As I wrote last week, we have had an energetic and fulfilling trip. After a slight delay of the coach, we set off on our excursion. As we were told that we will drive for approximately four hours, we made ourselves as comfortable as possible. We now know that punctuality and reliability regarding scheduling and planning are not just Chinese strengths! To put it in other words, it seems to not be part of the Chinese mentality. Fortunately we were not in a hurry.
Anyway we finally arrived in Sakura Valley (樱花峪) at 1:30 p.m. First of all we needed to have lunch there. Our tour guide Naima had reserved lunch for us on site already. We expected a colourful environment. However, the dull weather didn’t allow any sun to shine through the clouds. So the cherry trees were not as spectacular as we had expected them to be. In the Valley we had two hours of ‘free-time’ . Some of us used the time to explore paths off the beaten trail in other parts of the valley, and others took pictures and tried some of the food in the shop while strolling around. In the end, everyone found their own way to relax, taking in the fresh air and wandering around the Valley.
By the way – In China, cherry blossoms symbolise spring, virtue, grace and inner strength (because they bloom in cooler seasons).
Shortly after 4:00 p.m. we continued on our trip back to the city of Xinfeng, to check in to our hotel. After having a really close look in our double rooms, the interns group met again in the hotel lobby, to head out for place to eat dinner. It did take a little longer than expected until we found one place where all 16 people could be seated. As we ordered many dishes to feed everyone, it took a really long time even though we needed to take a bus to the hot springs 20km away, at 7 p.m.
However all dishes arrived only shortly before 7:00 p.m.! Things got a little bid chaotic as the bus left without us at 7:20 p.m. and once had found some cabs to bring us to the place, Naima and the Chinese groups came back to pick us up! As they needed to wait a long in the bus for us, some of the Chinese people seemed a little annoyed!! Thank God Phil could calm things down and apologise to them in Chinese over the microphone!!
The hot springs closed at 09:30 p.m.! So we had only one hour to relax there. The water was awesome and hot. They even opened another bath for us.
Once we had arrived back at the city and had a short shower , we met up again for some midnight beers. It was a fun evening, we played some drinking games while chatting and having a good time. As one of our interns quit drinking, he needed to stand up every time he lost to play his guitar and sing with it!
After a short but intensive night’s sleep, all of us had breakfast by ourselves. We continued the trip to the Yunji Mountain (云髻山) at 09:30 a.m.! It’s a provincial nature protection area. Everyone of us expected a lot of hiking that day, even though some of us were still exhausted. As Gianna wrote in her blog, everyone had an awesome time, hiking several parts of the mountain. Even as nobody could reach the peak in the few hours we had, we still had an adventurous time there. The mountain, which lies in Xingfeng County, has an area of 2.700 hectares. It’s highest peak’s height is 1.438 meters and it’s the highest one in Guangdong.
We started our return journey home to Zhuhai after lunch. Everyone was tired and felt sleepy. Suddenly there was silence on the bus …
All in all it was a great trip. 🙂
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New Chengdu Office Intern
Hi Everyone 大家好！
I’m Tim, I am 22 y.o. from Oxfordshire. I am the new marketing intern with the InternChina Chengdu office. Having recently graduated (last year), I am spending 8 weeks interning here.
Having studied and lived in Chengdu before I am fairly familiar with life here, but it is always great to be back doing new things, meeting new people.
Even though I arrived just 2 days ago, I am already getting straight into the internship. The first day was great, I got to meet the other interns working here; Brigitte, Helen and Kenny who is our full-time customer relations manager. I also met two new interns who will be studying with companies around the city. I can’t wait to meet more of the interns working here; to hear about their experiences and absorb more information about InternChina’s role in Chengdu. I’m really excited about organising and taking part in some of the activities to come, as well as the nightlife!
It’s a bit colder than I expected this time around but it’s warming up and the sun is out and shining today. There is usually a rather ethereal fog that hangs over Chengdu, but as the locals say, “Eat more chilli”. The chilli helps you sweat and cleanse your body.
