Program Reviews

Eight weeks in Shanghai sounded kind of long in the beginning but I soon got busy with the internship work and enjoying the city. I am a Mandarin speaker and so I thought it was a good idea to sort of return to China for a work placement there. Thank you to GAC they helped with placements, visa and accommodation. Of course planning this is a long process but worth it in the end. My internship was in the business development industry and its was really great working with my coworkers as I didn't really have any language barrier problems so I got better responsibilities.
Shanghai is not different from large economic cities outside of China - well at least the ones I've seen anyway. If there was more room for improvement it would be the networking opportunities since the social ones I thoroughly enjoyed.

It was a while back when I was in Shanghai studying Chinese at Jiaotong University for the summer. My program provider was Go Abroad China who were quite accommodating because I would only be in Shanghai for two months and they literally handled everything for me: the most important which was organising my study visa, my flat in Shanghai, which I shared with 2 other flatmates and showing me which bus to take to school. Thankfully I didn't live too far away from campus and didn't even need to change bus lines or any of that. Otherwise it would have been quite a hassle to learn the different buses.

Now about my Chinese classes: I barely spoke Chinese when I first arrived in Shanghai, and my class, imagine 20 young people coming from different countries learning Mandarin from Monday to Friday - for me it was full time school in the summer! Life in Shanghai was amazing and crazy! I had so much fun living there, getting close to my flatmates and other classmates. A couple of times I also hit it up with the rest of the people in the Go Abroad China group.

I came to China as a total beginner in Chinese language, by the time I left after 2 months I could manage approximately 200 characters!

I did my internship in the business sector with the help of Go Abroad China of course; at the internship company my day to day work was arranged by my boss, then on the weekends, the activities were organised by GAC. I enjoyed the dinners organised, and the staff were always friendly. I started communicating with Go Abroad China pretty early on actually because I wanted to know how much I needed to save up for example. It was my first time in Beijing and I had a great time! I was picked up from the airport, my apartment was not that far from the subway stop because the internship place was right in the middle of the city, but unfortunately it would get very crowded on public transport. I miss China already...

I got a really great internship with one of the Marriott chain hotels in Beijing, which I was really longing for for many years. My name is Ayida, I am in my final year of university which is why I had to do a placement abroad.
Living in Beijing was chaotic at first, but its a city which eventually you get used to. Interning at such a big hotel left me with an experience I still don't know how to describe fully; it's was always busy, getting to know the work in the first couple of weeks was also worth it when customers leave great comments about your work. Of course in the beginning I had a guide at all times to teach me the work, organisational skills and keeping the time of doing everything. Then later on I got to work with a team and we worked in shifts especially with the front entrance, doing double checks on rooms and other bookings etc. I loved working with people, I guess working in a hotel, my view of Beijing was changed completely with regards to the dozens of international people booking and being part of the organising team for events held at the hotel.

I am grateful that Go Abroad China managed to get me such an internship, my requirements have always been high. Plus the accommodation was on site, which really helped me save a lot!

Currently I am still in Beijing doing my internship in consulting and it's going fairly well. I am working at a company which helps foreign companies understand China, do market research before they can come to China. This internship has been organised by Go Abroad China and I applied several months back. In the beginning of my internship, I was taken to meet my supervisor for a little chat before I formally started. Next I spent around 2 weeks going through a short training before I got assigned stuff to do, what I am working on at the moment is a lot of data research and collection with a couple of other colleagues - we work in the same team. I am receiving a lot of guidance from them since I learnt that I am currently the only intern within their team.

I will be honest, the work is challenging but I am managing just okay, but I'm glad I am able to do some actually work here. The work day is long, I come to work at 8am and knock off just after 5pm.

The weekends I have been able to join GAC for a trip to the Greatwall, I have had Nanjing cuisine and I look forward to another invitation of their activities. This is my first time in China, I considered taking an internship here after a lot of careful thinking (and saving), plus at my college, lots of people are interested in going to China. I don't even speak Chinese but I manage to get by on a daily basis.

