The view outside of my dorm. And the place where I intern.Shanghai, the eighth largest city of the world is also the largest city in China. Located on the banks of Yangtze River, Shanghai is spread over an area of 2,239 square miles. Besides being the largest industrial set up in the country, Shanghai is home to around 20 million people.
It has been a little over two weeks now since I have set foot on this overpopulated city. I am currently studying at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (SUFE). It is located in the Hong Ko District, which is about a 40 min subway ride away from the bund/financial district. Our campus is fairly decent in size, and surrounded with many trees.
For us "study abroad" students, traveling to classes, cafeteria and gym has never been easier. All three locations are within a two minute walk from our twelve stories high dormitory building.
The classes here have definitely been taught different than those of Elmhursts'. The Chinese language course is the most intensive class in this program. With 12 in-class hours of Chinese per week, about 12 more hours per week is needed for homework and reviews outside of class. I also have two additional classes, both 3 hours per week, taught in English. The classes are Economic Giant and International Money and Finance. Lastly, I also have an internship which is an hour commute each way. The company I intern for about 10 hours a week is called Vanceinfo (文思).
VanceInfo Technologies Inc. is an IT service provider and one of the offshore software development companies in China. VanceInfo was the first China software development outsourcer listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It ranked number one among Chinese offshore software development service providers for the North American and European markets as measured by 2009 revenue, according to International Data Corporation (IDC).
*Please note: information taken straight for wikipedia.
I am currently interning in their car loans/finance department. Vanceinfo has been working out better ways to provide loans to anyone ranging from individuals to large firms, with their partner in the U.K. My job is to help them with the English barrier between China and the U.K. I will be doing some translation work, but I will also be fortunate enough to learn about the financial side of things within Vanceinfo. My project manager is also willing to talk to me about the stock market and how to invest in stocks.
Moreover, the teachers makes a very big deal about: "being on time for class", "no hats in class" and "no food in class". Most of the professors I have had back at Elmhurst were very lenient on the above rules. They basically allow students to do what they prefer. But over here, the teachers treat these actions as very disrespectful.
Growing up in Taiwan/Hawaii/around the world, made myself believe that its not possible to be culturally shocked. However, there are a couple things here in the very backstreet of our campus that have made me change my mind.
It was one of the first few days upon arriving here, I was taking a stroll down the backstreet, keeping a lookout for some potential breakfast foods, that I encountered something I have never seem before. A mid age lady was selling ducks. Okay, not so bad, right? However, she had about 15 ducks tied together and laid out on the seat of a moped. Then about 15 more stacked on top of each other in a little tray/basket thing. It was very bizarre for me to witness this, I thought I have seen all this type of stuff back in Taiwan, but I was wrong.
Another thing that threw a curve ball at me was the way some men would wear their shirts. I am sure most people must think of the word "modesty" when it comes to the way Asian people dress. I know for a fact that in Taiwan, everyone prefer to show as little skin as possible when their are walking on the streets. However, here in Shanghai, there are many men with their shirts pulled half way up and tucked in neatly at the collar, so a nice view of the belly and lower-back in shown. Or some just prefer to walk around without a shirt, no big deal.
Oh yeah one more thing, in most Asian countries, there are many 24/7 shops or at least shops will open till midnight or 1am. However, in China, Walmart closes at 10:30pm and other supermarkets closes at 9:30pm or earlier. It is very odd for me and something hard for me to get used to. Went out at 9:45pm last night to get some 牛奶 (milk) at the local supermarket. It was already CLOSED :( BOOM! REJECTED!
On the next blog, I will cover more about the scenic places I have been so far and also the differences in food and gym compared to America.
再見 (zai jian) Goodbye! For now.
-Morrison
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