Tag: Travel

It’s Been Real Shanghai, Shang-Bye.

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Almost 40 hours of flying, 34 nights slept, four weeks of interning, dozens of memories made, and so many new friendships. Shanghai, I’m so grateful that we got to meet.

An unplanned experience, that I committed to many months ago with little expectation. I didn’t know what to expect from Shanghai nor did I know how to feel about it, but I’m glad that we got to know each other. Never having traveled to Asia, I was unsure of the culture, the people, or the food. To put it bluntly, I basically flew into China blind. I signed up for this trip unsure of my career path, using it as an unexplained method to “find myself”. While I still don’t know what I want to do, I learned so many valuable lessons along the way. Being in a foreign country really forces you to acclimate and figure it out.

While I can’t rave about the food, I can say that Shanghai was an amazing city and experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything.  The city was incredibly clean, safe, and rich in culture. Shanghai itself felt like a bigger and cleaner NYC, besides the fact that I couldn’t understand the people surrounding me. While the city was cleaner, the people were not. The signature ‘sound’ of Shanghai seemed to be the cringe-worthy noise of Chinese residents loudly spitting on the streets. The hygiene of the people definitely was questionable compared to US standards, but they seemed to make up for it with their freshly scrubbed streets and subways. Another thing that I liked in Shanghai, was the security of the Subway systems with mandatory bag scanners, definitely makes you feel safer.

Business wise, Shanghai is a very international city. They have offices for most major international companies, English is found in many places, and you don’t feel isolated as many would expect. There is western food and lots of western people who have moved to Shanghai and do just fine. They are more advanced in the fact that basically nobody carries cash, only bringing their phones to Lunch. They use WeChat and AliPay almost exclusively.

Living and working in a city where you don’t speak the language definitely teaches you to be patient and adaptive, learning how to communicate in ways that aren’t always convenient. It honestly makes you grateful for everyone that does speak English and stops to help, I met so many kind Chinese businessmen who would help me with my lunch or dinner order.

Shanghai, I’m so glad that we got to know each other. Thank you for the memories, the lessons, and my heightened appreciation for American food. I’ll be back one day Shanghai.

Xo,

Haley

Intern Life: The Conclusion

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Having wrapped up my Internship with Interbrand Shanghai this past week, I’ve left with many valuable lessons and takeaways. I would be interested in seeing the differences between Interbrand Shanghai and Interbrand New York. Having never worked on the agency side before, I found I like working on the internal company side a little bit better in this particular case. However, if Interbrand had more fashion clients I think I would have been more engaged. I have found through my Internship experiences that liking the company or clients that you work for is major to your everyday in-office happiness. Going forward, I may focus on finding a branding agency with more fashion-heavy clients.

In regard to working for the Strategy department, I found challenging and beneficial at the same time. I really enjoyed coming up with branding ideas for companies but didn’t enjoy the analytical process once you came up with the branding ideas. I’m not a very analytical thinker, so this proved difficult, using numbers to back up the ideas.

In regard to China-specific internship struggles, I found that language barriers are harder than you may think –  Being in an office with co-workers that didn’t all speak English or spoke limited English proved difficult, especially sitting in meetings for several hours that were fully in Chinese definitely tests your patience, listening skills, and communication skills. While there were other Americans within Interbrand Shanghai, all of them were of Chinese descent and were fluent in Mandarin.  I found over and over throughout my internship that going the extra mile in regard to details is key. Doing a little bit more than asked, especially in regard to research or ideas always paid off.

Overall, my internship at Interbrand Shanghai was a great experience and it was really interesting to see how an international company works in another country and the differences between New York and Shanghai. However, I’ll be happy to get back to an office that I understand the meetings and lunch each day is never a mystery.IMG_9048

Greenery in Shanghai: Gongqing Forest Park

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When looking into weekend activities around Shanghai, we found Gongqing Forest Park on several travel websites as a Shanghai attraction. The thought of a place not filled with smog seems appealing, so we decided to try it out.

Admission was 15 RMB, 7.5 RMB with a student discount. Due to lack of translation, we got into the habit of handing over our student ID’s and seeing if the price got any lower.

The park was filled with trees, playgrounds, food stands, amusement park rides, horseback riding, bike riding, and lots of families. The park also was filled with tents, it is unclear if people camped overnight – most likely to keep the sun away from their fun-filled family days.

We went on a few rides, the flying swings and a water-rollercoaster (which had very dirty water, this was noticed after boarding the ride).

The park was beautiful and had a lot to offer, definitely more than the traditional American park. Totally worth the 7.5 RMB.

Finding a “Beach” in Shanghai: Jinshan City Beach

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Considering we spent the month of June in Shanghai, there was a reoccurring question we found ourselves asking – Where is the beach?????

