I'll drop my $0.02.
Like you, I jumped into medic school without any REAL emt experience. Granted I was a volunteer FF for a year but we only responded to fires not medical aides. I have experience with a crew, fire house etiquette, driving code 3, etc, but not so much emt experience.
I just finished didactic and I got a little worried about the "ambulance lifestyle". I'm fearing my internship because I already have enough to worry about (performing well, treating the right stuff, running codes, etc) and I don't want to get tripped up on the easy stuff (vitals, organization of my rig, interacting with random/new faces on scene, etc). Emt jobs here in CA are a dime a dozen so I decided to apply and get as much experience as I could before my internship. I have my emt orientation tomorrow and I should be starting clinicals in the hospital for my medic program soon. That gives me roughly 3-6months of solid time to gain a little experience working in the field as an emt.
I spent a lot of money for this medic program and I'll be damned if I fail out on my internship for silly bone head mistakes. The internship is where most people fail paramedic programs and I don't want to be one of those people.
It couldn't hurt to pick up a per diem or PT gig as an emt on a box to get your feet wet while still in school (of course this all depends on how your medic program is structured).