Name: Andrew Harrison
Nationality: British
Destination: Chengdu
Accommodation: N/A
Programme details: 5 months, hospitality internship
University: University of West London
Year: 2016Andrew spent 5 months in Chengdu doing a hospitality internship. Alongside his internship, he was able to meet other interns from around the world through InternChina.
“It’s not just an internship, it’s a programme as well. So they organise trips in and around Sichuan Province, and even outside. You get to meet other English speaking people in China and socialise with them.”
The family host foreign interns for several reasons, including helping to expose their son Micky to new cultures and languages.
“The best thing about the internship has definitely been the freedom that I’ve had at work. Being so involved with all the foreign guests has meant that I have had reviews on TripAdvisor mentioning me[…] so I’ve had a lot of positivity from it and it’s been a great experience compared to maybe something that I could’ve got in Europe or in another Western country.”
If you’re interested gaining work experience in China through our internship programme, why not APPLY NOW?
Andrew studies ‘International Hotel Management’ in his 3rd year at the University of West London. He is enrolled in a four year program in which one of the years must be spent abroad which led him to apply for an internship at the Crowne Plaza Panda Garden in Chengdu.
The 5 star hotel is located 45 minutes outside of the city center and is only 5 minutes away from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding which is the biggest facility of this kind in the world. It is home to 60 giant pandas, but also has some red pandas and it is one of the biggest reasons foreign guests come to stay in the Crowne Plaza Panda Garden.
Andrew decided to do an internship in China to gain experience in an international company, where he is able to practice the knowledge he learned in several of his classes.
“I really enjoyed studying finance because it will be of great value to me when I obtain my goal and become a general hotel manager in the future.”
The main tasks of Andrew’s internship are making sure that the foreign guests will have an excellent time in Chengdu. As soon as they arrive, he prepares them with a welcome pack, a map of Chengdu as well as the panda base and makes sure they have everything they need.
“I start working at 11am every day, which gives me enough time to work out. Sometimes I even go for a swim in the pool. Afterwards I often eat pancakes and bacon in the hotel restaurant before I get ready for work.”
Andrew gets to experience the dream of living and eating in a 5 star hotel every day.
If you want to know more about Andrew’s experience and see how the hotel looks like, watch our video below:
If you are studying something similar to Andrew and want to gain international experience, apply now!