Experience: Rick Luttikhuizen, YES, Shanghai, China

About the job
Together with two other guys from Holland I did an internship at Teckwin, Shanghai. The company of our internship was a manufacturer of large flatbed printers and ceramic tile printers. We had several marketing jobs like reviewing the website and brochures, participating with tradeshows but the main project was to investigate if and how the European market and the south American market could be expanded.
During the internship I discovered several differences in doing business in China instead of in Europe. In China the boss takes all the decisions without any discussion, they are very short term orientated and do not look back to the past.
About AIESEC
AIESEC supported us in advance, during our internship and with our reintegration back in the Netherlands. In advance there were several seminars about the culture, visa and entrepreneurship. During the internship AIESEC SISU organized several parties with other interns from all over the world, this was as great opportunity to discover several cultures but especially the Chinees culture. However AIESEC SISU is far less professional compared with AIESEC Tilburg, almost all the members were freshman and a lot of them were not from Shanghai. After a few weeks we knew the city center better than they did because they live the whole week on the campus.
About the culture
The Chinees culture is quietly different than the western culture, the first impression of the people can be that they are very rude. They spite of the ground, you can hear them eat and when you want to exit the metro everybody will enter the metro before you have the possibility to exit the metro. But when you know them better they are very friendly, it don’t mind what you ask them, they will help you. However most of the time it is quite hard to ask them anything because most of the Chinees people don’t speak English, but also with your hands and feet you can make yourself

understandable. Another important aspect in the Chinees culture is status and one of the most strange things how you can notes that on the streets, is that every man who doesn’t work with his hands has a very long pink nail.
Some other thing that are typical Chinees are safety, ambition and non creativity.
Personal Impact
It is hard to describe how this experience has changed me, but I am sure that it has changed me. You have to ‘survive’ in a complete different culture without any help of friends or family, because of this I think I am more self-assertive and increased my social skills.
Will you recommend a traineeship?
I will recommend everybody to do an internship abroad, it is a great experience and it will change your life. A great place to do your internship abroad is Shanghai. I think that the city is really unique, compare with Europe it is very cheap but it as modern as the biggest cities in Europe. This combination makes it a really good city to live. 

Experience: Thomas Hannes, YES, Shanghai, China

P  About the job

I Worked with two fellow AIESEC trainees at Teckwin in shanghai. The subject was mainly tot do research for the possibility for Teckwin to enter the Brazilian market. This subject required a lot of searching on the internet. Next to this subject we also had to review a lot of translated documents to see if they were written in proper English.

The working culture at the job was not comparable with the working culture at dutch companies. In my experience the Chinese are not flexible, for example: when we finished a job before the deadline it took our employer a long time to give us a new project. Because of this it was not uncommon for us to spend time at Teckwin without a project. The job also did not really challenge me as most projects where really easy. In my point of view Teckwin missed the opportunity to optimally use my and my colleges expertise.

P  About AIESEC

When I talk about AIESEC i want to differentiate between AISEC Tilburg and AIESEC SISU. First Tilburg, the start of the project was not as it should be. AIESEC had a lot of problems finding suitable companies but this was mainly due to bad cooperation with AIESEC SISU. The rest of the activities that where planned before the internship where good. During the internship there was some trouble with AIESEC Tilburg mainly due to miscommunication. The reintegration was good and all miscommunications were resolved.

AIESEC SISU was in my opinion especially helpful with getting to know Shanghai. They organised a lot of gatherings and activities which enabled us to get to know interesting people and experience Shanghai. AIESEC SISU had little to do with our internship at Teckwin which is possible room for improvement.

P  About the culture

The Culture in Shanghai not surprisingly differs a lot from the culture in Holland. People have entirely different values and this influenced my experience a lot. It is very interesting to see that people can live as differently as the Chinese do and I learned a lot from this.

P  Personal Impact

The internship impacted me a lot, my main goal was to know if I could manage myself in an unknown metropolis as Shanghai. When I look at the overall experience I think I succeeded in my initial goal, I am even planning to go abroad for a longer time as I really liked the experience.

P  Will you recommend a traineeship?

I would recommend a traineeship to everyone who is a little bit adventurous. It is a great possibility to learn a lot and to develop yourself.

Experience: Ibrahim Toprakci, China, Tianjin

During mid July until the beginning of August 2012 I did an internship via AIESEC Tilburg in Tianjin, China as a foreign English teacher. The actual acquisition and preparation took up quite some time but things went pretty fast afterwards. The communication with the LC in China prior to the internship generally went smoothly: whenever I had a question they responded quickly. The pickup was pretty well organized and the introduction to the other interns was very nice: they were playing an introduction game when I arrived. Not everyone arrived at the same date: some had already arrived and a couple still needed to arrive.

