Where was your best photo taken and what was it of?
It was a group photo we took on the Great Wall with all the interns and co-founders of MCO. We did a camping trip on the Great Wall on a hot summer weekend.
There were about 12 of us on the trip. We carried food, tents, water, BBQ must-haves and hiked for hours to get to the top of the Great Wall. Everyone was soaked in sweat that time we got to the top, yet we had a great time on the way up.
That photo was taken on top of one of those "messengers' house" and it is now used as the cover photo of MCO's website, which is really cool!
What is one piece of advice you'd give future My China Opportunity students?
Be ready for the culture shock. China, especially Beijing, is a place where everything happens and where anything can happen. Students should be open-minded and expect the most unexpected when they come to China and try not to be judgmental towards the people or culture.
Also, don't be blinded by the cheap price and the exchange rate, because you will end up buying a ton of crap that you will barely use when you go back home.
How has this experience impacted your future?
I set out to be a business reporter and my internship experience with MCO definitely helped me in this field. It was a really hands-on experience, I was in charge of multiple projects and got to do a lot of writing and marketing-related tasks.
Recruiters often ask me about my internship with MCO because there was so much coming out from that one internship; I made a promotional video, organized events, created a bi-weekly newsletter, managed social networks and wrote blog posts, all of these proved that I'm a versatile person with different skill sets. I'm very grateful that Chris and Miranda gave this opportunity to intern with them, it helped a great deal of my future career!!
What did My China Opportunity do for you and what did you need to do on your own?
MCO gave me a great opportunity to intern with a startup company where I got to work on different projects and develop multiple skill sets. I made friends with other interns and got to see lots of the city with them, which is a great experience.
Since I'm from Beijing so i did not need any accommodation or language classes I was basically an intern within the company. So what I needed to do on my own was reaching out to clients and be proactive when I was doing research for the company. It's worth mentioning that most of the events we did were paid by MCO so interns barely needed to pay anything for the events through MCO.
