Of the thousands of cities in France, Paris is the most visited. However, one undergrad’s experience there shows that the City of Light is more than a prime tourist destination—it’s a learning destination too.
Imagine leaving the comfort of Provo behind to see Paris, not as a tourist examining art at the Louvre or eating baguettes under the Eiffel Tower, but as an intern helping to organize a worldwide trade conference. For Austin Tullis (Economics ’26), traveling to France for the first time looked quite different than most people’s first trips there. As an intern at the US Embassy, he spent his days at the office creating brochures, interacting with companies, and speaking French—only French. By the time Tullis flew home, his ability to communicate in French improved notably, as did his confidence to speak in the first place.
Mixing Business with French
Tullis studied French for years prior to his internship, first as a missionary in Québec, Canada, and later for his minor at BYU. After landing in Paris, he was thrown into a world of new experiences, both as an intern at the embassy and as a learner of French. Tullis’s main task was to help prepare for JEC World, an international composite trade show held in Paris every year. In this capacity, he helped French and American companies network with one another, coordinated travel logistics with American businesses, and prepared documents, brochures, and booths for the show.
Many of his jobs around the embassy required him to speak French proficiently, which constantly tested his language skills: “My supervisor was French, so she would talk to me only in French,” he recalls. “It was really hard at the start, but after a month or two, I felt like I could totally communicate with her.”
Working in conjunction with French companies and coworkers also taught him a great deal about business operations in France. He notes that in the office, French workers tended to approach tasks with different paces and methods than their American counterparts. These distinctions gave Tullis quite the culture shock at first; over time, however, he came to value the differences that once felt so foreign: “Being in that environment taught me how to connect with different people—that it’s okay that we’re all from different backgrounds—and to appreciate the beauty in that.”
Practice Makes Perfect
Outside of the office, Tullis looked for opportunities to practice French whenever and with whomever he could. He turned to the local young single adult congregation shortly after arriving and, during his first week in Paris, even went to lunch with a group of them. “I was sitting at lunch with them and could pick up on maybe one-tenth of what they were saying, and I couldn’t really contribute,” he explains. Tullis recalls struggling through numerous conversations that day, yet his willingness to try drove his progression—and forged friendships in the process.
Tullis continued practicing and pushing his French for weeks and, after three months in Paris, he says, “I could have an hour-long, super elaborate conversation about crazy things that I didn’t even know how to talk about before.” His determination to communicate with his French friends in their language—without expecting them to switch to English—impressed them, especially because of “how important their culture and their language is to them,” he notes.
Paris: The Ultimate Teacher
Though only five months long, Tullis’s internship gave him an appreciation for French culture and taught him how to work with different people in a professional setting. Above all, he believes Paris provided him with countless learning experiences in every role he occupied: as an intern at the embassy, a friend in his ward, and a traveler experiencing Paris for the first time.
“Whenever you travel, study, or intern abroad, it builds confidence,” he reflects. “It puts you way out of your comfort zone and forces you to adapt. I think whenever you can do that and come out on top, you come home way more confident than when you left, and it teaches you that you can do hard things.”
Learn more about study abroad and internship opportunities in the French & Italian Department here.