I am slowly closing in on the day that I will return to Denmark. I look very much forward to coming back home and seeing my friends and family again. But until then, I will be getting a visit here in China from my mother and grandmother (my fathers mother) in just 20 days! I look forward to show them around this beautiful Chinese city and show them some of the things I have learned.
I have had 40 out of the 60 Chinese classes I have signed up for, and though I wish my Chinese was much better, I now know enough Chinese to at least be able to get around and take care of myself, not needing a translator all the time.
Work is coming along fine, but I am slowly starting to feel the pressure of finishing the things I have begun before going home, only having 2 months back, really sets things in perspective. I should also receive the information for my internship report very soon, so that I can start writing on it. If the school finds the biggest project I have worked on during my internship as ideal, I will write about that, since I find it very interesting and it will include aspects of both communication, marketing and multimedia.
5.03.2014
Packing and other stuff
I am sorry for not having written anything lately, but I have been quite busy with work, and now that I finally got a few days off, I have just spent them to relax as much as possible.
So, about packing for going to China for 19 weeks, not an easy task I have to say! And it annoys me a bit that I didn't take a picture of it, since it would have been easier to show that way. But in general I just tried to pack for atleast a week, so that I could wash it afterwards. Though of course, some clothes you can easily wear for 2 days before washing them.
Most of what I packed was for work, including my computer, work clothes, and a bag to bring it all back and forth, since I have a 20-30 min. drive to and from work from where I live in Zhuhai. In total, I think I have brought stuff with me to china for a value of over 25.000 DKK, though the electronics do take up a good part of that number.
I can't tell you what to pack, if you should be going on a trip like this, but I can tell you to bring whatever you think you will miss, if you are without it for more than a week. I have several things I didn't bring with me, simply because there wasn't enough room, and it often annoys me that I didn't switch it out with something else.
For my return home to Denmark in just about 2 months, I have planned to ship back some of the stuff I don't use anymore, to make more room in the suitcases for my return. It will mostly be the warm clothes, as the average temperature have become quite high. Even though we are closing in on the rain season, I can expect temperatures between 22-27 degrees in average each day, even the days that it will rain.
I enjoy the sunshine, but the high temperature does make one want to stay inside, since it is cooler than outside. I am amazed how everyone in my host family can sleep in their pajamas under the duvet in this heat, when I have to use the air conditioner to be able to sleep at all.
Something else that amazes me about the Chinese, is their eating habits when it comes to the more unhealthy things. Chinese love sweet things, the put sugar on or in many of their dishes, but they rarely eat candy, ice cream and cake. Comparing to a danish child, in the midst of Easter, my hostmother bought her daugther a chocolate rabbit. Had she been a danish child, she would have eaten it right away, or atleast as soon as they got home, but now, almost 2 weeks having passed, she still haven't eaten it. She have looked at it many times, even taken it out of the paper packaging, but it remains standing on the shelf, uneaten.
So, about packing for going to China for 19 weeks, not an easy task I have to say! And it annoys me a bit that I didn't take a picture of it, since it would have been easier to show that way. But in general I just tried to pack for atleast a week, so that I could wash it afterwards. Though of course, some clothes you can easily wear for 2 days before washing them.
Most of what I packed was for work, including my computer, work clothes, and a bag to bring it all back and forth, since I have a 20-30 min. drive to and from work from where I live in Zhuhai. In total, I think I have brought stuff with me to china for a value of over 25.000 DKK, though the electronics do take up a good part of that number.
I can't tell you what to pack, if you should be going on a trip like this, but I can tell you to bring whatever you think you will miss, if you are without it for more than a week. I have several things I didn't bring with me, simply because there wasn't enough room, and it often annoys me that I didn't switch it out with something else.
For my return home to Denmark in just about 2 months, I have planned to ship back some of the stuff I don't use anymore, to make more room in the suitcases for my return. It will mostly be the warm clothes, as the average temperature have become quite high. Even though we are closing in on the rain season, I can expect temperatures between 22-27 degrees in average each day, even the days that it will rain.
I enjoy the sunshine, but the high temperature does make one want to stay inside, since it is cooler than outside. I am amazed how everyone in my host family can sleep in their pajamas under the duvet in this heat, when I have to use the air conditioner to be able to sleep at all.
