14 Jan Big city life
My work starts at 10am and I normally get up at 8:15am. It takes about 5 minutes to get to the Metro station from my accommodation. Although my work place is not very far from the accommodation, I need to transit two different lines to get there. Overall, I spend around 45 minutes to get there. As there are some shopping malls and offices surrounding the station, many people transport through there, which is why it is always crowded. After that it takes me around 10 minutes to arrive to my work place.
There are around 10 colleagues in my office. It is a wedding company and they focus on online marketing, with their marketing team being located in Shanghai. Therefore, in this office, half of them belong to the marketing team, which I am interning for. Most of my colleagues in the marketing team come from different countries and they usually communicate in English. My intern coordinator is from Australia and is one of the marketing managers in the company. She allocates me daily tasks and also teaches me some new skills about online marketing. I have been involved in making a catalog and also creating a new info graphic. It is all about collaboration between colleagues and I’ve learned a lot during the process.
After one week in Shanghai, I realized something different than in my hometown and the place I have lived in since I was two years old, which is Hong Kong and Australia. First, there are a lot of tall buildings in Shanghai, which makes it similar to Hong Kong. Those buildings are concentrated and it is quite different than in Australia. I study in Adelaide and the buildings are all short, while they are not concentrated. Second, the people in Shanghai are much different compared with the people in Hong Kong and Australia – I get this feeling when I am taking the metro. In Shanghai, once the train stops, they can be impatient and keep pushing the people who stand in front of them until they go in. I was walking into the train, and there are so many people, that they just cannot wait for me one more second – which can be annoying, but is part of big city life. In Shanghai this is normal, as I know some Chinese culture in Hong Kong. But I still cannot get used to it and I would like to avoid those things happening…although the Hong Kong lifestyle is similar to Shanghai, which is busy and fast. I’ve met some nice people in my work place and also other places. They are friendly and helpful, which has changed my impression about people in a big city.
Moreover, it is interesting to see how people in Shanghai are curious about foreigners. As I am Asian, they are not interested in us as much as Australians and Westerners. When we hang out in a big group, many Shanghai people keep looking at us and I can’t understand why. Compared to Shanghai, there are a lot more foreigners in Hong Kong and so people in Hong Kong do not feel curious about them.
Last, normally the foods in Shanghai are rich and relatively spicy. It is a bit oilier than in Hong Kong or Australia. But tastes just as good, but what I worry about is my health. Luckily there are still other types of food such as Japanese and Korean, which can be a little more healthy. Being an intern is quite tiring but I feel satisfied about gaining experience and exploring a new city.
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