06 Jun Emily goes to Hong Kong
As of right now, I’m stuck in Chicago’s O’Hare airport, so I figured this is a good time to blog. Since this is my first post, I think it would make more sense if I explained my background a little. I’m from the Bay Area, CA, but I’ve been studying in France for the past year. Everyone thinks I see the Eiffel Tower from my window or something, but actually I study in Normandy, and quite frankly, my city is pretty ugly. Nonetheless, studying abroad has been a really fulfilling experience, which is a major factor in why I chose to intern in Hong Kong this summer as well.
The reason I’m in Normandy is because I chose a satellite campus of Sciences Po which has a Euro-Asia specialization. I’m Chinese-American myself, but prior to this year, my knowledge of my China was close to none. Actually, I don’t even use chopsticks correctly. I can get by speaking Cantonese, and I’m learning Mandarin in college, but I’m practically illiterate with the characters. Anyways, most students in my campus of Sciences Po go to Asia for their 3rd year abroad, but since I’m in the program with Columbia, I’ll be heading to New York for my 3rd and 4th year, which is really awesome, but it also means an opportunity missed to explore Asia. That’s why I chose this summer to get to know Hong Kong—the food, the landscape, the language, the working culture for which its known.
Concerning the Hong Kong Internship Program by Absolute Internship, I’m really excited to be part of a group of interns. Exploring the city and surrounding areas with people who are in Hong Kong for a common purpose is a really nice context to be entering this cosmopolitan city, and the location of our hotel at North Point is more than ideal and sets the living conditions to a comfort level I can’t complain about.
I guess an important part is the actual Hong Kong internship itself. I’ll be interning as a Marketing Intern for Click189, which is a tri-platform enterprise that builds gaming apps, online payment platforms, and helps SMEs establish a presence on Weibo. I have to say I don’t have much knowledge or experience in the field, but I think it’s really a unique and amazing opportunity, not only to learn about the Chinanet, but also the vast and rapidly-developing market of social networking. However, to be honest, the biggest reason I chose this internship is because I’m facing a slight identity crisis. Sciences Po is a pluridisciplinary education in the social sciences, and I really enjoy what I’m studying, but I have no idea what I want to pursue at Columbia. I was thinking maybe it would be interesting to complement my social sciences background with a more technology-oriented degree at Columbia; say, Information Science for example. So Click189’s business model is really a perfect conjunction of technology and social sciences, and while I hope and expect to learn a lot, I’m really hoping this will clear up my muddled feelings regarding my academic track for the next 2 years.
I’ll just wrap up by saying I’m a really big foodie—I mean, I really like to eat. As good as French food is, I’ve been deprived of Asian food this past year, and rumor has it that Hong Kong has amazing food. They’re not so much expectations as they are hopes, but even if a few of them are fulfilled, which is bound to happen, this summer is sure to be an exciting one, and I’ll be sure to keep you posted!
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