Before actually teaching English we had a training week. This was conducted by Mr. Pelland, a Canadian principle turned trainer in teaching and training teachers in China. The methods, knowledge and perspectives he gave us were very helpful during our teaching, and he inspired and motivated me to do my best. Unfortunately a lot was still unclear about our daily schedule after the training week and we had a lot of meetings with the Chinese principle and staff about them. Things changed regularly during the training week which sometimes frustrated people. Fortunately, the intense meetings and the efforts done by Mr. Pelland paid dividend and the schedule was made concrete before the students came and the actual teaching started.  It was clear that our main objective was to hold a mini United Nations conference at the end during which different topics would be discussed amongst the students in front of the teachers and the parents. It was a pretty busy schedule in which the students would be picked up by us at 7:15 AM for breakfast and sent back to their dorm at 9:30 PM. Between these two moments, the students would be taught grammar and the likes by the Chinese English teachers and had classes with us. There were of course breaks for the students between the teaching and in the afternoon we had an hour of sports with the students.

The interns were divided into eight groups, in which there were two foreign teachers, assisted by a Chinese volunteer.   The 80 odd students were divided into these eight groups and each group represented a different country such as the United States of America, Saudi Arabia and China.

Each day we started with a warm-up game such as Hangman which the students liked very much and we discussed a topic such as poverty, women’s rights and environmental protection: we showed them video clips, gave presentations and discussed the matters from the perspective of the country we represented. We also made large posters in which they wrote what they learned and wanted to learn. The materials for the classes we searched online and prepared ourselves in our teacher’s room. The students were very eager to learn, modest and respectful to one another and to the staff, albeit shy, especially during the first few days. But as we got to know each other better they started to open up more and more which gave us possibilities to bond with them. They made teaching a very positive experience for themselves and for us.

Besides the students, the informal talks and formal meetings we had with the Chinese English teachers and the principle gave me a sense of genuine appreciation for the work we do and the ideas we have. They were critical but respectful against our ideas and asked for our opinion about different matters and subjects. Any workable feedback we gave them was generally implemented by the staff.

The day of the conference was a tense one since the students had to perform on stage, in front of their parents and the teachers. I really felt for my students and tried to give them advice and tips so they would feel less tense. It went splendidly and we felt real pride in our students, and they felt a sense of accomplishment. It truly was a memorable moment.

The final day was a day of mixed feelings and the moment of saying goodbye came ever closer. It was a bittersweet moment since we had spent so many hours together. Some of the students and teachers got emotional. E-mail addresses were exchanged and hugs were given. We started as students and teachers and departed as friends.

After the main part of the summer camp the principle had organized daytrips to the Great Wall and the Summer Palace in Beijing. These places are definitely must see places in China, for me especially the Summer Palace, since I hadn’t seen such lavishly decorated buildings and stunning sceneries before.  The expenses were graciously covered by the school, making the experience all the better.

Afterwards we had a second party of students with which we spend approximately a week. This was somewhat less structured and less goal orientated in comparison to the first class. However, we still had a lot of fun with the students and practiced and taught English quite intensively.

As the project drew to a close I started to reflect on the experience and on my actions and behaviours during it. For a person who had never worked with so many foreigners in a foreign setting I felt more mature than before the project. I felt as if I could work well in a multinational team without the comforts of home. It also made me widen and adjust my perspective on matters such as the Chinese people and general attitude against Western countries. Finally, I made new friends from all across the globe whom I hope to see in the nearby future again. One thing I have learned is that even with all of our differences in cultural background, race and orientation, we are all human beings living on the same planet. If we really want to, we can accomplish many great things together and give a better future for the next generation.

My thanks goes out to my fellow teachers Anna and Linda, without whom teaching wouldn’t have been this fun and interesting, our wonderful students, Mr. Pelland, my fellow internees and the Chinese staff which made the project possible in the first place. 

