I remember when, back in high school, we used to organize trips abroad and school exchanges. I remember how I would pride myself with being able to adapt to almost every situation, every kind of food, and every kind of weather. Now I got the feeling that those times are long gone.
China really pushed my limits. For a Westerner who has grew up in a small European town, and who has travelled exclusively in Europe and North Africa, coming here was some sort of punch in the stomach- but it is one of those punches that you absolutely need in your life in order to grow as a person.
Shanghai (and China in general) is one of those places that you have to see in order to fully comprehend. I had of course read blogs and testimonials of other interns, so I liked to think that in theory I was more or less prepared. Prepared to face the crazy traffic, the spitting of the locals, the curious faces staring at you, the slow internet, and the frenetic life. In practice, it was a whole different story. More than a week has passed since my arrival and, albeit I’m managing to slowly adapt to the city (slowly, and partially), I’m still feeling all over the place.
Physically, the first few days have been though, to say the least. I was excited and happy to be here- my stomach apparently wasn’t. Nevertheless, after the first sickness and the constant migraines, I found a new energy in this enormous challenge. As a matter of fact, here everything is a challenge, at least if you don’t know Chinese fairly well (and no, my two semesters of learning Mandarin at the Confucius Institute weren’t enough, just like I had expected after all), with buying supplies at the supermarket being no exception. Imagine being the only non-Chinese in one of the most crowded, largest metro lines in the world: you have 23 million people around you, most of them don’t speak English, and you’re likely to represent an exotic attraction to their eyes. From whichever angle you look at it, it can be intimidating and tiring. But God is it rewarding.
After the pickup at the airport (which went smoothly), the first day spent in Pudong (which felt pretty much surreal due to a combination of jet lag and my uneasiness in front of some of the most modern buildings in the world) and the induction day (which was held at a lovely tea house), the first Saturday I decided to attend the Community Outreach Activity, so we visited a school for adults with special needs. I will always remember their smiling faces when we first entered their classroom and how excited they were to play table tennis with us. Activities like this happen rarely when traveling abroad and I’m extremely thankful for it.
As far as the sightseeing goes… Well, doing it in Shanghai on a Sunday it’s not exactly the best idea since the city is packed with tourists from other parts of China (and I mean whole family of tourists) but we had no choice. Nevertheless we limited our sightseeing session to the Yuyuan Gardens, the Bund and Nanjing Road for a quick lunch, deciding to leave the Jing’an Temple and all the rest for another day. I also noticed that the words “distance” and “proximity” have a quite different meaning in a metropolis like Shanghai as opposed than in small European towns- of course.
Was I nervous for my first day of work? Quite so. I hadn’t ever worked in a company before therefore I didn’t know what to expect, and neither if I was prepared for the task. But the key word of an internship abroad is challenge, isn’t it? That’s precisely what I wanted: to step out of my comfort zone and see what I was capable of doing.
My supervisor and my colleagues have been professional and encouraging from the moment I stepped into the office, so they really made me and the other girl who is interning with me at ease. Most employees in the company are not Chinese, which on one hand might seem a shame since I won’t see what’s like working in a Chinese company, on the other hand however it’s maybe easier to work in such an international environment. It’s also a quite relaxed environment, meaning that we often have chit-chat and go to lunch together. Baoshan, the district where my office is located, is a nice residential area packed with clean minimarkets, a few grocery’s, small restaurants, a Watsons (the Asian equivalent of Boots- great for buying toiletries and other supplies, which in China might be a problem sometimes), malls and even a Tesco. Too bad I have to commute at least an hour (in one direction) to get there every day.
The two most satisfying things of the first week were being able to speak a little Mandarin with the locals and exposing my ideas to my supervisors when at work: I’m noticing that I’m growing more and more confident and fearless everyday (hopefully I won’t become too cocky though) and that this experience in starting to expose my skills but also my limits.
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