Something else that amazes me about the Chinese, is their eating habits when it comes to the more unhealthy things. Chinese love sweet things, the put sugar on or in many of their dishes, but they rarely eat candy, ice cream and cake. Comparing to a danish child, in the midst of Easter, my hostmother bought her daugther a chocolate rabbit. Had she been a danish child, she would have eaten it right away, or atleast as soon as they got home, but now, almost 2 weeks having passed, she still haven't eaten it. She have looked at it many times, even taken it out of the paper packaging, but it remains standing on the shelf, uneaten.
3.28.2014
Chinese buses in the morning
Every morning is like taking a trip through the disco on my way to work.
I dress up and put up my hair, so I know I will look good. I walk past a dozen of people, always smiling at them, on my way to the final destination. I quickly catch something to eat as I go and buy that one cup of coffee that will keep me awake for sure. I wait in line to get in, just like everyone else, though sometimes I pay the doorman and then sneak in the back door. Once entering, the other people make room for me to enter the dance floor. Up against the walls I can see people sitting on the chairs, half asleep or busy with their phone. We rock back and forth a bit, enjoying the background music and every time someone steps of the dance floor, someone else enters. Until finally we reach the end stop, where only I and one or two other people finally leaves the disco.
Again I am walking down the street, but this time, I enter the office and start my day of work...
I dress up and put up my hair, so I know I will look good. I walk past a dozen of people, always smiling at them, on my way to the final destination. I quickly catch something to eat as I go and buy that one cup of coffee that will keep me awake for sure. I wait in line to get in, just like everyone else, though sometimes I pay the doorman and then sneak in the back door. Once entering, the other people make room for me to enter the dance floor. Up against the walls I can see people sitting on the chairs, half asleep or busy with their phone. We rock back and forth a bit, enjoying the background music and every time someone steps of the dance floor, someone else enters. Until finally we reach the end stop, where only I and one or two other people finally leaves the disco.
Again I am walking down the street, but this time, I enter the office and start my day of work...
3.18.2014
33 days gone, 102 to go
So I have been in China for a month now, and even though I miss my family and friends home in Denmark a lot, I am enjoying my stay here. During my first month here I have already been around a bit, even though I hope to get more around soon!
The first week I mostly spent sleeping and trying to get over the jet lag, it didn't go long before I got help from my host mother to buy a topper for my bed to make it softer and better for me to sleep in (the mattresses here is hard like rocks!). Getting the topper have definitely improved my sleep rhythm and I no longer wake up during the night, unable to fall back to sleep.
The second week was busy with work, we rescheduled a few things and decided which of my 3 bosses to speak directly too about everything that I do, so that I don't have to wait for their responses all the time. During the weekend I took a trip to Xinfeng with some other intern who had come to China through InternChina, we climbed mountains, visited som hot springs and climbed some more mountains, but all in all it was a great place to visit and we got a really good idea about what some of the other cities in China looks like (since Zhuhai apparently is the cleanest city in China).
Third week I finish all flyers and banners that I had made for the Britcham Recruitment Fair 2014, all we needed to do now was to polish them a bit and finally get them printed, though we didn't do that until the week after. I started making logo sketches for another project and designed a pair of monkeys for a Children's English School project that I have been put on.
The fourth week I continued to work on artwork for the Children's English School project and where I have made 5 different fruits and 3 different farm animals so far. You can see them in my portfolio at http://nilank-arts.daportfolio.com/
This week I got my first new colleague, Zoe, who is a sales person at the company. During the weekend I was finally able to connect to the internet with the computer and started working on some freelance work I had to catch up with. Sunday we went to the Britcham Recruitment Fair, it didn't go as well as we had hoped, but we definitely learned a lot and will be better prepared for future events.
Beginning my fifth week here in Zhuhai, Zoe and I are working on getting more students and post-graduates to sign up for our Career Kickstarts Course, which will be in less then 2 weeks. I started on email marketing and the whole Children's English School project will be on hold until this is finished.
Happy Sunny Wishes from China to you all!
The first week I mostly spent sleeping and trying to get over the jet lag, it didn't go long before I got help from my host mother to buy a topper for my bed to make it softer and better for me to sleep in (the mattresses here is hard like rocks!). Getting the topper have definitely improved my sleep rhythm and I no longer wake up during the night, unable to fall back to sleep.