Experience: Elke Kemperman, Shanghai, Mainland of China

On the 12th of April my big adventure started; that day I said goodbye to Holland for 3,5 months and I stepped in to the airplane to head off to Shanghai City. Today it is July 30 and the big adventure is already over. In short I can say that it was an amazing, wonderful and above all unforgettable experience. In three months I have met so many new people, had a nice internship, had nice trips to different cities/ countries, had some great time dining/clubbing and I experienced the amazing culture of China.
Before it all started on April 12, already quiet some steps had to be taken to get myself prepared for the YES- program. First of all, there was the YES selection evening in which it was tested whether you were suitable to participate in the YES program. Finally, after a week of full of stress and nervousness ;) I received the news I was hoping for: I was accepted and from April on I would become a Shanghai resident together with Dennis, Rick, Thomas and Tim. In the months before our departure all kinds of preparation sessions were provided by AIESEC Tilburg, while AISEC SISU (AIESEC residence located in Shanghai) was busy arranging our internship. This is also where we had our first experience with the Chinese culture: for both AIESEC Tilburg and us it was really hard to communicate with AIESEC SISU and all the internships were arranged very very last minute (which means I had my Skype application only 3 days before departure). So, keep in mind that it will be very likely that not everything will/can be completely arranged well in advance. Furthermore, during the sessions of AIESEC Tilburg all kind of information was provided on what is important to arrange. However, sometimes I had the feeling that the AIESEC member weren’t as up to date as they should be on several topics (e.g. the visa procedure). As advice, make sure your flight and visa are arranged on time (preferably at least a month on beforehand), since this can save you money on your flight and a last-minute trip to The Hague to pick up your visa just before your departure.
On Friday, April 13, Rick and I arrived in Shanghai were we were picked by one of the AIESEC SISU member (We could recognize here by the nice giraffe sweater she promised us to wear that day and yes, this type of clothing was already a good indication of what the average Chinese would wear). During the first days different AIESEC SISU members showed us different parts of Shanghai, helped us arranging Chinese phone numbers and helped us making appointments with different housing agencies.

After one week of getting used to Shanghai, behaving as a tourist and moving into our apartment it was time for me to get started at my internship at an NGO called GoodtoChina. GoodtoChina’s goal is to supports sustainable living through environmental projects, social initiatives and consulting projects and is run by a very passionate and lovely women called Susan Evans. As I have a background in the field of business and logistics, she asked me to make a complete map of all here suppliers, the internal processes and the contact with clients. Furthermore, she always got me involved in new projects, interesting meetings (for example with the top-management of IKEA Shanghai) and was always interested in sharing thoughts with me on various topics. Furthermore, I really liked the informal working atmosphere and the team of GoodtoChina which consist out of multiple interns. All the other interns were also students, coming from different countries all over the world, who made my days at the office real fun and with whom I spend some evenings dining and drinking. I think I am very lucky with the internship that is provided to me, especially compared to some other internships I have seen/heard about in which the tasks and working environment weren’t as appealing as at GoodtoChina.
Since I only worked for four days a week, there was also plenty of time to discover Shanghai, to plan some nice trips in China and to experience the Chinese Culture. AIESEC SISU arranged several activities during our stay in which we could participate and could experience how they spent their time; e.g. we learned how to cook dumplings, got the chance to were traditional Chinese clothing and of course also a karaoke night was part of my AIESEC-SISU experience. On the other hand it was also great fun to show them some things they haven’t seen/done before: typical Dutch food, going out to one of the many clubs Shanghai knows etc.. Furthermore, there was plenty of time to discover other beautiful places in (and around) China. We have visited places like Hangzhou, Suzhou, HongKong and Beijing. Especially the trip to Beijng was pretty impressive, as the city is completely different as Shanghai and you really see the traditional culture of China and also a lot of residues of the communistic period (e.g. the forbidden city, Tiananmen Square (also known as ‘Plein van de Hemelse Vrede’). Also, the Chinese people there are less familiar with western people (which most of the time resulted in some nice picture taking activities with us as Western people in the center of the picture).
After my three-month stay in China I travelled for 2,5 weeks in Indonesia and I can only describe this period of 3,5 months as an amazing and unforgettable period. I found it very interesting to have the chance to go abroad and to experience how it is to live in the dynamic city that Shanghai is, to work with people from all over the world, to discover the mainland of China and to meet many new and amazing people. It definitely exceeded my expectations and I would recommend everyone to experience it their selves.
Enjoy it! One of the best things I ever did! 

