He Wentao , Internship Company: Tomas Swan Co.
 

I took part in the internship to gain some experience of working and living abroad. The experience was great and over my expectations.

I didn't expect myself to have the chance working for a real company, Thomas Swan, a modern chemical company with the strategy of sustainability. My groupmates and I worked very hard for the company’s new project.

I’ve experienced both fun and challenges. Life in the UK can be very different. Everyone was nice and they lived a comfortable life with no worries and spirits of choosing lifestyles freely. The dorm was perfect. But the weather was really cold. We felt cold every day. But we didn’t want to buy too many clothes since it was hard to bring them back. Food was a problem. British food did live up to its fame as the Dark Dishes.

As for the internship, people varied in ways of thinking and ways of working in my project group. Two Colombia girls came from Boston University. One boy was from Bulgaria and one was from Cambridge. While it was difficult to integrate the differences, it was beneficial to communicate and learn from each other. It is true that even if one can speak in English, but to communicate in English is still challenging. It took me more than one week to actually get rid of this problem.

GEO, XMU business school and Newcastle Business School organized the internship and was helpful in getting us know about the internship, the city and also building connections with the other interns.

Here are some tips and suggestions for people preparing to take part in the intership:

Practice English before coming here and improve communicating skills.

Keep open-minded and be positive to all difficulties.

Do your best, use the skills and knowledge you have learned.

Keep learning and save time to enjoy the local life.

Check the temperature and bring enough clothes.

Bring enough money :)


Chen Yiqing,  Internship Company: Federation of Small Businesses

Working with students from a different university, especially from a different country and culture, was an amazing and valuable experience for me, and I would never forget it. It was really a challenge for me in the beginning, but just like the motto of the Business School, “challenge today, change tomorrow”, I always believe it is worthwhile even the process may be a little hard or difficult.

I think the biggest cultural differences were the ways how we thought, worked and managed our time.

In the beginning, I was too shy to speak during the meeting, which made me very frustrated and stressed. And I realized that I had to conquer this problem because if I just kept silent during the discussion, then it didn’t make any sense. So, how to communicate with my teammates in the first week effectively has been the biggest challenge for me.

I think the Business School staff helped me a lot. For example, they asked someone picking me up from the airport when I came to the Newcastle. Also they prepare some activities like ice break and show us around the city on the first day. I think what they did to us was very helpful. Thank you for their help!

I learnt some skills like communication skill, time management skill and writing skill.

This experience means a lot to me. It is definitely valuable. I made a lot of friends from different countries and learnt how to deal with cultural difference. I also traveled and explored around the UK. It is really an unforgettable experience.

To sum up, it was an unforgettable internship experience! It was hard to say goodbye to each of my colleagues when it finished. During the internship, I learnt a lot of things. I learnt how to communicate with people from the different universities better, and also how to deal with some cultural differences, like we had the totally different way to work, organize our report and manage our plans and time. But it was exactly the reason why I treasured this internship a lot. I would never forget these three weeks and also the amazing UK!


Fu Yi,  Internship Company: Federation of Small Businesses
 

It was the best time being abroad, not only was the working part so great, but also I enjoyed so much the lifestyle in Newcastle.

Newcastle is a lovely city I could easily fall in love with, people are really friendly and nice, they always surprise me. The city is not that big, but it has everything for daily life you may need. Especially for Chinese, there is a China town just 5 minutes by walking from Business school, you can buy Lao Gan Ma, instant noodles, dumplings, rice, etc. So I didn't get too much homesick.

The Business school staffs are also nice and helpful, the whole crew prepared plenty of valuable things, such as working with Campus North staff and Open data manager, showing us how a chemical company works and best presentation of leadership. It is quite a lot you can experience and learn, get yourself mentally prepared and also being curious all the time.

It has been the best internship in my life ever, I learned various valuable things, especially during the presentation of leadership in Piramal, it gave me a clear definition of leadership and taught us the way to gain this ability. I also learned how to cooperate with different people who have different characteristics. For the academic part, it was tough as beginning, I was frustrated in the first week, because I read a huge amount of articles and papers day and night but still did not find the useful info I need for this report. However, with more I read, thought and communicated with my team members, I understand. My team and I sorted it out eventually and finished it on time.

I really appreciate those opportunities I had in Newcastle in the past three weeks. I hope next year interns will also enjoy so much as I do. And here are some advices for you:

1 Try your best and don't be shy of asking.

2 Be responsible for what you are doing.

3 Be open-minded.

4 Be brave to try things you never done before.

5 Experience and explore more.

 

This summer holiday, I joined the project to do some research in Newcastle with some international students in Newcastle for Federation of Small Business. From this internship abroad, I learned a lot. First of all, I really experienced the difference between the eastern and western countries. We have different life style, different timetable, different thinking model and of course, different languages. Although there are many difficulties, all of us cooperate and communicate with each other very well. Besides, I also experienced different culture in UK. We visited many interesting places in many cities in our free time, such as London, Cambridge and Edinburgh. We appreciate different building style, different views and different people there. Last but not least, I really improved myself a lot during this trip. Frankly speaking, I realized my improvement in oral English speaking. The project benefits me a lot. And I really appreciate and recommend it!