The second week was busy with work, we rescheduled a few things and decided which of my 3 bosses to speak directly too about everything that I do, so that I don't have to wait for their responses all the time. During the weekend I took a trip to Xinfeng with some other intern who had come to China through InternChina, we climbed mountains, visited som hot springs and climbed some more mountains, but all in all it was a great place to visit and we got a really good idea about what some of the other cities in China looks like (since Zhuhai apparently is the cleanest city in China).
Third week I finish all flyers and banners that I had made for the Britcham Recruitment Fair 2014, all we needed to do now was to polish them a bit and finally get them printed, though we didn't do that until the week after. I started making logo sketches for another project and designed a pair of monkeys for a Children's English School project that I have been put on.
The fourth week I continued to work on artwork for the Children's English School project and where I have made 5 different fruits and 3 different farm animals so far. You can see them in my portfolio at http://nilank-arts.daportfolio.com/
This week I got my first new colleague, Zoe, who is a sales person at the company. During the weekend I was finally able to connect to the internet with the computer and started working on some freelance work I had to catch up with. Sunday we went to the Britcham Recruitment Fair, it didn't go as well as we had hoped, but we definitely learned a lot and will be better prepared for future events.
Beginning my fifth week here in Zhuhai, Zoe and I are working on getting more students and post-graduates to sign up for our Career Kickstarts Course, which will be in less then 2 weeks. I started on email marketing and the whole Children's English School project will be on hold until this is finished.
Happy Sunny Wishes from China to you all!
2.24.2014
Writing the Application
My experience with the application letter I made, was that most companies didn't really look at it, they seemed to be far more interested in my CV instead. It made me feel that I had wasted a great deal of time writting it and translating it to German as well.
My first application letter looked like this:
Dear …
I am an International
Communication and Multimedia student of the University of Aarhus in Denmark,
seeking a company for my internship, and I find your company very appealing,
giving me a chance to better my skills.
I come from a family
of leaders, so I have good experience with working both alone and together with
others. Else from that I am a fast learner and I have a good ability to figure
out how things work by myself. I am innovative, but also critical towards my
own work, in regards of strengthening my skills and evolving my talents. I
always strive to look on the bright side of life and take whatever obstacles
that may come, from a positive perspective.
I have experience
within the field of communication, marketing and multimedia, both through
education and work experience. I am a hard worker that strives to do my best
every day and always seeks a challenge to improve myself.
… seems to be a
company that can teach me new skills and improve those I have already gained. I
believe I can find challenges within your marketing and/or media department
that would help me grow professionally. Working at your company will not only
teach me how to put theory into practice, I expect to develop myself personally
and create a professional network.
During my education I
have gained extensive knowledge within communication, marketing and multimedia,
as well as working with them combined (see my CV for more knowledge about my
classes). I will be able to bring some of the newest knowledge to the table, a
fresh pair of eyes and a new mind to whatever challenges that may lie ahead.
I will be available
to start my internship at February 1st 2014, and work with you for a
whole semester (15-20 weeks).
If you would like to
hear more about my experience and past projects, I am available for an
interview at your convenience.
Best regards
Denise Brødløs
Most companies just gave me a response saying they didn't have room at the moment. When I in my desperate situation of finding something in a hurry, after I lost the one I had originally gotten, I changed my application a bit into this:
Hi,
I am an International
Communication and Multimedia student at the University of Aarhus in Denmark,
seeking a company for my internship, with the goal of getting international work
experience.
I come from a family
of leaders, so I have good experience with working both alone and together with
others. Else from that I am a fast learner and I have a good ability to figure
out how things work by myself. I am innovative, but also critical towards my
own work, in regards of strengthening my skills and evolving my talents. I
always strive to look on the bright side of life and take whatever obstacles
that may come, from a positive perspective.
I have experience
within the fields of communication, marketing and multimedia, both through
education and work experience. I am a hard worker that strives to do my best
every day and always seeks a challenge to improve myself.
I seek a company that
can teach me new skills and improve those I have already gained. I have a great
passion for intercultural communication, and I wish to find a place for my
internship, that will allow me work with it, either as training to be a
consultant and/or as part of other assignments. I believe I can find intercultural
challenges within a communication and/or marketing department, which will help
me grow professionally. An internship will not only teach me how to put theory
into practice, I expect to develop myself personally and create a professional
network as well.
