonal outlook on my future career plan.
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2. Orientation and preparation for the placement
2.1 The chosen institution The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The mission of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to conduct Mexico's foreign policy through dialogue, cooperation and the promotion of the country while also considering and helping Mexicans abroad, as well as to coordinate the international actions of the Mexican Govern-ment. The vision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to make Mexico a country with a con-structive presence in the world, through a responsible and active foreign policy that promotes the fulfilment of the National Goals in a strengthened and innovative manner.
The Embassy of Mexico in France
Mexican embassies are offices that represent the Mexican Government abroad and report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Embassies attend to the political relationship with the State and Government in which they are located. In particular, the Embassy of Mexico in France aims to promote the best relations between Mexico and France. It further protects, in accord-ance with the principles and norms of international law, the dignity and rights of Mexicans and exercises actions aimed at satisfying their legitimate claims while generally being a source of information from Mexico and for Mexico. The Embassy of Mexico in France consists of the following departments: Political Affairs, Multilateral, Press, Economic, Cooperation, Tourism and Consular Affairs. During my internship, I was specifically working in the economic depart-ment. Their primary responsibility is protecting, supporting, and promoting Mexican economic and commercial interests.
2.2 Reasons for choosing this placement
During my search of a placement, my first goal was to find a Spanish work environment to improve my professional Spanish language skills. I had previously already studied or worked in my other fluent languages German, English and French while Spanish was still missing. In comparison, I further also felt less secure with my Spanish and French, especially in a profes-sional context and this placement seemed like the perfect opportunity to improve both. Early on and in line with my aim to better understand how the world works to discover one more
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piece of the puzzle, I decided that, after my previous experiences in the private and the non-profit sector, I would like to learn more about how Embassies work as the diplomatic connec-tion point between two countries. In addiconnec-tion, I found that the interdisciplinary context of an Embassy (covering economics, politics, and other international relations) would pair very well with the equally interdisciplinary nature of the IRIO Master program. Finally, I had also con-sidered that this internship, especially in the economic department of the Embassy, would be a good first step into the field of diplomacy and economic international relations while also getting me closer towards the future career path I already had in mind (see chapter 5).
2.3 Preparation
As I am half German and half Peruvian, I initially wanted to do my internship at any Peruvian Embassy or at a German embassy in a Spanish speaking country. For that, I sent out Cover Letters and my CV directly to several Peruvian embassies and registered in the centralized German online portal of the Foreign office, through which my application was made visible to my selected nine preferred locations. I first found an internship spot at the Peruvian Embassy in Germany, Berlin. However, after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe around Feb-ruary/March 2020, my plan had to change after that internship got cancelled. From then on, only severely limited to no options were available to still do an internship in 2020 at a Peruvian or German Embassy due to their strict regulations for all their (national/international) govern-mental representations. I thus resorted to applying also at other Spanish speaking embassies. Then, after again sending out my CV and Cover Letter directly to those Embassies – mostly to Chilean and Mexican Embassies – I finally found this two-month internship spot at the Em-bassy of Mexico in France, Paris.
The application procedure was straight forward after that. I had a short interview call with the head of economic and commercial services Ms. Laila Porras, who later became my placement supervisor. We also talked briefly about possible tasks I would be performing. Shortly after, my internship was confirmed, and the exact dates were specified. Before the start, I further also did some general research on the economic situation between France and Mexico to pre-pare for my future tasks. As this internship was unfortunately not going to be paid, I had to sort out my financial issues otherwise. Being a German citizen, I then applied for German fi-nancial state help called BAFÖG which at that time was the only fifi-nancial help I could still count on, given that the Erasmus Grant and most other scholarships were suspended due to
Covid-4
19. Luckily, this German financial state help was also intended for students like me who do their university studies abroad and do not live in Germany during that time. Regarding hous-ing, I had already been living in Paris months before my internship started so I did not have to go through the struggle of finding an apartment in Paris. I will however still include some in-formation on how to find a room or an apartment in Paris form my previous experiences under chapter 6.
