ImmerQi | China Internship Program in Beijing and Shanghai

I went through Immerqi when I interned in Beijing for 5 months in 2016. They found me a great internship where I felt apart of the team and contributed real work, not busy work that most internships unfortunately hand out. The location of my apartment to my internship and out of work activities was fantastic and made it very easy to explore Beijing. They were always available at any hour of the day when needed and the Immerqi team helps make sure you are settled in. Housing was a little rough as I had to move midway through the 5 months and had a bug infestation at the second apartment, but other than that I have no complaints about my time spent there using Immerqi. I always look back on my time spent there and am excited for my next trip back!

For future participants, make sure that you have information prepared before heading to Beijing, like your phone and getting a Chinese bank account if you are staying there long term. Look up websites to help you find places to go and see so you are already aware of things going on before you get there. At your internship, be apart of your team. Go to lunch with them, hang out outside of work, practice your Chinese with them and let them practice their English with you. To truly understand life in China, you need to befriend Chinese nationals. My coworkers were amazed that I wanted to eat lunch with them when I first started and because of that I was invited to a lot of events that my other foreign friends never got the chance to go to. Be adaptable and open minded, you never know what experiences or invites you will get because of it.

Through ImmerQi, I was able to intern in Shanghai and learn about the worldwide players in the nuclear market, specifically the players in the Chinese nuclear market. The American-run company based in Shanghai that I interned with was in a unique position to provide on-the-ground China support to US clients. It works notably with the US Commercial Service for China’s bi-annual nuclear industry conference which I was able to attend. Seeing the business side of consulting, working for a small company, learning Mandarin, and living in China were all experiences I was able to have.

I can't think of a particular history because my two months of experience were extremely full of discoveries and surprising. Starting from the Eastern culture that is totally different from Western. For me it was like living in a sort of a new world! It was amazing, i've met lots of people from all over the world, i found an incredibly mix of cultures that I loved. For example, It was interesting to see how do chinese behave and approach with a foreigner, it was funny when they asked you for a picture and suddenly you feel like a diva (once I was with my pyjamas in my worst conditions and taking a picture was embarassing), when a taxi driver didn't let me get on the taxi cause i was not chinese and he was afraid of not understanding me, when i spent lots of time inventing a gesture language but it was not enough; it was interesting trying all the chinese food (and even if when i was in SH i was thinking: "i'm done with this food" now i am starting feeling nostalgic about it), learning a bit of chinese was cool. I loved every single day of my experience.
I can say that i've grown both on personal and professional level,
I would do this experience thousands of time.

There are a thousand different things that people say is important when living abroad but to me it comes down to just one, which is to establish a strong core group of friends. I was lucky enough to find my niche in the crowd almost upon my arrival to China. It is important to think of these people you are meeting as your second family with them constantly keeping you preoccupied with daily tasks to the extent that you almost forget that you are thousands of miles (or kilometers) from your friends and family. One of the biggest things I thought I would miss when traveling would be the holiday season. Whether that means a big Unites States Thanksgiving dinner or opening presents Christmas Day (and Hannukah). Fortunately my group of friends helped me celebrate the holidays by having me over to eat a delicious Thanksgiving Dinner with them that almost felt like I was home with my parents. I cooked the green bean casserole while my friends brought over the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and other holiday foods that allowed us to feast for days after. At the time I just thought of it as a meal with some friends to pass the time but looking back I see now a group of friends who, much like me, knew how far they were from their family but felt loved and cared for by the people around them in a way that, for that moment, was the only family you needed.

Dear all,

My internship at The Good Agency Asia consisted of marketing and event management. As a consequence, I took part in lots of events in Shanghai. I went to a pool party with my boss and the members of a financial company we worked for. We were in a house with a swimming pool and a barbecue and there we drank tequila, we ate hamburgers and we sang karaoke. Then I took part in two press conferences about two NGOs my company worked for: I had to be elegant, with a black dress, I took pictures, I helped my boss in the organization of the location and I met and spoke with a lot of important Shanghai's people. Another event I organized and I took part in consisted in the promotion of an NGO for which my collegue and me had to collect funds. The promotion was divided in two Saturdays: the first Saturday we worked 14 hours because we were at the so-called "Spotlight rythm and trend festival" which lasted untill 2am; the second Saturday we were at Mayita, a Mexican Restaurant on a rooftop in Shanghai, where we had fun, we drank beer and we met new people. Finally, we organized a private dinner to promote a brand company. This event was in our office: there was a barman, sushi, a photographer with a Polaroid and a deejay. In addition, for this company I worked as a model, so a photographer took pictures of me while wearing their bags.

These are few stories about my months in Shanghai, but they are enough to understand that I worked a lot and I had fun at the same time.

Laura

I absolutely loved my experience here in Beijing! I worked in a investment/merchant bank and I had the possibility to "touch with my hands" the chinese business World. I made reports used by my boss in official negotiations, I attended meetings with senior investment bankers, I became familiar with financial models and I understood what really means to create a joint venture.
Beijing is a pretty cool city (in my opinion, it's better than Shanghai!): it offers every kind of service and, if you want, you can find easily western shops and restaurant. Life there is so good and so cheap, everything is affordable. I knew a lot of people from every side of the world there! It's simply amazing to have a such great group of people during the intership program.
The service offered by ImmerQi was simply perfect: very good accomodation, excellent help to impact a new culture and a very good organization about my internship. ImmerQi staff gave us the possibility to attend many events, from networking events (through one of ImmerQi chinese contacts, I was invited to travel to Tianjin to visit a local car factory together with Swiss and German offials) to cultural trips (like Great Wall and Summer Palace) and sportive days (I really enjoyed "rockclimbing day"!). ImmerQi people were always nice with me and a lot of time we went out together for a dinner or simply a drink after work: they were (and are) more friends than managers!
In the end, I suggest to everyone to join this program and these wonderful people! It will be an experiece you could not forget!

I got a lot out of my experience in Shanghai. I was lucky enough to work for the World's largest marketing company (albeit, it was in their shanghai office). I met great people. I discovered great activities!

I originally came to do an internship in Beijing for 2 months in an international hospital. My host company placement was very accommodating. The doctor I shadowed gave me a great learning experience and the general work environment was better than I ever expected it to be. It took a few weeks of trying to figure out my role in the hospital, but I was able to settle in and play a main part in revising policies, attending policy meetings, and preparing the hospital for international accreditation. It was a project I'm proud to have been a part of, so much that when my doctor asked me to extend my stay to help out further, I ended up staying a few weeks beyond my internship program.
Daily life in China is a fast-paced city lifestyle and sometimes it's hard to keep up with all the people here. But it was much easier with the help of the ImmerQi staff. They are extremely friendly, outgoing people who will take care of you from the start. Never hesitate if you want to ask them questions about living in China. My first couple weeks was a bit daunting, as I didn't really know anyone and my roommates weren't very social, but getting out and exploring the social scene is the best way to get to know people, and my experience of China became so much more enjoyable after I made a few close friends.