My Internship in China

Back in 2010 when I did my last year of studies at the university I took a course on Chinese culture. It was an optional one, and I needed it only to get enough scores to graduate. However, it was exactly that course to trigger my interest in China. Right after my graduation paper had been submitted, I started to look into the possibility of going to China to study the language a bit and preferably to do an internship. I didn’t hope that much to be able to find an internship in China. After all, I studied journalism, and with that and no Chinese language abilities chances seem to be pretty slim for a professional kick-off in a country like China.
After an hour of googling and checking the websites I opted for Getin2China. Their combined courses of internship and language appealed to me a lot. Besides, they seemed rather professional with their services and organization. I sent them an e-mail and got reply next day. Information exchange followed, and two weeks later I got enrolled in a combined ‘internship + language’ program. One week more, and I had my first job interview via Skype. It went well with all the tips Getin2China staff gave me. So, I got an internship with China Radio International - a large state media holding in Beijing.
That’s how my professional career started. I went to work 5 days per week, working 9 to 5. But I really enjoyed it - getting to know the operation engine of an enormous state media machine. At first my tasks were too simple to call my job demanding. I was only proofreading and polishing the news and programs our department published on website or broadcast. Then I was transferred to the team of editors for the online magazine the department published monthly. Once in a while I was also assigned to present radio programs. On the fourth month of my internship I was offered to try myself as a real-TV journalist. We have also a video section in our department, and my assignment was to cover various stories about China. Thus, within half a year of internship I managed to try various aspects of working in media area. The last two months were crazy - in the morning I edited and corrected, in the afternoon I would record a program for radio or our team would go to some place or event for video shooting. Also, three times per week after work I would join the other students of Getin2China for the Chinese language classes. It helped me a lot to establish good relations with my Chinese colleagues. I also had a chance to practice my Chinese skills with them.
By now my internship is over but I am still in China, and now officially working for China Radio International. I was offered one-year contract within the company upon completion of my internship. I still do not know how long I will stay here after the contract is over, but what I know for sure is that the experience of working in China and studying the language has already laid solid foundation for the future career. Now I only need to apply my skills and knowledge as much as possible, develop them more and keep on growing professionally.