2.4 Expectations
Before the start of my internship at the Embassy of Mexico in Paris, my main expectations involved learning more about how an Embassy works in its interdisciplinary divisions, how diplomatic foreign affairs are conducted and in general how Mexico and France communicate through this Mexican representation as well as the strategies used for the exchange of rele-vant information. I was highly motivated and looking forward to being able to extend my pre-vious knowledge that I acquired in my prepre-vious work experiences and during my International Relations Master program and fill my knowledge gaps while also applying my previous knowledge to this practical diplomatic working environment. In addition, I was expecting and looking forward to being able to get to know not only the department I was hired for as an intern but also other parts of the Embassy and their activities. Insight, that I had aimed to acquire that way, was supposed to get me closer to my overall goal of understanding the big picture of how countries work together on a diplomatic base while observing and learning more about the many ties between Mexico and France. I further also expected that through working at the Embassy and talking to my co-workers at other departments, I would be able to make new, interesting, and relevant connections. Lastly, I anticipated that I would be learn-ing a lot about the economic situation between France and Mexico in general.
Specifically, regarding my personal learning goals, I was hoping to improve my networking as well as my oral and written professional Spanish and French language skills. Further, I aimed to improve my research and analytical skills as well as my ability to synthesize. In addition, I also wanted to fortify my communication, teamwork as well as my creative thinking, time management and independent working skills. During my internship I also hoped that I would be able to prove my adaptability and my strategic thinking skills together with my problem-solving skills. Most of these I was able to improve, fortify and/or prove (see chapter 3).
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However, due to Covid-19 and the resulting high amount of time I had to spend doing home office and the only communication being with my boss and her assistant apart from the other interns in the same department, I have not been able to acquire all the new knowledge I wanted to. First, it was hard to be more proactive after reaching a certain degree and to find more opportunities to take responsibility from the limited home office situation and not al-ways knowing what the rest of the team was working on. Second, I was not able to connect with the other departments of the Embassy. Third, I missed out on the opportunity to support with different tasks (related to event and project management) concerning the promotion of Mexican exports to France and French Investments in Mexico as those would have involved in-person events in the form of seminars or shows. Those however were highly restricted at that time and were mostly cancelled or postponed. This also involves international events to which my placement supervisor would have normally taken her interns. All those points would have helped me to further broaden my insight and knowledge.
Yet, with my own project, my extensive market research, I was still able to make an important contribution while growing a lot during the making-process and applying my previous knowledge (see chapter 3.1). I also did get important new insight into how the economic de-partment at the Embassy of Mexico generally works, its general tasks and its communication strategies through which I was able to further extend my previous knowledge and fill some of my “big picture” knowledge gaps. Finally, I also learned a lot about the economic relation be-tween Mexico and France while completing my different tasks.
3. The placement
In the following I will give a comprehensive description of my activities and tasks that I per-formed during my placement while at the same time including reflections on my related learn-ing process. Here, it must be highlighted that I spent most of my time durlearn-ing the placement at home doing home office due to the lack of space at the office to enable enough mandatory distance, imposed by the government due to Covid-19.
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3.1 Activities and Tasks
Throughout all my tasks, I generally worked with French sources while submitting all my tasks in Spanish. This has been a great opportunity for me that ultimately helped me to significantly improve my professional French and Spanish language skills.
• Market analysis on the Mexican export of cocoa with a special focus on France as trad-ing partner [booklet]
The task of creating this fifty-page booklet on the Mexican export of cocoa was my ongoing two-month project which I started during my first week of my internship. This booklet, at its final stage, contained parts on the general French market, the international competi-tiveness of Mexico in the cocoa market as well as specific export requirements for cocoa and other relevant contacts/information for future Mexican exporters of cocoa. For this analysis I performed various research tasks, looked up various databases and performed various Excel analyses out of which I then created several relevant overviews and graphics to show Mexico’s international position in the cocoa market from all relevant perspectives. With that, this task had a very clear and interesting international component and allowed me practical insight into one component of the field of international political economy. I performed this task mostly independently with the help of a few examples of how a mar-ket analysis could look. At the time when I started, there still was no fully worked-out market analysis on any product exported by Mexico that I could have used to exactly know how it should be best composed. I therewith learned during the process while developing different suggestions on the general composition of the analysis on the way. Through this, I was able to incorporate my individual input and creativity into the project. In addition, as some of the examples given to us were quite vague, us interns also kept in contact, ex-changing general information on how to best conduct a market analysis. However, we were investigating very different products so that exchanging information was only possi-ble on a general level, yet it helped to us develop a similar general structure so that future studies could follow this template with less struggles regarding its composition.
