20 Dec I have committed myself to stepping out of my comfort zone
I have just finished my finals at the University of Western Australia, completing units such as Small Business Management, Project Management and the Social Psychology of Work. This semester has been both exciting and filled with obstacles and challenges—college events, a huge amount of new business concepts and theories which I have never learnt before, volunteering work, and ups and downs of my relationships with friends and closed ones… glad that I am finally having some quiet time with my family and cousins back in Malaysia!
Less than a month, I will be in Shanghai. I am getting more and more interested and curious about Shanghai, a place that I have never been before. These few days, I have been emailing Absolute Internship staff members and some China friends, trying to get some ideas about the weather conditions, my accommodation, and the company that I will be interning in. I have also read up some news from Shanghai and watched some YouTube introductory videos of Shanghai.
I am extremely excited about this internship, as I noticed that there are so many differences between Malaysia, Australia, and Shanghai – the weather, the environment, the culture. The main thing I am most concerned about right now is the weather. I am accustomed to the hot and humid climate in my tropical country, and Perth’s winter has already given me the chills. I usually prefer to snuggle in my duck onesie indoors, during the July winter. Having checked Shanghai’s weather forecast, I really do not know how I can cope with the temperature when I am there. I am currently shopping for warm clothes, *fingers crossed* I can withstand the cold weather in January! Having set a few expectations for myself, Shanghai, my internship and Absolute Internship’s Program, I am more than happy to share with everyone reading my blog.
Starting off with MYSELF – I will only be interning for one month in Shanghai. There will definitely be a huge array of opportunities for me during this visit – new friends, culture, weather, food, work experience, lifestyle, language…and many more overwhelming experiences. I have committed myself to step out of my comfort zones and be voraciously curious and explorative in this new environment. I will keep an open mind to these new sights and experiences that I will encounter and make the most out of my time there. Of course, I know my limits and will protect myself in a foreign country with new people, so I should be fine!
My current image of Shanghai today, is a bustling city filled with opportunities, fun activities, trendy people, and strong career-oriented women. I am expecting to be situated on busy roads, jammed packed with people walking at a fast pace. I am also expecting a cold weather, and I can envision myself walking around like a ball of fur. Having read up the teahouse scam from Google, I am lifting my guards higher, while also hoping to interact with some locals to get a good picture of Shanghai, and being able to practice my rusty Mandarin, which I hardly get to use in Australia.
I’ll be interning at an international marketing company, whose mission is to provide international clients with professional marketing and PR services to tap into the China market by establishing strong brand awareness for them; I know that I will gain a great depth of experience, in terms of marketing; doing business with different cultures and people; and how things work in this industry. I will try to apply whatever I have studied from the 2 years of my university business education; and the experience I have gained from my work and volunteering experiences into my job. I also hope that I will have a really helpful and patient supervisor that will provide me with a great depth of valuable experience and guidance.
Of course, I am really looking forward to the sponsored events organized by the Absolute Internship team. Words cannot be expressed how excited I am to be able to witness the Shanghai Acrobatic Show in real life; to experience weekend tour to Hangzhou, and to go on a day trip to the ‘Venice of China’, Zhu Jia Jiao. Yeah, I guess it’s pretty obvious, travelling is one of my favourite hobbies and I love to be introduced to new and amazing places. I just cannot wait for these miracles to happen! As of now, I cannot guarantee that I will fall in love with Shanghai, the way I fell in love with Australia (I love nature and scenic places, those pictures were taken in Western Australia). But who knows what might happen when I am there?
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