Last Week in China

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Leadership in my internship

This past week, we decorated the office where I intern and played Christmas music nonstop. I look forward to going into work because I get to work alongside a group of people who have seem to have become my family while in China. I have been given low- and medium-level importance tasks throughout this semester. My final project that I was assigned to was large and important. They put me in charge of a project and expected leadership from me.

Thankfully, I delivered that project and showed how committed I am and have been throughout the entire semester. I am very thankful to them for giving me such an amazing opportunity to be their intern. When I presented my final project results they were very impressed and slightly surprised at how I found a person who fit so well into our group. The results of my project will be used for many more years. I have learned so much from my internship and am very thankful for the experience.

Finals Week at ECNU

I have been working on my final papers for the past month; I am now ahead in all of my classes. As a result, I was able to go to Disney on my last weekend. I loved seeing the whole area dressed up with Christmas lights and decorations. My roommate and I did not actually enter Disney World park, we visited the area outside of the park which is free, and has many shops. There was even a Cheese Cake Factory. It has been getting pretty cold here in Shanghai. It is weird to think that last week it was still in the 70โ€™s. This week the temperature dropped into the 40โ€™s and the weather apps showed that it was going to rain for 5 days straight, which it did. There was even talk about snow.

Going Home

I am looking forward to going home but I know I am going to miss being in China. Especially being in a large city where everything is at your fingertips. I am getting a little bit nervous for my flight home because of the snow. I have a layover in Canada and am expecting I will need to role with the flow if any bumps in the road come up. I think I am now underestimating how long it will take me to pack everything. I also think I underestimated how much I bought throughout this semesterโ€ฆwhoops!

I am excited to get back home to my best friends and family. I have a lot of admiration for anyone who can move to another country for their job. I loved living in China for four months, but I think next time I come back, it will be for a shorter period of time. However, over this time I have learned so much about Chinese culture. It is incredibly interesting to learn another countryโ€™s culture. I canโ€™t wait to decide where I want to travel to next.

Elise Hanks-Witaszek

*CAPA The Global Education Network Scholarship <i>Hello in your host country language</i>: Ni Hao <i> University</i>: Lebanon Valley College <i>Expected graduation year</i>: 2020 <i>Destination</i>: Shanghai, China <i>Program Provider</i>: CAPA The Global Education Network <i>Major / Minor</i>: Actuarial Science and Analytical Finance <i>Language of Study</i>: Mandarin Chinese <i>Demographic background</i>: First-generation <i>Future career aspirations</i>: Actuary <i>Top 3 goals for study abroad</i>: To learn how to adapt to a new culture; To gain global knowledge; To learn as much as I can from my 20 hour weekly internship.