During this process I acquired and applied new knowledge which further also helped my general goal of learning how the world works, here especially regarding how the interna-tional economic market works and which factors are relevant. Moreover, throughout the
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creation of this booklet, I was further able to significantly improve my research, analytical, critical thinking, and creative skills together with my ability to synthesize information and work efficiently in a team despite the sometimes-difficult home office circumstance. Dur-ing this project, I also learned to manage my time much better and more efficient while working at home, to which I first had to adjust in the beginning, thus improving my adapt-ability skills. This ultimately also challenged and helped to improve my strategic thinking as well as my problem-solving skills.
The following tasks I performed on the same day after being notified as they had to be priori-tized. Most of the times we received these specific shorter tasks in the mornings when needed, sometimes also during the days. In general, these assignments have also improved my insight into some communication strategies and how information is shared at and through the Embassy.
• Drafting summaries of economic and commercial press articles • Drafting of announcements for newsletters
A frequently recurring task was the drafting of summaries of economic related press arti-cles for various future purposes, including reports, newsletters, briefings for the ambassa-dor and/or other officials as well as for other information material. Over time, this signifi-cantly improved my ability to synthesize as well as my communication skills in Spanish. It further involved the monitoring of developments regarding the economic situation be-tween France and Mexico which also improved my research and my critical thinking skills. Regarding economically relevant topics, I also directly drafted announcements for news-letters out of multiple news articles in which I included several links to the relevant articles for more information.
• Participation in and summary of online conferences
A few times I was also asked to participate in interesting French online conferences on the French economic situation during Covid-19 and its impact on the economic dynamics as well as on specific social groups, hosted by “the Circle of Economists”1. This was relevant
as those dynamics could in turn also affect Mexican workers or trading partners as well as
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other relevant economic discussions between the countries. One the of the conferences took place early during my internship and was thus a little challenging for me as I was still adapting to French again after not having used it much for three years. Yet, surprisingly for me, I got used to it quite quick again which proved my good foundation in French while further also proving my adaptability skills. In addition, this type of task also improved my ability to synthesize.
• Research tasks
• Updating of contact lists • Translation of press releases
Finally, I sometimes also had tasks that involved press and online research of economic and commercial subjects in France and Mexico. In some cases, this was combined with the updating of contact list such as of the current Mexican exporters for specific products. In addition, I occasionally also translated press releases for the Embassy and some of its part-ners, including in some rare instances into English instead of Spanish. These tasks generally improved and further fortified my research skills and my ability to synthesize as well as sometimes my problem-solving skills to find the information needed.
3.2 Evaluation of my placement supervision
With my supervisor Ms. Porras I had a generally honest and straight forward communication. When I had questions, she tried to answer them within the same day and as clear as possible. Home office however sometimes makes communication harder, also given that we usually communicated over email. Knowing my placement supervisor’s busy schedule, I generally tried to first resolve small insecurities by talking to other interns who were doing the same internship longer than me and might have already encountered similar problems. We usually helped each other out as often as possible, exchanging information while constantly keeping in touch with each other. Often small issues were easily resolved that way. This interaction with the other interns also helped to establish some sense of working normality during the somehow lonely and detached home office time. Yet, my placement supervisor always had an open-door policy, welcoming all questions, also to avoid us getting stuck on anything that might be resolved easily. Furthermore, my tasks were generally well explained and straight forward so that I rarely had to double-check information with her. This also made the home
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office situation a lot easier. However, if questions did arise, we scheduled a call as to avoid long back and forth messaging which I highly appreciated.
