Week One in Shanghai !!

Shanghai (6/16-6/24)

About Me:

Hello all! I'm a senior from UCSD studying International Business and I'll be in Shanghai this summer for the Global Internship program. I speak English and Spanish, and also a bit of Chinese!

Predeparture

So while my program officially started until the 17th of June, my flight landed in Shanghai on June 16th, which was a day early. In my home school, UC San Diego, we go by the quarter system, which means that the last day of finals was June 14th... and my plane left on the 16th! I was excited to get to Shanghai and explore my new city. 

Arrival & first Impressions

When I finally arrived in Shanghai after the long flight, I was a bit tired, but not completely since I managed to catch some sleep on the plane. I was surprised how much activity was going on at the airport despite it being late in the evening. I waited for a few minutes to get a taxi at the airport and was soon on my way to the place I'd be staying at. This is where you start to get your first impressions of Shanghai - on the taxi drive to the hotel. The city is huge! All along the highway on the way to the hotel, massive buildings bordered either side of the road, and it only became more dense as I got closer to my address. When I arrived after about a half hour drive, I told the desk clerks I was with the CIEE program, and they pretty much immediatly knew what to do. The place is comfy! And the location is covenient since it's really close to the East China Normal University Campus as well as shopping malls, small restaurants and also the metro station. 

Week 1 Thoughts

The next day, many others from CIEE began to arrive to the hotel as well. There were actually a few familiar faces from my college and classes who were also participating in the same Global Internship program as me. One of my classmates from Chinese Language is even interning for the same company which I think is cool. As I met more people, I also thought it was interesting how although many of us are at different points in our completely different career paths, we all ended up being together in this same internship program. There's people from all over - and I love the diversity along with meeting new people. Most of the week consisted of orientation activities to help us be familiar with our responsibilities both academic and for the internship. There were also activities to help us know how to get around town and how to go about manouvering living here for a few months. For me this wasn't too difficult, as I'd visited China before so it didn't feel completely new, and I didn't mind exploring! For me however, the first week was more about adjusting myself to being here for work and not fun (although I've had tons of fun out here), since I had only been here as a tourist, not a student intern. I think it's easy to get carried away by the excitement of being in Shanghai, there's so much to do and so much to explore. I'm really happy with the company I am interning with. The first week ended nicely. I met a lot of people, and there's a few that I feel as if I've known for a long time, but it's only been one week. I'm definitely excited about these next weeks in Shanghai. It's a completely new experience for me and I think there is so much to learn. I already know I'll miss this city when it's time to head back to San Diego.