After a week of exploring Hong Kong and getting to spend my last week with the students from my Economy, Business, and Society spring semester program, I’m back in Shanghai! Although Hong Kong was beautiful and full of new adventures and memories, I have grown to call Shanghai my home and am so happy to be back and settled into my new apartment (which is just across the hall from the apartment I lived in last semester).
It’s bittersweet that my semester is ending, but I’m excited to embark on a new and continued journey in Shanghai during my IES Internship Summer program. Although the program will consist of different people, different daily routines and experiences, I don’t doubt that my time in Shanghai will be just as wonderful and exciting. I have committed to interning with a Leadership Coaching and Consulting firm called MindSpan over the summer.
Before coming to China I was excited to meet new people on my program, and I was also excited to make local Chinese friends. I was looking forward to attending courses at a local university, expanding my comfort zone, and forcing myself to practice my Chinese. Of course, I have Chinese friends at Lafayette, but my excitement about making Chinese friends in China was focused on immersing myself deeper into my abroad program and getting to know the ins and outs of the city from locals. My RA, Zhenzhen was the first to greet me when I arrived at the New Harbour Service Apartments.
After arriving in Shanghai one week ago, I already feel like we’ve been here for months – in the best way possible. Our language partners and the staff here have been incredibly helpful in assisting us with getting our bearings and becoming acquainted with both the Shanghai Jiao Tong University campus as well as the Fudan University campus. On our first weekend, they took us to both campuses and we got to walk around and learn how to get from the 地铁 (subway) to our classrooms and back to the apartment.