Sounds gross, but it really does make a difference. That’s another thing you’ll need to get used to if you come here. The spiciness! The food in Chengdu is always full of chilli （辣椒）and Sichuan pepper （花椒）. You can always ask your waitress to add less chilli, or hold the Sichuan pepper . However, the cuisine here revolves around the local ingredients and if you want a really authentic experience you should copy the locals. When in Rome…..
I had BBQ last night with some of my old university friends. The BBQ’s (燒烤) are great in Chengdu, you can eat lamb kebabs （羊肉串）from the west or seafood (海鮮串) treats from the East. All with a good dousing of dried Chilli powder. In fact there is a really good set-up for midnight snacks (夜宵) here. Chengdu is the food city, so don’t be afraid to put on a few pounds!!!
If you are not in the mood for a snack, you can always kick back and relax in a tea-house. You can sit by the river and drink your favourite teas. It’s also a good opportunity to learn some Mah-jong（麻將） or Dou di zhu (斗地主) if you’re into learning card games. I know when I first came here, I learned how to play Dou di zhu (literally: fight the landlord). It opened up new ways to make local friends and understand the local culture. Best of all a cup of tea will only set you back around 5 yuan (50p). At some tea houses the board games and card games are free. The locals are friendly as well; you can crash a game if you are up for it!!
Even though I haven’t had a chance yet, I am really looking forward to going for Jing-Luo （經絡）. It’s a type of medical massage that uses pressure points and trigger points in your nervous system to relax your muscles. It’s great if you’ve had a long day or simply if you are in the mood. Pricing can vary but it’s usually around the 50 to 100RMB mark (5-10 pounds). It’s always good to go to the outer ring roads for better prices.
So even though I’ve only been here a few days I still have lots of things planned. Check my next update for more info!
Hope you have the chance to join us in Chengdu.
Tim a.k.a夏天夙
Useful phrase: 請少放點辣椒。Qing shao fang dian la jiao! Please don’t add so much chilli!
(I’ll post some more useful phrases as I go along).
Apply now with InternChina and discover the wonders of Chengdu!
Before I started to intern at InternChina I was studying as an exchange student for 2 semesters at the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. My major was International Business.
I arrived in Guangzhou in August 2012, which was the first time I had ever left Europe. It was also the best experience of my life!
A typical day at my University started at 8.30 am with my Chinese classes running until 11.30 am. Before my Chinese classes I had jiaozi (dumplings) for breakfast. I had to get used to eating warm food in the mornings because in Germany we would usually have things like bread with butter and cheese, but now I love having jiaozi for breakfast, and I know I will miss it when I return to Germany. Our lunch break was from 11.30, which was weird for me because the lunch break at my university in Germany starts at 1.30 pm, and it was the first time that I had lunch so early! After lunch, I had business classes from 2 to 5 pm. It was a really nice experience to work on group projects with Chinese students. I quickly realised that the Western and Chinese way of thinking is very different, but I managed to adapt myself to work with an international team.
At my University in Guangzhou I met a lot of people of different nationalities, and I made a lot of new friends. All of us were in the same situation: far from home, without family and friends in a new country which is very different from the Western countries. So we spent almost every day together, had lunch, dinner and parties, so nobody felt lonely and we had an amazing time together. We all took care of each other.
Of course the weekends were the best part of my exchange program. Usually we met at the BBQ to have a couple of beers and then we went clubbing. Guangzhou has a lot of nice foreign and Chinese clubs and during my year there I visited them all.
I love China. I had a wonderful time, the best experience of my life, and I met a lot of foreign and Chinese friends who influenced me in a positive way. This is the reason why I have chosen Zhuhai for my internship. After I had experienced student life in China, I also wanted to experience work life here. I have been in Zhuhai for 3 months now and I already know that I will come back after I graduate.
