Go Abroad China

Not to be scared and enjoy China because once you are there and studying everyday, time tends to go by very quickly. Within no time you will realize you are already preparing to go back to your original school after the summer holidays.

I had around 20 hours of class time per week, which was definitely a lot since I went to summer school and expected it to be a little less strict. But actually, it was fine in the end and I had a blast learning Chinese with 20 something other classmates from a lot of different countries.

Going to China for the first time was of course something I really thought about and got nervous about, but strangely enough I wasn't shocked as I had predicted. I was worried about life since I didn't speak Chinese, but actually Shanghai is so modern, the Chinese there speak English.

Being in Shanghai and learning about the city, its hang outs, history, new locations and other little nooks in the city with new friends was a great experience for me.

Yes, I think the top thing I still continue to learn even today is maintaining good working relationships with our partner companies. In our go abroad and education sector, we have collaborations with many different companies inside China, and schools too. I feel like my people skills are always being put to the test because part of my job duties involves communicating directly with them. And during the busiest months when we have many clients, our communication is even more frequent. So keeping a good connection and relationship with such companies is the most important thing that I have learned and have to keep doing.

I have seen that a large portion of our clients are usually happy with how we arrange placements for them, it makes me feel proud of our company's service delivery department, their job is very important as our company is judged based on that. With the company doing well, we are able to help even the clients/applicants who have a limited budget to customize our services so that at least we can reach a satisfactory agreement. For a few lucky ones, they might even get a partial scholarship if they prove that they are hard-workers and fit the requirements.

We had a young student from Australia who joined the language program in Beijing, when her program came to an end, like many others she was saying how much she would miss Beijing and that she would come back. At the time, of course, I thought it was a polite conversation, but a year later I was surprised when she called us back as said this time she wants to do an internship! I thought it was special because due to the expenses of traveling to China, it takes a lot of time to save up and have a new budget to travel again. Our management over here was so impressed that she got herself a sweet discount, she is now considered a friend here at our GAC offices!