After almost 10 months working at AIESEC NHH, sending students on internships to all over the world, I realized that I needed to try the product myself. So finally the 22nd of June it was my turn, heading for an internship in China. First stop –Shanghai where I stayed for several days climbing 400 meter high skyscrapers (with lift of course), exploring the differences of Chinese cuisine and city culture and visiting museums, pubs and everything else this enormous city has to offer. Next, it was time for Beijing and then Tianjin where my internship was waiting. After spending my first time in Shanghai and Beijing, both huge cities with more than 15 million people, I thought Tianjin would be small in comparison. But for me as a Norwegian, I quickly learned that there is no such thing as a small city in China, and Tianjin with its 10 million inhabitants was more than big enough to explore during the 5 weeks I stayed there. Basically, everything in China is big and there are so much people wherever you go!
During
the internship we stayed in the suburb Wuqing of Tianjin at Yinghua
International School. Here we worked, ate and slept (on the hardest beds ever).
We were a team of 14 international volunteers, a bunch of Chinese volunteers
and some professional Chinese teachers responsible for making an English summer
camp for Chinese students at the school. The main idea of the camp was to teach
the kids about the Model UN (the United Nations), something the Chinese
organizers from AIESEC didn’t tell us before arrival in Tianjin. So, in few
days I had to learn everything about the United Nations before I was going to
teach the school kids the same. Thanks to good training from Canadian teachers
at the school, it turned out in a good way, and I enjoyed each day with my
class having discussions about social issues, talking about differences between
China and other parts of the world, playing games and in general just having
fun.
Meeting
with the Chinese school system on the other hand was a big culture shock for
me. The security and the constantly surveillance of the school really surprised
me, and each classroom was videotaped and the school was guarded with its own
school army of guards. Students were not allowed to leave the school without
permission and teachers (us) could not leave the school in the night. In the
beginning, we felt a bit locked inside the school walls and that our freedom
was taken away from us. But again the Canadians came to our rescue and afterwards
we got free entrance to the school area. Still, the students were locked inside
their dorms at nine o’clock with chains around the front door, so I guess
that’s how the school life in China is – no freedom.
Overall,
I had a fantastic summer in China with big impressions and so many good memories.
I also got to travel and see a lot of places in China, even though China is
enormous and in fact I only saw a small percentage of the country. In addition
to visiting Shanghai and Beijing the Chinese volunteers from the school invited
us to their home cities and we climbed the Great Wall and the holy mountain of
Taishan and visited the biggest wooden Bodhisattva sculpture in the world (if
you are interested in Buddhist sculptures) to pay our respects. But I think the
most important thing is the people I met and all the new friends and contacts I
made during my 7 weeks in China. Chinese people are so friendly and helpful and
as a foreigner in China you really feel like a superstar because everyone is so
interested in you and gives you their full attention. And btw random Chinese
people also like to take sneak pictures of you, which can be both fun and
annoying at times. Another important thing, food in China is great and is a
reason to go by itself.
My 7
weeks in China have been by far some of the most eventful weeks in my life and
I have learned, seen and done so many things during this amazing time. Many
thanks to AIESEC and Yinghua International School who gave me this opportunity
and I will definitely go back to China another time!
