Pagoda ProjectsHi, I’m Nicholas Jolly from the University of Otago in New Zealand. I recently spent three months working at Chuanghua Wine Company in Dalian. I also studied Chinese at InternChina’s Partner Language School, Panda Education.
About Me
I was lucky enough to be awarded a Prime Minister’s Scholarship for Asia grant by the New Zealand Government. This grant funded my InternChina programme. The purpose of the Scholarship is to increase New Zealand’s ability to engage with key Asian trading partners. Being able to work at Chuanghua Wine Company gave me the opportunity to learn more about the wine industry in China. It also showed me how it is imported, marketed and consumed. Wine is an extremely important product for New Zealand. We exported around $32 Million dollars’ worth of wine to China in 2017 alone and the ability to understand the Chinese market is key to the future success of this industry.
I have also been learning Chinese for 2 hours every day before I go to work. This has given me a basic understanding of the words and some characters. While I have found it a very difficult language to learn I have really enjoyed my lessons. I hope to continue learning Chinese when I return to New Zealand.
Dalian is a great city with amazing people. This was my first time in mainland China and I have really enjoyed getting to learn more about Chinese culture, people and food! The 3 months has absolutely flown by, but I will definitely be returning at some point in the near future!
Experience with InternChina
The team at InternChina has been great. Whenever I have had any problems they have been quick to sort them out and are very helpful. In terms of finding an internship it was very stress free and easy to organise, even from New Zealand.
Keeping Busy
In Dalian I have kept myself busy by playing football with friends from my company. I also had meals and drinks with Chinese friends and colleagues (Chinese people like to eat out a lot) and exploring with friends. During the time I was here, there weren’t too many exchange students as it was term time for both the northern and southern hemisphere universities. Because of this I often ended up having an apartment to myself, otherwise I was sharing with only one or two other interns.
InternChina organises a weekly Thursday dinner, which is a good way to meet other interns and also try some new food.
I would definitely recommend an internship in China and I am grateful to Education New Zealand for supporting me. I am also grateful to InternChina for making sure I had the support I needed in finding the internship. They helped me in China, so I could focus on my internship and getting to know the local culture.
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