Jamie BettlesSome of you may know it (as I’m always repeating it since I’m back, cf.: my first blog), but 4 years ago I came the first time to Qingdao: thanks to Intern China. Now today I would like to take a step back and compare how the city changed, and how it’s different today.
But before a little bit of history. Back in 2009 I was student in a International Trade BTS degree. BTS is a typical French diploma that is quite short (only two years), but the 2 years are really enough, it is a post A-level degree.
To complete my first year, I had to do an eight weeks internship abroad, Yifan and Frank found me a placement and a Chinese host family here in Qingdao.
It was the first time that I went out of Europe, and I was pretty anxious, but when I arrived, the InternChina team did all the best to make me feel like I am at home, and I really enjoyed the experience.
You could see almost everywhere in the city that part of the Beijing’s Olympic games took place in Qingdao – On the busses or taxis with the motto “one world, one dream”or with the logo of the Olympic games.
The former olympic village was still being built to be replaced by the Mall Marina City that we know today and where Intern China Qingdao team often goes for lunch 🙂
Of course there are also more skyscrapers than before, and the best example is with the two pictures below :
As I said before, I lived in a host family. This experience was really nice, it’s a good way to get really immersed in the Chinese culture. The host mother cooked me really good dishes and my host sister always helped me when I was looking for something in the city.
Furthermore, I was living about 5 minutes walk from the commercial street Taidong Lu, with lots of shops and restaurants. I really liked the place because you could go shopping, drink a coffee, etc.
When I came back to France, I had the feeling that my stay in China was too short, with “only” two months here I had the impression that I didn’t see everything. For this reason I decided to come back for my Master’s internship, and I applied for another internship in China – this time in the Intern China office.
Although the city has changed in some kind of way, the daily life is still enjoyable and Qingdao is a wonderful place to live!
Do you want to discover the wonderful city of Qingdao ? Apply directly on our website or send us your application to info@internchina.com