During my education I
have gained extensive knowledge within communication, marketing and multimedia,
as well as working with them combined (see my CV for more knowledge about my
classes). I will be able to bring some of the newest knowledge to the table, a
fresh pair of eyes and a new mind to whatever challenges that may lie ahead.
I will be available
to start my internship at February 3rd 2014, and work with you for a whole
semester (15-20 weeks), with a workload of 35-40 hours/week. The start date is
flexible.
If you would like to
hear more about my experience and past projects, I am available for an
interview at your convenience. Feel free to ask for my portfolio, if you find
it applicable.
Best regards
Denise Brødløs
You can contact me if you would like a copy of my printable CV, to get an idea of how I have made it. I went to a CV course at the university, and have made it look much more professional compared to what most beginners have today.
Travelling to China
My flight to China was pretty long, but it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I flew of from Billund around 7 in the morning and landed in Amsterdam around 8.30, we where a bit early, so I had a little extra time to find the next plane. It took me almost an hour to walk to the gate with my next plane though. It flew off in the afternoon and I landed in Beijing early in the morning, where I sadly became very stressed as I had to pick up my luggage, check out of the international part and check in to the domestic part. The flight from Beijing to Zhuhai took about 3 hours. In Zhuhai airport I was picked up by Morgan, my contact person at InternChina. We took a bus to Zhuhai city, which took about an hour, and from there we took a taxi to the address of my host family.
Just a suggestions, if you can change your boarding pass to business class from economy class for not to high a price, then do it. The chairs in the plane look much better, and I definitely plan to do it myself when I am going home, if I can.
Just a suggestions, if you can change your boarding pass to business class from economy class for not to high a price, then do it. The chairs in the plane look much better, and I definitely plan to do it myself when I am going home, if I can.
From Deviantart Journal - 17-02-2014
So, it seems that deviantart isn't blocked, that is a relief to all the other things there is. Until I got the Internet sorted out and finds a way to unblock it, this will have to do. I will move this journal to my blogspot once I got it unblocked.
So, this is the begining of my fourth day in China, it is very foggy outside, even though I am on the 16th floor, I cant see anything out of my window. Yeasterday was warm and sunny, and the weekend when I arrived was very cold. The buildings here are built in some way that makes them very cold inside.
I have been eating strange food, some tasted good and some was not as good... Especially not cooked pigflesh. Ibeat riceporridge for breakfeast every morning, it is cooked on water, but does still remind me a little of home, where we eat it cooked on milk. But sadly I am growing tirednof the Chinese food quickly and miss normal Danish food. I talked with my hostmother about trying to cook something Danish for my hostfamily someday, and she found it to be an exiting idea.
Yeasterday I had my first day at work, I wasn't there for long, it was mostly introductions and getting into the system. Today I will have a much longer workday, and will hopefully get something good done at work. I am very exited to get started. When I was going home from work, Ingot on a bus, I took the right number, but got of at the wrong place, so I had to take a taxi to find my way home.
I am more jetlagged than I thought I would be. Though I do get a bit more sleep every night so far, I still wake up, unable to get back to sleep.
Im off to the policestation now, I will write more tonight.
---
So the fourth day is slowly ending here, the time is just around ten in the evening. I had a very interesting day at work, including some great meetings. When I go to work tomorrow, I will have to find all the links I had looked at again, because I forgot to save them. But I don't think that it will be hard.
Tomorrow I will also have my first Chinese lessons, I am qurious about how fast I will learn it, it is a good thing that I have my host family to practice with. I did learn how to tell the taxi driver where I want to go, but I alreadu forgot the words again. And I more or less got off at the right busstation today, though I did have to take a little walk to get home, because I got off one busstation to early, good it wasn't far.
Im planning on sleeping a bit longer tonight, hopefully it will work this time. Then I will be free of jetlag very soon. I am going to the market with my hostmom this weekend, to see if we can buy another matress to me, one that is much softer. I think that will help on the jetlag and generally on how much sleep I am getting.
I was at the policestation today to get registrered, just like we have to do something similar back in Denmark. So now everything is in place, and I got a good deal of paper I need to have on me at all time. But it is only to make you secure.