3.3 Evaluation of my general working attitude
I really liked the tasks that were given to me and was highly motivated during my performance of them while always trying to get better after every finished task for the next one coming. Overall, during my internship at the Economic, Commercial and Promotion Service of the Mex-ican Embassy, I fulfilled my tasks and own projects independently and with my best profes-sional performance possible while completing them in a serious/responsible manner and mak-ing sure that the end product would be fulfillmak-ing its purpose as best as possible. Furthermore, when I was working with other interns or colleagues, I was able to improve my coordination skills which was sometimes challenging given that everything had to be worked out over the phone or via online video calls. In general, I always tried my best to adapt to the respective circumstances from the general situation of home office to facing new tasks while trying to fulfil the language expectations in an appropriate manner and on a high level, continuously broadening my (language) knowledge on the way. I feel I have grown most through my biggest project which was the market research booklet. I have also been overall able to improve and get more confident regarding my independent time management skills in the home office set-ting which was challenging at first as it has required to develop an efficient routine as well as being constantly well organized and concentrated while keeping all deadlines in an environ-ment with a lot of distractions. I have also always aimed to be a reliable and valuable member of the team while helping where I could and performing my tasks independently. Moreover, I was especially happy to apply my previous economic skills in an international working context and connect it to the international political economy environment. Furthermore, this intern-ship has ultimately helped me to substantially improve to communicate in an effective, pro-fessional, and substantiated manner in both oral and written form in French as well as Spanish in a professional environment related to the field of International Relations.
4. Connection to the IRIO degree program
In my IRIO Master program, I am in the general track, so it is difficult to directly align my tasks with my track. However, during my internship at the Embassy of Mexico, I was able to observe the practical application of some of my previous knowledge that I acquired in one of my
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Master seminars called “The politics of the Euro crisis”. There, I had learned about the origins and the resulting dynamics of the Euro crisis which can be paralleled with many dynamics resulting out of the current Covid-19 crisis from an economic perspective. Through that, I was ultimately able to put into practice my academic skills and knowledge gained during the IRIO Master program in a somewhat creative manner. Further, some of my gained insights form my capita course “International Political Economy” (IPE) were also reflected in this setting as well as observable during the performance of my tasks. Specifically, through many of my ana-lyzing and synthesizing tasks, I acquired new knowledge on how Mexico and France were eco-nomically dealing with these latest Corona circumstances and how this affected their interna-tional relations which I could align with my previously acquired theoretical IRIO Master knowledge. Furthermore, the interdisciplinary character of the IRIO master program also pos-itively contributed to the fulfilment of my tasks, as I was able to see the big picture and make connections to possible future developments as well as calculate possible effects for different sectors and social groups. There was thus a clear and interesting interrelation between IRIO theory and practice during my internship at the Embassy of Mexico, observable during the performance of many of my tasks as well as while learning more about the workings of the economic department of the Embassy. On a different note, I was also able to transfer some of the skills that I developed during the latest online teaching period to my home office situation during my internship which helped with the initial adaptation period and more generally my reinforced research skills through my Master studies also helped me in my research tasks that I performed at the Embassy.
5. Conclusion and Outlook
In conclusion, this internship, despite it being mostly carried out via home office, has been highly beneficial to my main goal of understanding one more piece of the puzzle of the big picture of how the world works. The insight I was able to acquire into the general work of an Embassy has helped me to learn more about the diplomatic connection between two coun-tries while the insight into the field of international economics, as a part of IPE, has helped me to connect my theoretical IRIO knowledge to a practical environment. Here, especially my market analysis has ultimately helped me grow in many ways – professionally and personally – while also improving and reinforcing many of the skills I had hoped to fortify during this
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internship. In addition, I was able to improve as well as become more secure and confident in my professional Spanish and French language skills through my various tasks at the Embassy. Regarding the future, this experience has given me more clarity as to what I would or would not like to do in the future. As mentioned above, I was previously already interested in working in an economic area, however through this internship I have come to realize that I would ra-ther like to work in a communication, (project/event) management or networking department – where I have done some my previous work experiences – in the field of economic interna-tional relations rather than in a strict economic analysis department. Nevertheless, I am very grateful that I was able to spend a big part of my internship doing the market analysis on coca, as it has challenged me, taught me many new skills, and reinforced my economic skills (also from my previous studies) all of which are important and relevant skills needed for working in an economic area. Specifically, I have also already though of the organization I want to work for which is the World Economic Forum (WEF). What inspires me most about this organization that I have been following for years now is its commitment to improving the state of the world and to the promotion of positive (economic) change which I deeply support. I now look for-ward to my next steps tofor-wards further understanding the dynamics of our world and tofor-wards trying to make a positive contribution.