Experience: Dennis Rudolph, Shanghai, Mainland of China

It all started - around the beginning of 2012 in which I got the notice about the opportunities of joining the “YES program” with AIESEC, a management internship. I joined the information session, listened to the speakers about the content and got very excited due to the experience story of one of the previous participants of the program. And with me four other students from the Tilburg University. The next thing to do was applying for the internship, writing a motivation letter, a curriculum vitae and passing a selection procedure in which a roll play, discussion and some questions with respect to handling specific situations came across. After passing the selection procedure the following months to until the flight to Shanghai went by very fast. During this short and hectic period there had to be arranged a lot of things with respect to stay in Shanghai and the flight ticket had to be booked. Vaccinations, travel insurances, a visa, extra bank card, credit card and the flight tickets were one of the main things to arrange. Besides my/our effort, the people from AIESEC prepared us in making this big trip, from providing information about the required documents to a master class in which culture was one of the main topics of discussion. From the Tilburg department of AIESEC we received significantly more guidance compared to the AIESEC department of Shanghai. The department of Tilburg, arranged the company, provided us with several meetings in which we were prepared for this adventure. The department of Shanghai on the other side, only arranged a couple of events with other interns and did not had any contact with the company or arranged other meetings. As said earlier the time from passing the selection to the flight to Shanghai went by very fast and this also had its consequences, the internship was arranged one week before the flight to Shanghai for instance. After all everything was arranged in time and the adventure started. However, just before the flight I became sick and it lasted until the first week in Shanghai. Luckily, I was not on my own during this week and the other participants provided me with some care and arranged the apartment in which we have lived for three months. These three months provided me with amazing moments, which have become good memories. During this stay we changed from participants to friends and we got to know each other very well.
The internship - was at a manufacturer of large format printers, Teckwin. As said before I was not on my own in the YES program and two other guys and me did our internship at this company. During the internship we were guided by a kind of mentor, which educated us with basic knowledge on the different type of printers and provided us with the assignments, work. Most of the work we had to do, was about doing market research with the focus on expansion of the market for Teckwins’ printers. We also got a lot of assignments in which we had to check brochures and manuals on grammar. The mentor was very friendly and if there were any problems we could call him. Besides the contact with our mentor we only saw our boss a couple of times and there was no further contact with her. There was also little contact with another woman who also gave us a couple of assignments. Unfortunately, we did not had much contact with other people in the company, because we had our own assignments, own office and it was difficult to communicate with them due to the language barrier (most of the other employees do not speak English and we do not speak Chinese). Although the internship was not that challenging in the sense of workload and difficulty, I have experienced a typical Chinese business culture. First, of all it is noticeable that Chinese people do not always say what they expect/feel. This was an interesting learning experience as I found out that this could create conflicts and difficult situations easy, because as being a person from the western world I am not used to this kind of “communication”. Besides this I also experienced that you have to be very flexible in a Chinese company and that there is not asked up front if you are ok

with working overtime during weekends or events, which also occurred during our internship a couple of times. So, the main experience from this internship came from the typical Chinese environment we were situated in.
The stay – in Shanghai was an amazing experience and I will never regret the decision to go on an internship with AIESEC. The apartment we have lived in is situated in an above average and very safe area of Shanghai and I did not experience any dangerous situations. In my opinion, Shanghai can be characterized as a large modern Chinese city, which shows a lot of similarities with large western cities. The people in Shanghai were very friendly, but starting a conversation was not that easy, since there existed a language barrier. If a Chinese person spoke English it was most of the time a student or a business person. Furthermore it is noticeable that, we have not experienced violent people in Shanghai even in the area of the clubs people were not violent. One of the reasons why Shanghai is an amazing place to live in for me is that there is always something that you can do. If you are hungry you can find a lot of BBQ shops on the streets were you can order snacks till late. If you want to go somewhere for a drink, there are always clubs and (karaoke)bars open. The clubs are very nice to see and can be very cheap if you choose the right ones. Everywhere you want to go in Shanghai you can go by metro or taxicab, both are very convenient and very cheap compared with the Dutch prices. There are a lot of beautiful places to visit in Shanghai, to mention some: the Bund (skyline of Shanghai), the Tv tower (in which you have a view all over the city), a lot of temples, Yuyuan garden and many more in and around Shanghai (a travel guide was very helpful). Besides Shanghai we also went to three other places by airplane and boat: Beijing, Hong Kong and Macau. These places are relatively easy to reach from Shanghai and are very nice to stay and travel in. In Beijing you can see some traces of the communist period of China, it has its own character and some places are very recommendable to visit during a stay like The Great Wall of China and The Summer Palace. In Beijing we also rented bicycles as it is convenient and nice to cycle to several sights. However to some places we had to go by taxicab or bus. Hong Kong is like Shanghai a modern city with a lot of skyscrapers and from The Peak you have a beautiful view over the city. Macau was very cool to see as it is the Las Vegas of Asia. These three places we visited during the weekends and a couple of days is enough to see these places. Next to the group of the YES program, we also got to know other people who we went out with for dinners and visited clubs with. This experience story is just a small part of the stay and there is too much to tell in only two pages, but one thing can certainly be said about Shanghai: It is an exciting city to live in! So, I would definitely recommend an internship in a city like Shanghai.
Personally – I also went through some changes. I have learned to say no to other people more easy, which is sometimes better than accepting everything that is asked from you. Furthermore, I lived in a more relaxed way in Shanghai than in the Netherlands which was very comfortable, this is sometimes difficult for me to do in the Netherlands but now it is more easy than before. I think the stay also gave me the impression I am able to live on my own in another country in the future, which is very important for me as I am interested in an international career. I did not had the feeling of homesickness or such, but maybe this had to do with the fact we lived with the four of us in the same house and three of us saw each other the whole day at the office. 

