CAPA Shanghai: Study & Intern Abroad

I was ecstatic to have the chance to study abroad in China the fall of 2015. It was a part of the world that virtually none of my peers at my home institution had been to, and I was looking forward to the challenge of the language barrier as well as the major cultural differences I would face. While I did face several hardships when it came to the dietary change and the often limited resources on the ECNU campus, Shanghai was an incredibly exciting, safe, "foreigner-friendly" city with so much to offer to a young traveler much like myself up for an adventure.

Where to begin? Well, I was a part of the first group that CAPA brought to Shanghai, and it was clear from the beginning that they were unprepared for our arrival. Perhaps it will get better, but perhaps not. The internships offered were uninspiring and did not fit most of our group's desired career paths, even after extensive communication before the program that they would. Don't believe them when they go on and on about their "organic" placement process, because group-of-8 interviews on the second day in China with two companies (with our majors ranging from Finance to Marketing to Chemical Engineering) was anything but organic. Communication was scarce throughout the program, even to the point that we were informed of a typhoon's imminent arrival only 24 hours prior, even though it was at Category 3 hurricane strength. Problems went unsolved and everyone in our group genuinely did not like or trust our group leader. The weather, it must be noted, is awful in Shanghai during the Summer but that is not under CAPA's control. The one bright spot was our university, East China Normal; the university staff and our instructor were great, and I would recommend them, but even that could have been arranged through different means. Take note.