I will go to bed now, see if I can get some more sleep this time, good night everyone, talk to you tomorrow.
So, this is the begining of my fourth day in China, it is very foggy outside, even though I am on the 16th floor, I cant see anything out of my window. Yeasterday was warm and sunny, and the weekend when I arrived was very cold. The buildings here are built in some way that makes them very cold inside.
I have been eating strange food, some tasted good and some was not as good... Especially not cooked pigflesh. Ibeat riceporridge for breakfeast every morning, it is cooked on water, but does still remind me a little of home, where we eat it cooked on milk. But sadly I am growing tirednof the Chinese food quickly and miss normal Danish food. I talked with my hostmother about trying to cook something Danish for my hostfamily someday, and she found it to be an exiting idea.
Yeasterday I had my first day at work, I wasn't there for long, it was mostly introductions and getting into the system. Today I will have a much longer workday, and will hopefully get something good done at work. I am very exited to get started. When I was going home from work, Ingot on a bus, I took the right number, but got of at the wrong place, so I had to take a taxi to find my way home.
I am more jetlagged than I thought I would be. Though I do get a bit more sleep every night so far, I still wake up, unable to get back to sleep.
Im off to the policestation now, I will write more tonight.
---
So the fourth day is slowly ending here, the time is just around ten in the evening. I had a very interesting day at work, including some great meetings. When I go to work tomorrow, I will have to find all the links I had looked at again, because I forgot to save them. But I don't think that it will be hard.
Tomorrow I will also have my first Chinese lessons, I am qurious about how fast I will learn it, it is a good thing that I have my host family to practice with. I did learn how to tell the taxi driver where I want to go, but I alreadu forgot the words again. And I more or less got off at the right busstation today, though I did have to take a little walk to get home, because I got off one busstation to early, good it wasn't far.
Im planning on sleeping a bit longer tonight, hopefully it will work this time. Then I will be free of jetlag very soon. I am going to the market with my hostmom this weekend, to see if we can buy another matress to me, one that is much softer. I think that will help on the jetlag and generally on how much sleep I am getting.
I was at the policestation today to get registrered, just like we have to do something similar back in Denmark. So now everything is in place, and I got a good deal of paper I need to have on me at all time. But it is only to make you secure.
I will go to bed now, see if I can get some more sleep this time, good night everyone, talk to you tomorrow.
2.18.2014
First few days in China
Don't worry, I got more blogs planned about how I wrote my applications and other things. :-)
So, I have been here for two days now, and I am starting on my internship tomorrow, Im a good deal more jetlagged than I had expected I would be; I go to bed in the evening, and wake up in the middle of the night, unable to fall back to sleep, quite irritating. I actually cried myself to sleep the first night, the cultural shock was very overwhelming , and I felt very much alone, even though I was with my host family.
My host family is very kind, there is Sophie, my host mom, Effie, my host sister and Sophie's parents in law, though I haven't been told their names. Sophie's husband, Wu, wont be home for another two weeks, so I yet got to meet him. It is only Sophie that speaks English, so we use body language to communicate the rest of us, when Sophie isn't there to translate. Once I start on Chinese classes, it will probably go much smoother.
I feel very restricted by the block on some webpages, like Facebook and Google+, but I hope I can get some help at work to unblock it. The Internet at my host family is sadly limited, I only succeded getting my tablet to connect to the wifi, neither my smartphone nor my laptop seems to be able to connect properly.
I have been eating Chinese homecooking, it is very different from what I am used to in Denmark, and Sophie's parents in law seem to think that I eat funny. I do my best to use the chopsticks, and have gracefully denied being given a fork.
I should probably get back to sleep, it is 4.20 in the night here now, and I need to get up to work tomorrow. Lets hope I can fall back to sleep this time. :-)
1.09.2014
From Application to Signed Contract
August 2013
I knew from the day I started on International Communication and Multimedia, that I wanted to do an internship during my 4th semester, there was no doubt about it, I wanted the work experience, and I still do. At first I wanted to apply for an internship at companies that produce computer games and do something with multimedia, and I did find a few that took in interns, but nothing that I would be able to do based on what I had been taught at ICM. It took many more hours of search to find just 2-3 game companies that would take in Graphical Marketing interns, and I decided to try them out, today only one of them have replied, and that was a no.