Planning to study in China anyway? Pair your studies with work experience and apply now for an internship in Zhuhai, Qingdao, or Chengdu!
This weekend the Zhuhai InternChina office arranged a trip to Hebao island! It was an incredible island with sandy beaches and great water to swim in. We’d been concerned leading up to the trip because it had been heavily raining in Zhuhai all week. Luckily, when we got to the island we had good weather and were able to swim and even catch a tan!
After a long walk carrying all our camping equipment to the beach, we couldn’t wait to get in the water! As soon as we’d dumped our stuff on the beach we ran into the sea and stayed there for hours. The strong waves made it a lot of fun, (I was completely taken out by waves on numerous occasions!!)
When we’d finished playing in the sea and sunning ourselves on the beach it was time to set up the BBQ. The food was amazing! We sat around the BBQ eating and having a few beers which was so relaxing. It was also a great chance to get to know some of the new interns and hang out as a group.
When we woke up in the morning we were exhausted! A whole day of swimming and partying had taken its toll! However, what better way to freshen up than a morning swim in the sea?
We swam in the sea all morning before it was time to head home. It was definitely a good trip and I was glad that I’d been able to visit one of the hundreds of islands that surround Zhuhai! The only downside is that I’m now in agony from sunburn… but that is totally worth it for the amazing weekend we had!
Would you like to join Jack in Zhuhai? Apply now for the following internships!
My name is Monika and I am the new intern at the InternChina Zhuhai office. I am studying International Business in Dortmund, Germany. I have chosen my major because it is not only about economics but it also gives me the opportunity to learn about different cultures, learn foreign languages and learn how to do business with people in different countries.
As part of my course, I took part in an exchange program at one of our partner universities for two semesters and an internship for one semester. This was also one of the main reasons why the major International Business was so interesting for me. Why did I choose China?
It was a very difficult decision to choose the country because I knew I’d have to stay there for at least one year and before China I had never been to a country out of Europe. There were several questions I had to ask myself: What do I expect from a year abroad? What do I want to learn? What experience do I want to gain? Well, I want to travel a lot and see things I have never seen before. I want to study and work with people from different countries and learn more about them. I want to learn a new language and I want to enjoy my life but still study hard and get a higher knowledge of International Business. I want a challenging environment where I can prove myself. After I answered these questions the decision was clear.
Now I am here In Zhuhai working with InternChina. So why have I decided to work in Zhuhai? Zhuhai is located in the south part of China like Guangzhou and I just love the South because it never gets really cold. It is smaller than Guangzhou and I prefer small cities. One of the main reasons was that I wanted to see something new so I didn´t stay longer in Guangzhou even though I loved it there. I just want to gain a new experience and meet different people. The reason why I am working now with InternChina is that I want to share my experience with other students. I want to support them when they are coming to China and I want to be a part of making their stay as amazing as mine was. Now it is my first week of work. I am working in a multinational team with great people and in my first week I have already learnt a lot. To stay in China and work with InternChina was the best decision I could have made. On Friday we had some beers on the rooftop of the office with a wonderful view over Macao. It was just a perfect end of my first week of work in Zhuhai.
Last year, I arrived in Guangzhou to study and I was scared because I didn’t know what was waiting for me on the other side of the world. I came to in August 2012 and the best time of my life began. Everything I was expecting from this year abroad was even better than I had imagined. I met great people in Guangzhou from different countries all over the world. I learnt a lot from my Foreign and Chinese friends and now I know how to deal with the cultural differences. It was just amazing to see how we have learnt to work and study together. In my free time I enjoyed going to the Chinese BBQ and having some beers with friends to have fun and talk about life. I love to travel in China. There are so many wonderful and different places you can visit. Shanghai for example is a big city with an amazing skyline and the Clubs are so good over there. But also cities like Yangshuo and Guilin where I could just enjoy the beautiful landscape and nature.
All in all, I can really recommend coming to China and getting some working experience as well as spending some time travelling, studying and meeting as many people as possible.
