22 Jul Adventure Of A Lifetime
If you are looking forward to a relaxing summer, don’t intern abroad. If you are wanting an education that begins and ends in the classroom, don’t intern abroad. If you are seeking an adventure that is beyond compare to anything you will ever do in your lifetime, then start booking your flight right now and get to packing your bags.
Few times in my life had I imagined myself visiting China, and never had I guessed that day would come so soon and my stay be so long. Interning was an even more exciting journey to me as it pushed me out of the comfort zone of being a tourist and into the shoes of a Shanghainese white-collar worker on the daily commute. As a student in the health sciences field, I am used to strict schedules and rigid structure, so living on my own in a foreign city quite literally on the other side of the world was just the change of pace I wanted in my education.
My advice to anyone interested in interning or studying abroad would be to first decide what you are looking for out of the experience then find a location to match. It was important to me to live somewhere in which I would feel what it is like to be the minority in a culture vastly different than my own. For others, their destination may depend on their field of study and where in the world that study flourishes.
Shanghai is a great choice for anyone interested in a city where tradition and modernization are intertwined. It is for those who are curious enough to take a bit of risk when it comes to ordering food at street corners by unknowingly pointing at whatever looks good (and by my experience, it usually tastes even better). It is especially for those who plan to spend every weekday and weekend exploring all over the metropolis for museums, gardens, nightclubs, temples, malls, and everything else Shanghai has to offer.
Whether you see this as an opportunity to see the world, a chance to open your mind to new experiences, or simply as a standout factor to put on your resume, you should go for it. Nothing can compare to completely immersing yourself in an unfamiliar culture by becoming a part of the population yourself, even if it only lasts six weeks.
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