This week is actually my last week of work, as my boss will be out of the country next week.  It’s a little sad, but the week started off well at least.  On Monday I had lunch with some people from some neighbouring departments.  They took me to a new place to eat which was pretty good.  The next day I went to a place that resembled a pub back in Australia.  What was most notable about this place was the food and the price attached to them.  Usually these types of places had rather pricey food but this place had the same food yet very low prices (in comparison).  Additionally, this place had a decent pool table!  I’ve yet to win against their regulars.  How sad.

Something else that happened in this week was enrolments to my university classes.  I only had one on Tuesday to enroll in which I did successfully.  However, I had five classes in which to enroll in on Thursday in the span of one hour.  It is particularly worrying as enrolment is first in first served, so you have to be quick with clicking.  This was troublesome as the internet I had access to … Continue reading

This week has breezed by.  I found out that it only costs 1.5rmb per minute to call back to Australia.  This compared to 1rmb per international text message, I found it to be of great value.  I’m still not fully accustomed to how mobile plans work here.  You can choose different services to add to your prepaid plan at China Mobile.  Whereas in Australia, you just pick a specific plan that has everything in it.  I suppose the way China Mobile’s plans are set out can have advantages to people who don’t use some services such as internet.  So whatever you want, you just add it to your prepaid plan.  There are also different levels you can add.  If you are someone who doesn’t call much and just wants to use internet, you can have a cheaper plan for calling and texting and get a higher plan for internet.

Work has been good as usual.  Like I said before, it’s a really good work environment.  I do my work without requiring anyone to watch over my shoulder.  The sort of work environment I like.  They didn’t mind that I received a call from a special girl on Valentine’s Day, whom … Continue reading

This week was the start of my internship at one of the world’s largest commercial real estate services firm.  I got rather lucky with my placement as not only do I get to work in a rather nice and fancy building at a large and prestigious company, but I also received a work laptop which I am using to write this blog on.  A very generous act since I am only an intern.

It actually took some time for me to get settled at work.  The first day was a rather short one as there was no laptop available for me to use so I went home early.  I also did not have an access card for the building or the office yet.  The building access card was fixed up by the second day which was really convenient so I didn’t need to get a daily keycard everyday at the Wheelock Square reception desk.  I didn’t get an office keycard that day due to a misunderstanding.  Full time employees have to go through a very formal application to receive a keycard.  An intern like me who is only working there for a month would not have to go through such a … Continue reading

This has been a pretty interesting week, with the most random moment being a man placing a live turtle in my hand at club 88.  That was something completely unexpected.  A man carrying around a turtle in his pocket.  How peculiar.  Anyway its the first week back after the Chinese New Year so things are things are back to normal.  I didn’t do much over the holiday due to illness so it comes as a relief to be able to have some routine back in my life.

I never did much grocery shopping but I finally got around to having a proper look around the nearby supermarket and find that they seem to have promotions all the time and are obviously considerably cheaper than buying things from convenience stores.  You get more for less.  I was especially happy to buy over 3 litres of fruit juice for just 20 yuan.  Compare that with buying it from a convenience store, you get 250mL for 6 yuan.  Pretty handy to just buy larger volumes of whatever from the supermarket.  Also saves you the effort of having to rug up and walk to the convenience store when you already have a heap of … Continue reading

What an experience it has been to live in Shanghai. I’ve never experienced anything quite like it. It completely dwarfs Sydney, with the population of Shanghai being as much as or more than that of Australia’s in total. Close to landing I saw a long stretch of lights that I originally thought were the coastline, which seemed odd at first. Upon closer inspection, it was actually an extremely long bridge, one of several it seems that China have built over the past decade or so. Already I was amazed at the scale of everything in this country.

Meeting the other interns was great as you get to meet people of different backgrounds. This month’s group of interns is dominated by Australians with those from Europe and the Americas making up the rest.

I’ve done so much over the past week and a bit. Much more than I usually do at home but I guess being in one of the biggest cities on the planet, one must make the most of it. I’ve been consistently amazed by the city of Shanghai. I absolutely love the subway system. It’s so easy to get around. A very different experience to Australia where most … Continue reading

There are only a few days left before I fly out to Shanghai from Australia.  I’ve only been overseas once and that was almost a decade ago with my family to visit relatives in China.  This time around I’m on my own and have had to organise it myself.  This includes paying for the program itself, getting my plane tickets and paying for miscellaneous items such as visa and passport among other things.  I sorted all that out quite some time ago and have been eagerly awaiting my flight ever since.  It’s an exciting yet unnerving period at the same time.  Soon I’m going to be way out of my comfort zone in an unfamiliar place learning a language I really only have basic understanding of and then interning at an multinational firm having to use that language.  I guess it’s some sort of comfort that at the end of the day, it will be all worth it.  The experience will no doubt benefit me both personally and professionally.

One issue that may occur when in Shanghai is the issue of weather.  It’s going to be severely colder than I’m accustomed to during the months of January and February.  A … Continue reading