I spent two months studying in Shanghai, it was great, sometimes tough, other times fun! I had classes Monday to Friday meaning that every week I had 20 hours of Chinese with a taichi lesson once a week usually in the afternoon. Of all the things I learnt, taichi class was always my favourite one, until I found out we would have a test and it would be graded. Surprisingly I actually didn't do bad in that test, but i also suspect my teacher was a bit lenient.

Anyway let me talk about the important classes then:
I had grammar class every morning, some days it would be followed by speaking/oral class, other days it would be reading & writing...there was a whole timetable. I must admit that my different teachers (I had 3) were generally great but like any other will not be happy with unfinished assignments or slacking in class.

I know everyone probably always says this after coming to China, but my Chinese really did improve significantly.

Fun: living in Shanghai was really great for me, I hung out with my classmates, went to the dinner organised by GAC and visited some nice spots courtesy of our guide from GAC. She was the one I always called if I needed some help with Chinese or something went wrong in the apartment etc.

I was interning within the marketing department of a company in Shanghai that specialized in stainless steel products. I applied through Go Abroad China, I had seen some of their stuff on the internet. I won't say I was 100% sold on going to China for an internship but I had told myself that if the opportunity seemed good enough and worth it then I would make the investment and travel there.
I did some administrative tasks such as updating the company's database to do with treading products, we did a lot of other work researching other markets for the company to export to. I was working with a team of other marketing people and I mainly interacted with the few people that were able to speak English. Actually this is one thing I was concerned about coming to China, at first I wondered if the positions required Chinese speakers - I don't speak any! But it was okay, I will say that not everybody at the company could speak English but the people I had to interact directly with everyday could speak English.
The company was located in downtown Shanghai and I lived in a shared apartment 40 minutes away from work. I took the subway everyday into work. In the beginning of course I had hoped to have a shorter commute to work but once I got there and understood the structure of the city of Shanghai I got used to it.
Some weekends I would spent by myself, taking walks around my area, other times the GAC coordinator in Shanghai would organize for a few of us in Shanghai to meet up for dinner or something. Shanghai is a nice city as expected even though it was my first time there. For now I'm not sure when my next trip to China will be, but hopefully this experience will help me at least build up my resume as I will be graduating soon anyway.

I had a great experience with GAC and BLCU. Before coming to China I couldn't speak Mandarin at all and had in mind that it was the most difficult language ever. Now, I can have small daily conversations with Chinese people and I am so proud of myself! Those 2 months in Beijing were very interesting because I got to live with a Chinese family and experienced the real Chinese life! The family that I was living with was very comprehensive and would let me go out with my friends without any problem. The father and also the kid could speak good English. The whole family was adorable. They once invited me for a weekend to Xian. I really felt like I was part of the family and that is why I will certainly keep in touch with them!

A good chance never come twice means GAC gave me a good chance to explored China in a simple ways. They help me everything i needed when i was in China, They provide me a paid internship in Beijing China. all of their staff are very friendly, they helped me anytime i need and they help me to solve all the problem i had. Every week they held a weekend activity to make us know more about Chinese culture. Join GAC internship program i feel like i catch a bird in one shoot which means i got a lot of experience an knowledge when i was in China. I learn about Chinese business strategies, Chinese culture, Chinese langguage and so many thing. Deep in my heart i don't wanna leave China, i don't wanna leave my colleague, my new friends and also GAC staff who is become my best friend when i was in China.

It's my first time to come to China. In fact i can't speak Chinese but deep in my heart i want to have an experience in China. In January 2016 i knew Go Abroad China from my best friend. I started to plan everything with GAC. They help me to find an internship, an appartment, and they also help me to make a visa. They also held a free activity every week which i like the most! and the most important thing is, all of GAC staff are very friendly and helpful. Thanks to GAC for giving me such a good experience in Beijing China!