September 2013
In September I changed my mind and started searching for board game companies instead, mainly in Germany. I found a few extra companies in Germany just to be sure I would get something, and finally sent out internship applications to about 30 companies; 18 of them was in form of a letter and the rest by mail or the companies own application system. One of the companies I applied at was Fantasy Flight Games, one of the leading companies in the world producing a wide variety of board games and roleplaying systems, and my first thought was that it couldn't do any harm, though I didn't expect them to reply.
I remember each time that I finally got a letter in the mail box or an email, a response to one of my applications, I was so exited and was hoping eagerly that it would be a yes, but all of them was a no... and every time I felt very disappointed. But then a month after I sent the mail to Fantasy Flight Games, I got a positive response, it wasn't a yes, but I had finally gotten a foot in the door. I corresponded several times with my contact at FFG, presented a portofolio, made an assignment, had a phone interview and then, I was the lucky one to get the spot. I was so happy, I could barely get my hands down, I was going to the US!
October 2013
FFG had some paperwork they needed to do before they could make it official, a background check, no problem I thought. I signed the papers they needed and when they came back cleared, I sent them the contract that I needed for the school. I searched for an organisation to get me a VISA (to get into the US as an intern you need a sponsor organisation that can give you the form you need to apply for the VISA), and after looking through a few of them, I found one that was especially meant for Scandinavian interns.
November 2013
I tried not to be to exited, since the contract still hadn't been signed, but my mind was already set for the US. I looked for an apartment, looked at flight tickets and so forth, I even went to the bank to loan the money I needed for my budget to work out. Everything was more or less set and ready to be paid, all I needed was the contract, I didn't want to end up with problems or anything.
Then the day my contact had promised me that he would send me the signed contract, he had scheduled a meeting with the CEO to get it signed and all, he sent me an email, telling me that they had to cancel the internship, with no explanation.
I was devastated and angry, I cried and was really feeling down. I wrote my contact several times to get an answer for why they had to cancel, and if there was anything that could be done for them to change their mind. I felt desperate.
A week went by before I finally got the answer, the paperwork needed to get me into the US that the sponsor organisation required of them, was to time consuming and expensive, there was nothing that could be done.
December 2013
I searched everywhere I could, I asked friends and family to ask around and send out my distress call for the internship spot that I needed. Almost anything would do, but still my mind kept going back to FFG and the US, and my disappointment. I wanted so dearly to go to the US or something else very far away, I didn't just want a spot in Europe. Of course I had a back up company in Denmark, but it just wasn't what I want to do once I have finished my bachelor. With a bit of help from my father and some of his contacts, I got a text message, suggesting that I try the organization InternChina.
I took a look at their webpage, sent an application Sunday evening and told my boss at work, that if I didn't get anything by Monday, I would contact my back up company and sign a contract with them. Monday morning I had received a response from InternChina, that they had received my email and giving me suggestions for two internship spots. I read them and wrote back which one I liked the best, and they forwarded my application to them. Tuesday they had responded and wanted an interview with me, so we set up a time that same Tuesday, and by Friday they had agreed to have me and I sent them the contract that I needed signed. I crossed my fingers and hoped that they wouldn't change their mind, just like FFG did. Monday I received the contract, signed and all, ready to hand in to the school. Finally I had a host company for my internship, and it even sounded to me that I will be far more satisfied with the assignments given to me at International Futures, than I would ever have been at FFG.
I took a look at their webpage, sent an application Sunday evening and told my boss at work, that if I didn't get anything by Monday, I would contact my back up company and sign a contract with them. Monday morning I had received a response from InternChina, that they had received my email and giving me suggestions for two internship spots. I read them and wrote back which one I liked the best, and they forwarded my application to them. Tuesday they had responded and wanted an interview with me, so we set up a time that same Tuesday, and by Friday they had agreed to have me and I sent them the contract that I needed signed. I crossed my fingers and hoped that they wouldn't change their mind, just like FFG did. Monday I received the contract, signed and all, ready to hand in to the school. Finally I had a host company for my internship, and it even sounded to me that I will be far more satisfied with the assignments given to me at International Futures, than I would ever have been at FFG.
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