I have a question. this morning I was offered a 3 month internship in lyon france. This is tremondous and exciting for me. Since I have graduated things have been a bit slow, and opporunitites hard to come by. However finally after a year I have been getting some luck in having interviews and could possibly have a couple of prospects in line right now. Do I pass up the opportunity for full time employment and the seemingly better chances I’ve been having at getting interviews and go for this internship, or do i give up this international opportunity to keep trying to get local jobs? Please help, I have to make a decision very soon!
If I were you, I would go…
there’s a good chance that you won’t ever be as free of commitments as a fresh out of school designer, and if you work hard there, you will likely fill up you portfolio a bit with real ID work that could help you get an even better interview when you get back.
the cultural experience alone is worth it… and that might open doors for you in the long run too
bonne chance!
ditto.
… and If you nail an interview in the mean time, let them know you are going to France for 3 months and will be available right after, and that they will benefit from you spending time in another culture.
Congratulations. Its a god problem to have.
would have to agree…go go!
I speak from a bit different experience. I studied in Paris for 6 months… put myself in severe debt and graduated a year late…but…it changed me and my life and it was the most fantastic thing that has ever happened to me…the experience I mean. I still graduated and this is the point. You will find a job, just a little bit later…and you will have a better idea of not only the world but of yourself…even if it is only for 3 months.
Europe is intense…that is why I moved here…
I did my foreign stint in school in Pais Vasco, Spain… tried to swing an architecture studio, but the langauge barrier was too much and just concetrated on Spanish. It was the best desicion I ever made…
knowing languges and culture has always been a plus in my career and life… you’re qualified for a lot more experiences than someone who has never traveled. I married a french girl later on, and have had the luck to work in several countries… I think it helped make that happen.
Not even mentioning the different design asthetics in anothe culture
It’s unanamous…You gotta go.
Traveling is the most rewarding, character building, broadening, life changing thing anyone can do.
I can honestly say that my travels during my 20’s have utterly changed my life.
In fact I’m English born but I met my Swiss wife while travelling in New Zealand and now we live in Australia.
I was in Lyon about 20 years ago… it’s a beautiful town with a great history and is close to the Alps, and spitting distance to Switzerland, Italy and Spain.
Even if you didn’t have a job to go to there I would recommend you go…but with your current opportunity… you should be shot if you don’t go!!!
PS let us know how you go! 
thank you everybody for the encouraging words. Everything I’ve heard and everybody I’ve talked to have all been unanimous. So thats it. Its what my gut told me to do in the beginning but I just needed to hear it a few more times. So thanks again everyone, I’m sure this experience is going to be beneficial in so many different ways.
au revoir
-andy