MY TIME IN HONG KONG AND SHENZHEN
2018-10-26
Already back in Germany I can look back to a time full of experiences and impressions I got during my internship in Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
Of course my family and friends asked me a lot about my trip to China: How was it? What was your experience? Did you like it? What was your highlight…? These questions are very hard to answer in only one sentence. Where should I begin and where should I end? It’s a fact that it is not possible to describe all the various impressions I got, the feelings I had and the pictures I’ve taken. But for sure it was the biggest journey of my life.
When I started my trip on 22nd of September at Frankfurt Airport (Germany) I was really nervous and did not know how the following 4 ½ month will be. A totally different culture with another way of living, a language – totally unknown to me, new behaviours and attitudes and another kind of cuisine were waiting for me.
Coming to Hong Kong and China for the first time I needed some time to get used to this new environment. The first week of my trip I spent in Hong Kong waiting for my Visa to China. Though I was jet-lagged at the beginning I went around Hong Kong and took a look at the top attractions of the city. My first impression was: many people, very high skyscrapers and luminous advertising everywhere you look. The picture I will never forget was the view from the Peak over the skyline – this was stunning. I’ve never seen so many skyscrapers like this before. I think I spent more than 3 hours there just watching the skyline and taking a lot of picture to catch the moment.
On the 29th of September my Visa was ready and so I was able to move to my apartment in Shenzhen. Together with the other intern Lena I lived in Xili directly across the company.
Before I started my internship I had another week of holiday to get used to the new situation, which was not very easy at the beginning. Life in the streets of Xili is not with what you are familiar with when you come from Germany. But I got used to it after a few weeks.
Together with Lena I did a lot of daytrips on the weekends around Shenzhen, Macau and also Hong Kong.
Another highlight was the ZAMA company games. I really enjoyed participating that event- not only because Winnie and I came second in the 3leg running contest ;) It was nice to see so many Zama employees competing against each other and laughing together.
In the office I worked in the Finance and Controlling department together with Mary, Tony and their teams. Also one or the other language barrier couldn’t stop both sides to try to make their points clear. So I was able to finish my project – creating a Finance related SAP handbook – in time.
While my roommate Lena finished her internship and went back to Germany for Christmas I moved to Hong Kong in the middle of December. I spent the second half of my internship in the Finance and SD department there. Lisa, Christine and their teams gave me a look into their departments and responsibilities.
Compared to Xili life in Hong Kong was much easier for me. During my time there I lived in an apartment, which was located nearly midway between the Company in Tai Po and the city centre of Hong Kong. Close to the MTR this location was a good starting point for all tourist spots, while the area itself was very clean and nice. Supermarkets, Shops and Restaurants were very close. On the weekends I took the chance to discover Hong Kong with its outlying islands, beaches, fisherman villages and parks. Compared to the heart of Hong Kong, where it could be very hectic, stressful and busy – especially in rush hour - these places gave me the possibility to escape to a calmer and greener environment.
But of course I also spent a lot of time at the typical sightseeing spots, like Victoria Harbour, the Tram, TST promenade, bank district, Soho, HK Disneyland, a lot of temples …. And don’t forget about all these markets! After a lot of practising I was becoming successful in negotiating the prices with the seller. And so I bought the one and other souvenir for my friends and family in Germany.
All in all there where a lot of things to see and to do in and around Hong Kong. But, what impressed me the most were the differences: The differences between western culture and Chinese culture; the difference between old and new and also rich and poor. The first picture that springs into your mind is the cityscape with all these finance centres, high skyscrapers and big shopping malls – by the way the biggest ones I‘ve seen so far. But on the other side you have historical buildings, old Chinese medicine shops, fishing villages and many places with deeply spiritual nature.
One big challenge for me was the food: Though I really tried most of the Chinese and Cantonese food, which was offered to me, I have to say that this was often a dare since the taste and style of the food is totally different to what I normally like to eat in Germany.
So there are a lot of different pictures in my photo album. Each telling another story!
At the end of my internship in January 2015 I returned to Xili together with my German friend, who visited me for 10 days, to participate the annual ZAMA dinner. We really enjoyed this evening. We have seen great shows and performances on the stage. It was nice to see that nearly the whole company is coming together celebrating this evening.
On the 6th of February I finally left HK to fly back to Germany. I couldn’t wait to see my friends and family. But looking back to my time in China and HK I can say: Though there were many challenges and new impressions during the last 4 ½ month I am really happy that I had the chance to do this! I will never forget my time in Hong Kong and China, where I met many nice people, been to a lot of beautiful places and got to know a totally different kind of culture.
At the end I would like to take the chance to say thank you to everyone at ZAMA, who not only gave me the possibility to get a look into their daily work and processes, but also extended a warm welcome to me. It was very nice to meet you and a pleasure to work with you!
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