Do you want to gain experience in China as well? Send us an email for more information and visit our website.
生日快乐! (Sheng ri kuai le!) Happy Birthday!
Ben, a Chengdu intern turned 21 yesterday. Such a big thing: he is American.
Therefore, he has all the freedom of an adult now (though he would be alowed to drink beer in China since he is older than 18)
To celebrate Ben´s birthday the InternChina team & Ben´s lovely host family met to have a really nice Chinese BBQ. Ben´s host family was hosting the party and therefore we spend a terrific evening above the rooftops of Chengdu.
The food was absolutely merit a 21st `birthday. We had a lot of local dishes, different meat, nicely cooked vegetables and awesome seafood. Nevertheless, I need to mention Ben´s German birthday cake, which was obviously very tasty.
Ben really enjoyed celebrating his birthday with his host family. After staying with them for 10 weeks, he really feels home here in Chengdu. Next to your internship you do in China – which is obviously nice for your CV – your host family and the InternChina team really become your 2nd family. Hence, celebrating your birthday in China becomes very special.
Spending an evening with three generations of Ben´s host family was a really good experience for the other interns as well. We taught Ben´s “host-brother” some more English and applied our new Chinese language knowledge while talking to Ben’s “host-grandparents”
All in all we had an awesome evening and we wish Ben all the best for the future!
If you want to enjoy some cultural experience as well visit our website www.internchina.com for more information!
Apart from the great business and work opportunities that Zhuhai has to offer, it also has a great nightlife for those that like to have fun on their nights off.
There are many various places you can go to enjoy your Friday night, whether it be KTV, Bar Street (where all the clubs are) or the downtown bars.
KTV is a favorite amongst the Chinese locals, they absolutely love KTV’ing. KTV is actually so much fun, you get your own private room with a massive TV and sound system, and you can karaoke privately with your friends. If you don’t feel like singing, you’ve basically got yourself a private club for the night! Drinks tend to be expensive, but it all evens out because the price to rent the room for the night is very inexpensive. KTV’s can be found all over the city.
Bar Street is a favorite amongst the interns because there is a street full of bars and clubs. 88 Club in particular is the main club to go to when you are in Zhuhai. Opening, and happening every night of the week, you can always expect dance music, flashing lights, live dancers and free glow sticks. Because the drinks tend to be a little expensive, the interns usually buy drinks from the 7/11 down the street, drink them by the big lit-up tree outside of 88, and then enter the club when they are ready to party.
Right next to Bar Street is BBQ Street, where you can find lots of delicious street vendors ready to make you food at 2:00am when you’re drunk and hungry.
For those more relaxed nights, there are many great bars to go to. London Lounge, for example, which is located opposite the Jida beach, has become very popular. Sports games are played on the regular, and there is always great live music. If you’re craving western delights such as sausage rolls or fish’n’chips, this is the place to come to. If you’re a little tired of drinking Chinese beer and feel like a nice change, London Lounge serves Guinness, Tuborg, Carlsberg, Heineken, Corona’s, etc.
King’s Flanc is another hidden gem in Zhuhai. They offer a vast variety of wines and other drinks for those more classy nights.
There are many great places to have a great night when in Zhuhai. Here is a list of some other great places:
The Factory Restaurant & Bar
Location: Street: Huafa New Century Plaza 113
珠 海 香 洲 -拱 北 昌 盛 路 华 发 世 纪 城3113号
Chicago Brewery & Grill
Location: Dongfeng Road 6
香 洲 区 东 风 路 6号
London Lounge Bar
Location: Ground Floor, Ridong Square
香 洲 区 情 侣 中 路 51号 日 东 广 场
88 Club
Location: Jiu ba jie
香 洲 区 拱 北 水 湾 路 酒 吧 街 203号
The One
Location: Jiu ba jie
香 洲 区 拱 北 水 湾 路 酒 吧 街
To find out more about what events and fun things are planned for Zhuhai, visit www.zhuhainights.com
Are you interested in gaining some great experience, as well as having a great time with people your age? Come to Zhuhai to experience the great party scene! Apply now to InternChina by sending your CV and cover letter to info@internchina.com.
