This summer, I and a few other classmates from my college went to Shanghai for various internships. It was a great group, and we became closer to one another as we experienced Shanghai together. For my internship, I worked with a public relations and communications start-up, located at a WeWork facility. Being in a WeWork space was one of my favorite parts of the internship because it’s an environment where so many different start-ups are working on tons of interesting projects all in the same building. I helped write press releases, attend conferences, and edit articles. Shanghai is something special. It’s so busy and beautiful. I met many local and international friends, and I realized how easy it is to do so.

Chinese food is my favorite and in Shanghai, I was not disappointed by meals! Consider this program even if you don’t know any Chinese. In Shanghai, I got by from only knowing English because many people were bilingual and some public spaces had English translated signs. But still try to learn some basic Mandarin, as even a little bit can go a long way. Overall, I left knowing a lot more about PR, international start-ups, Chinese culture, and independent travel than I did before. This experience even convinced me to consider earning a Master’s degree abroad. Many thanks to Connect-123 for the support along the way. I especially enjoyed our many group dinners and excursion to explore Nanjing!