If you're thinking of exercising your future profession abroad, I think the important thing is to create an international profile in addition to your field of practice starting now.  Compulsory study stays abroad are the first stages.  You need to stand out!  By doing your work placements abroad your future employers will distinguish your real ability to evolve in a multicultural context.  Besides the professionalism you will acquire these experiences will show how mobile you are, your sense of initiative and your open-mindedness.  Without forgetting the language aspect:  you learn the technical vocabulary you were lacking so you can find work.  to all that a dash of cultural discovery and I think I've described a few important aspects of how rich such an experience can be…  Personally after my work placements in Argentina and Spain, I'm still as motivated as before to do my last work placement abroad.

The Partages et Échanges sans Frontières association (sharing and exchanges without borders)

For a lot of first years, the corporate world isn't new to them.  This is why we wanted to discover another environment,that of relief work.  It's an approach that seemed to be of interest for our professional and personal lives.  An association, “Partages et Echanges Sans Frontières” (PESF) was thus created. We set up a patronage with a town from a developing country to make use of our skills.  So during the summer 2005, five students from ESAIP renovated buildings in a Romanian village for a religious order.  We shared high points with the children from the streets of Bucharest who were there of their own free will to give us a helping hand.  These unique contacts changed and enriched our vision of these people. PESF created a lot of interest among new 1st year students, we're happy to share and perpetuate this shared goodwill.