Experience: Tjeerd van Kampen, Beijing, China

Dare to dream!

On the 12^th of May, 2008 a deadly earthquake occurred in the Sichuan province of China with 68,000 deaths. This catastrophe made many children orphans. When a student of the Renmin University of China in Beijing visited this area and saw these children, she decided to set up a project in her student organization to help the children. She was a member of AIESEC and created the Dare to Dream project. A project about inspiring children to dream with summer camps in Sichuan with foreign and Chinese volunteers.

Content of the project

The project took place for the third time in the summer of 2010 and consisted of 6 organizers, 23 foreign volunteers and 24 Chinese volunteers with duration of 6 weeks. The project started in Beijing, where the volunteers had training for 5 days. In Sichuan the group was divided into two smaller groups. Each group went to a different school, where they provided a summer camp of 10 days. After the first summer camp, we had a small break, where we evaluated and prepared for the second summer camp. After the second summer camp at two other schools, we evaluated in Chengdu. There ended the third Dare to Dream project.

The training in Beijing involved multiple things. First of all the training was about to learn each other better. We did name games, teambuilding games, and had some free time in the evenings to spend together. Secondly, we got some lectures about how psychological effected the children can be due the earthquake and how we have to cope with it. And last, but not least, we had to make courses and activities for the summer camps.

Every foreign volunteer was coupled with a Chinese volunteer and every pair taught one class in the summer camps. We had many different courses with fun interaction with the children. Some examples are English teaching, a lecture about responsibility, debates about topics of their interest, and presentations about dreams and careers. Furthermore, we had activities like Global Village, a cultural role play, a talent show, a sport meeting, a lip dub video and a goodbye party.

The organization

The organizers of the Dare to Dream Project arranged everything for the volunteers during our stay in China. They arranged the summer camps together with the schools, picked us up from the airport, arranged accommodation, and were always there if you needed something. They were really helpful.  But the organizers occasionally lacked the ability to take own initiative. Sometimes volunteers had to come in action or pushed the organization to gather necessary information. It was noticeable that the organization wasn’t experienced in leading projects of this scale, but they managed to make the project a success. In the end everything worked out and I’m really thankful for their big effort in this project.

My coaches in the Netherlands helped me professional with finding a good internship, prepare for the travel and were ready to help during my travel. I’m also thankful to them.

The culture

Chinese culture is completely different than the Dutch culture. The things I were really amazed about or were very noticeable to me are the following.

First of all, the traffic is completely different than the Netherlands, besides that the roads are bigger. They drive really close to each other, like to zigzag through the traffic, wear no seat belt, use cell phones while driving, and horn a lot to let others know they are coming. But no accidents! The drivers are really experienced! I feel also really safe when I’m in the bus or a taxi, even though the traffic looks like a mad house. Furthermore, when you have to cross the street, you just have to start walking. The cars will avoid you. After the first day I enjoyed crossing the street and the first days back in the Netherlands I cycled through red light all the time!

Besides that, the food is completely different, but very good! But at first eating with chopsticks was really awful. The Chinese volunteers, who treated me for a meal at the first day, gave me a spoon eventually. After 4 days I managed to eat with chopsticks properly and back in the Netherlands I eat meals with rice with chopsticks. As well is the food more spicy in China, even the KFC burgers!

Furthermore most of the Chinese can’t speak English at all, their English signs are so bad that it is funny, they spit occasionally on the ground, they like waiting, and they have always long discussions, which sounds like big fights due yelling.

Once in a lifetime experience

This travel showed me a lot of insight of what kind of person I am, what I can achieve and how I should live my life. I met awesome people, gain a lot of experience and had loads of fun!  Besides the teaching we also had loads of time for sightseeing. For instance, I have climbed a mountain, climbed the Great Wall, saw pandas, and visit the Terracotta Army. We also had to endure some difficulties, but together we managed them. The stay has changed me a lot due this knowledge and experience. I am really glad I joined this internship! This project blew my expectations completely away! Simple said, it was an once in a lifetime experience!

So if anyone has the same opportunity as me to go on an internship, I would say, do it! You won’t regret it! Just choose an internship that suits you and don’t forget that you control how good it will be!

Tjeerd van Campen, Tilburg