Uncategorised

Travelling to Qingdao

A tale of eastern greetings, American cities and European supermarkets
On the dawn of Thursday 16 June, two twenty-year-old English boys approached the Qingdao runway offering prayers to Budda of a pleasant east-Asian sojourn. Upon landing, a welcome party greeted the aeroplane’s weary travellers and showered them with gracious souvenirs, fruits and benevolence to ensure a majestic reception. The esteemed party wereĀ surrounded by a locus amoenus: the sun’s rays chased away the retreatingĀ darkness, birds sang in an oriental voice and, in the distance, a colourful forest danced as though the breeze was conducting its favourite traditional song. The two boys exchanged a glance of widened eyes at their hospitality and were gently ushered towards a taxi.

Sunrise
InternChina – Sunrise

Okay, so that’s not quite how I arrived in China, but does provide a metaphor for my excitement at the coming three months!

I’m working for InternChina for the next ten weeks as a marketing, sales and business development intern. Having experienced the British Council’s ā€˜Study India’ trip last July I wanted to spend this summer developing my understanding of the world economy in another Asian financial and cultural superpower. I chose Qingdao as my desired location as a second-tier city provides insight into a China that isn’t trampled on by thousands of Western-style skyscrapers or blinded by limitless occident travel guides. It may be more of a culture-shock, but the hard-learned lessons will be more numerous and valuable.

09-Qingdao-bg
InternChina – Qingdao from the sea

I had four free days to explore the city both independently and with other foreign interns before I started work. In my young and humble opinion, lots of parallels can be drawn with American cities. There are numerous skyscrapers, wide roads impossible to cross without our equivalent of a pelican crossing, and you can’t lift a chopstick to your mouth without being exposed to some flamboyant advertising.

However, the most bizarre experience I had was in the French supermarket, Carrefour. In the ā€˜market’ section, a man was responsible for a pile of live shrimp. When a shrimp attempted a getaway, the man would shout ā€˜lĆ”i! lĆ”i! lĆ”i!’, meaning ā€˜come! come! come!’, and put the untoward crustacean back on his stockpile.

 

13415568_1347227041961420_7822466896169876790_o
InternChina – An organised weekly meal

 

Curious cultural differences aside, Qingdao is a splendid place to spend a summer internship and learn about the ā€˜real China’. I’m excited by the challenges the city has to offer and am looking forward to the lengthy debrief my parents will inevitably put me through when I return home to England in September.

If you want to see a man shouting at some shrimp AND have a rewarding internship at the same time, click here to apply now!