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6. Annex: For future Interns
A. Tips and insights regarding housing, cost of living and social surroundings in Paris
From my experience, I know that the subject of accommodation can be very nerve-wracking. In general, you will also find that apartment/room prices are probably higher than what you are used to. If you are not looking for an apartment via Airbnb or similar secure sites, then it is best to visit apartments on site (or via video call during Corona times). It is further recom-mendable to start the search early, for example through various Facebook groups for ex-change or ERASMUS students. To find an apartment or a room like this, however, you must be very fast, because the demand is usually very high. Another possibility is to find a spot early in a student residence, yet here you might be required to stay at least a specific amount of time plus the start dates usually coincide with the university semesters. There is also the pos-sibility to find an apartment or a room through sites such as pap.fr, appartager.com or lacartedescolocs.fr. Here however one or more French guarantors might be required. Never-theless, I would still recommend checking these sites regularly because the requirements can vary as they ultimately depend on the landlord. But be careful! There are some scammers who are also targeting foreign students, so NEVER transfer money before you have seen the apart-ment and have a contract2! In the end, the fastest, easiest, and more secure way to find an
apartment is through an agency which can be a good option for students who stay for a longer period than just a few months and share the apartment with others as the fees can otherwise be unnecessarily expensive. Further, regarding financing, the possibility of applying for CAF is interesting at this point. CAF is a financial aid from the French state, which can be granted to anyone who rents an apartment in France, depending on your financial means and some other conditions. Be sure to check the requirements and the documents needed for CAF online be-fore coming to Paris in case you need to bring specific documents.
Regarding the general living situation in Paris, it is important to consider that the cost of living is rather high. Even if you try to stay away from expensive activities and going to restaurants often, you will need more money than in a small student city. As mentioned, the rent is mostly
2 This may sound obvious, but there are the most creative and creative and ingenious stories of alleged landlords
who tell you that they can only withdraw the money if you give them the transfer code and then they try to get it from you through a fake page of the transfer provider. Better check the demands of landlords online if you are unsure, often you can find warnings and experiences immediately.
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higher than in other cities and also transportation costs are higher (unless you use “velib” which is a rather cheap bike sharing option). Also, grocery shopping in most parts of Paris is rather expensive unless you find cheaper stores near you like Super U. I also highly recom-mend finding out where the nearest market is located and on which days it will be functioning to take advantage of buying local, cheaper, and fresh products there. As for the social sur-roundings3, you have a huge choice in Paris and will certainly no be bored. There is always an
event somewhere and several pages on Facebook that can keep you up to date on what is happening. Many student organizations also regularly organize events. This is a great oppor-tunity to meet new people and make new friends. In addition, various ERASMUS groups offer several events every week. Paris is also very attractive city for culture, and it is important to note that most of the museums and exhibitions are free of charge for students under 26 years of age. Other than that, is it nice to discover the city by foot or bike which is easily possible given that Paris is a rather small city compared to other capitals.
B. Tips for future placement students at the Embassy of Mexico in France
First, if, like in my case, this internship is supposed to help improve language skills, I would recommend, to refresh the language/languages in question through either reading the news-paper, the radio or just talking to other people in this/these languages beforehand to already get into the habit of using them. This way, the start is much smoother, and the period of ad-aptations is a lot shorter while more time can be devoted early on to the job itself and to building new and specialized vocabulary on top of the existing one. Personally, I should have given myself a few more weeks for this as I had just finished my Master thesis right before the start of my internship at the Embassy. Therefore, I would recommend a break of a few weeks to really be able to recalibrate the brain from thesis to working. This is also relevant, given that most of the times the workload starts quite early in this placement (except for in months with a lot of holidays). Second, in case of home office, I recommend establishing a connection with other interns as early as possible for the many reasons I mentioned above and if you are still not used to home office l also recommend looking up online ways to make home office more productive early on as not everything works equally for everyone. Third, it is recom-mendable to do an internship of at least three months or longer if you do not have a lot of
3 In case of no Covid-19 as these activities are otherwise totally or partially restricted so check those online for
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working experience yet as two months is too short to fully get used to working life and learning about the organization etc. for the first time. If like me, you have a good amount of work experience already and you want to mainly get to know the workplace itself then two months can be sufficient time. Forth, depending on the situation, look up possible scholarships in ad-vance and if you are eligible to receive the ERASMUS grant money (beware of different Covid-19 terms in case this is still an issue). If you have more questions, feel free to contact me via email or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amelyserianflores).