Well, there was no beach. Or at least not a real one. However, we found the closest thing. Described on TripAdvisor, as “Alright”, Jinshan City Beach is located an hour and a half from Shanghai. With imported sand and a barbed off water-front, it feels like your favorite beach if you close your eyes.

If your a beach expert or grew up on famous beaches like myself – Don’t have high expectations. If your desperate or really need a beach, it will do. It’s definitely a cultural experience. If your western and decide to sunbathe, you will find yourself surrounded by Chinese tourists in Jeans and Turtlenecks staring at the gated water-front. They will also find your sun basking very entertaining, with some guaranteed picture-taking (please note the zoomed-in background of my photo below). It was also interesting to see many brides and grooms with photographers taking their wedding photos in front of the barbed-wire waterfront.

The entrance fee to Jinshan Beach is 20 RMB aka 3.02 USD. Totally worth it for the little bit of sun and to see how Chinese people experience the beach.

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Visiting Zhujiajiao: A Shanghai Water Town

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We heard through the grapevine that Shanghai had a suburban water town called Zhujiajiao that is similar to Venice. Venice? Let’s go.

Welp, it wasn’t exactly Venice, but it was still really fun. We decided to take a car to Zhujiajiao because thanks for Shanghai version of Uber, it was only $20.00 each way (and it was an hour and a half drive). The drive was nice, picturesque, and our driver thought we were really funny.

When we arrived, we had the option to pay 100 RMB for a 10-minute boat ride, which converts to $15.08 per boat. We ate at a restaurant called Peaceland, who had a nice chef from Vermont who kindly took our American requests for cheese on our burger.

Besides that, it is a small town with lots of alley shops, food vendors (selling brain and chicken feet) all centered around the waterways. It’s a fun day trip and you can take the subway there as well.

 

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Intern Life: Update #2

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Internship Update 2:

Slow weeks aren’t always a bad thing. After following a rather hectic week of brand strategy meetings and brainstorming sessions, this week has been slow as we have been waiting on updates from the legal and financial teams so we can move forward with our projects. This has given me time to observe the office environment and notice how other teams work and operate together.

Workplace culture is definitely super different here, with long lunch hours and flexible deadlines – but the work hours are definitely much longer so that time is factored in. Tea is drank like water, with people refilling their cups often and the things eaten for breakfast don’t look anything like ours.

Hopefully I’ll follow up with a more riveting Internship update soon.

Great Times at The Great Wall

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This past weekend a group of us took the bullet train to Beijing on Friday after our internships. It’s important to note that the bullet train was only 4.5 hours and is the 2nd fastest train in the world. Without the train, it would have been a 12.5-hour drive, I think the US should seriously consider adopting bullet trains. Think about it, the drive from New York to Savannah, Georgia is a little over 12 hours, but with a bullet train, it would only be four.

Upon arrival, we stayed in a super cute AirB’n’B that was in a Beijing apartment building, but still had the very traditional attributes of a traditional Chinese home with woven bamboo floors and a strict no shoe policy. We spent the following day traveling to the Great Wall of China, which was the experience of a lifetime for sure.

We booked a tour through Groupon, which included a bus ride to and from the great wall and a tour guide. They promised other things such as visiting the Olympic birds nest, but unfortunately, China has no tipping and no Yelp so there’s nobody to complain to besides each other.

After two hours on the bus, we arrived at the Great Wall and purchased Gondola tickets to bring us up to the wall. We also were greeted with predictable rain, in which the locals very happily sold us ponchos, mine turned out to be a children’s poncho, which is what I get for requesting the one purple one.

After riding the Goldala up in the rain, the wall was great. It soon stopped raining and we climbed and climbed up the stairs while being stopped every 2 minutes for a picture request by other Chinese tourists. Below are some pictures. They don’t tell you that the Wall is a workout, I think I’m still sore. It’s definitely not handicap accessible and lacks some necessary railing, but that’s part of the experience.

Intern Life: Week One

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With week one behind me and week two halfway over, I am fully adjusted to Shanghai as a city and the daily commute to my internship. Interning at Interbrand has been a fulfilling and beneficial experience so far.

I have been working on the launch of familiar brands that are being launched into China with the help of the agency, it has been fun to give my input on how they can seamlessly enter China after doing well in other countries such as the US or Spain. It’s an interesting concept, as foreign brands often lag entering Shanghai due to the restrictions and tariffs, so the concept that they might not have one of your favorite candies is an interesting (and often frustrating) one.

Last week I also attended the public launch of Interbrand’s 2018 Best China Brands at the St. Regis Shanghai, while the entire event was in Mandarin, it was still a great event to experience, plus I’m getting better at understanding content based off facial expressions and tones. After the event, the media followed with a Q&A and everyone mingled with each other.