Chinese versus Western Cuisine
The InternChina team Chengdu finished the last week with an epic food clash of Western & Chinese cuisine. As per Thursday night tradition, we went to Mike’s Pizza kitchen, Chengdu’s premiere pizzeria. Friday night saw us join a neighbouring company in our we office building to celebrate a classic Chinese BBQ.
Mike’s Pizza kitchen provides really good Western food (which is rare for China). Paul, who already lived for almost two years in China and is currently one of our interns in Chengdu, said it was the best pizza in China he’d ever tasted (also happened to be his first in three months). So, it would have been good anyway, but I completely agree with Paul that Mike’s pizza kitchen is a top notch place to enjoy Western cuisine in Chengdu.
In comparison to that, we had some Chinese BBQ on the next day. We bought a lot of local specialties, ranging from beef, chicken, pork and a lot of local vegetables to put on the grill.Of course we had some cold beers, too (it wouldn’t have been a real BBQ without a chilled beer!)
The Chinese style of making a BBQ seems to be a little more spontaneous (maybe we are too fastidious when preparing our BBQ back in the West). Put on a open coal grill, the meats and vegetables are seasoned ad hoc depending on an individual’s preference. Regardless, it was still really tasty! The combination of the different local spices and herbs blended well with the succulent morsels of meat. All Chengdu interns were glad to have this BBQ to cap off the week.
For me, the result of the food clash in regards to taste was a draw. But the atmosphere of a decent BBQ with a lot of friendly people can’t be beaten by a dinner at a restaurant. All in all, I can say that I really enjoy the local food. Still, from time to time, a good home cooked Western meal is needed to keep me close to home.
Like exposing your palate to new interesting flavours? Why not come to China! Apply now or send us an email for more information.
It is eight o’clock at night, we are walking along Jiangxi Lu in Qingdao and a huge BBQ smell fills our nose. Then we see it, little red tents built up on the side of the road one after another, a Chinese man or woman standing in front of it fixing BBQ on a long and narrow charcoal grill. Little tables are set up under the tents with even tinier stools for the guests who want to eat dinner at the BBQ.
They have tons of different skewers of meat, fish or veggies which are seasoned heavily with cumin and other Chinese spices. Yummy!
Chinese Street Barbecue, called shao kao (烧烤), is especially popular at night and you can find it on every corner all over China. Big crowds come together, ordering many different skewers and beer drawn out of a big barrel. You can’t always be sure how long the meat has been sitting out, so if the weather is really hot it is always good to be careful; you don’t want to have to make a trip to the hospital! But for the most part it is safe, and it is quite a treat so go for it. It is great for dinner and a midnight snack after partying. Most important of all: it’s a unique part of Chinese culture!
Would you like to come to China and try out Street Barbecue? Send us your internship application or apply directly on our website!
Due to the fact that two of our interns were leaving soon, we thought it would be great to organize a party with all the interns and their friends. We rented a little location at the beach, some speakers and a BBQ grill. The BBQ was as awesome as ever. We had vegetables, all kinds of meat and bread for the nearly-40 people who came. It was delicious!
The party started with fireworks (thanks to the nice Chinese couple who celebrated their wedding right around the corner), a worthy beginning for a great night.
Unfortunately, it was raining on Saturday night, no reason for us to cancel the party though! We were all soaking wet after a while, but thankfully we had great food, enough drinks and an awesome atmosphere so nobody even realized that it was raining.
Later at night we left the beach location to see the Champions League final, Bayern Munich vs. Borussia Dortmund. Two of our interns dressed up with jerseys and we all watched the game together in the local bar LPG. Did you see the match? It was so exciting!
Would you like to participate in a cool event with Intern China? Send us an email for more information or apply for an internship directly on our website!
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