How Did It Start?

In high school, my Spanish teacher - Señora Terri Martin - convinced me (although she didn't have to do much convincing) to study abroad in Cuernavaca, Mexico for a couples months during the summer and it was an incredible experience. I lived with a Mexican family who spoke no English and I went to school at la Universidad Internacional (UNINTER) every day.

It was life-changing. So after that, I was bs-ing with an administrator of my high school and she suggested that I learn Mandarin Chinese. I told her I wanted to go into international business and she said the top three languages for global business are English (check), Spanish (half-check), and Mandarin (no check). This intrigued me, and I decided that I wanted to learn Mandarin as well. So here I am, figuring out my college career, and my major is International Studies. With this major, I'm required to go abroad - I've already done that in a Spanish-speaking country, so it might as well be time that I pursue that whole 'Mandarin learning' thing. Most students 'study' abroad, but I figured 'interning' abroad would offer a much more well-rounded and beneficial cultural experience rather than just going to class every day. My only option was to go abroad during the summer, but Albion College doesn't have too much to offer students who want to do internships in China over the summer, so I researched. And here's what I found...

Next Step Connections - The Professional Internship Program Connecting You With the World.

It's an organization dedicated to helping students find internships in China: Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong. You pick how long you want to be there and what type of company you want to work for. They guarantee you an internship placement in your selected field (mine was entrepreneurship), and they provide Mandarin lessons for you. Obviously it costs some $$, but it's well worth it. The application process is easy, and hopefully, the experience will be one that will stick with me forever.

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PMM