t undergraduates my first thought when it came to summer time was "right...what am I actually going to do for the next three / four months?" Whilst the option of gruelling, frankly heroic, 12 hour Call of Duty seshs immediately sprang to mind I realised that I had to do something at least vaguely productive; its an uneasy time for a second year undergraduate, particularly when your're without the obvious career path available to engineers, mathematicians or...sociologists (joke). 
I had always wanted to go to China, and so with the obvious furore surrounding the country's economic "rise", I felt that an internship there would be the perfect compromise, whereby I could experience different
After a few days my internship began and the work was very rewarding, focusing on marketing to British Universities and increasing exposure in the country as a whole. I felt like one of the team straight away and that I was making a real contribution, with my internship company entrusting me to be independent and proactive, as opposed to the overly structured "bus tour" approach of other organisations. There was also the option of personalised Mandarin classes and even the opportunity to stay with a Chinese family, but for me that was too big a step really so I just stuck with a shared apartment whicht was a great laugh. Many 600ml bottles of Qingdao's famous Tsingtao lager were consumed there, nearly bankrupting me and my German flatmate...at 2,5 Yuan at time. Everybody is around the same age and mindset so there's a brilliant social life, the interns regularly meet up for meals and other events and it's so easy to make new friends from all over the world.
As a candidate for a degree in Economics and minor studies in Business Studies and Chinese Language, the desire to come to China seemed almost innate to me. Similar to others who have been a part of Intern China, I also wanted to see what China has to offer, especially as its global influence (whether it is political, economic, or cultural) has grown in previous years. I chose Intern China because, in comparison to university student exchange programs and summer programs that mostly take place in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, Qingdao really provides those attracted to China with a much more intimate approach to Chinese culture.
Living in Qingdao, a lively city with beautiful beaches considered small by Chinese standards (with 8 million inhabitants!), was definitely the opportunity of a lifetime. While Qingdao may not be as internationally known and recognized as cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, this previously German-occupied city definitely does not lag behind in terms of culture and history. The road along the coast that starts from the city’s historic European center until reaching the mountains of Laoshan is a clear example of why Qingdao is referred to as “China’s Most Livable City.” Furthermore, the presence of global corporations such as Haier Group and Tsingtao Brewery in the city are a sign that Qingdao’s economic impact in China is increasing. All of these demonstrate that a second-tier city such as Qingdao has much to offer anyone who views China as either an economic, cultural, or tourist destination.
Choosing to fully immerse myself into Chinese culture by opting to live with a host family was definitely the right decision. As someone for whom this was the first time coming to China and Asia, living with a host family was the ultimate challenge. There were many instances in which understanding and analyzing the cultural differences was quite difficult. Nevertheless, the experience was quite rewarding in the end, since it provided me with a special insight into the daily life of a Chinese family. Most importantly, the relationship with my host family became similar to that which I experienced back home with my real family. In other words, I was able to partake and become a member of a Chinese family through simple activities such as: shopping for groceries, going on weekend vacations to the family’s hometown, making dumplings, and watching Chinese television shows. As someone who is mostly interested in Chinese culture, however, the lessons learned concerning guanxi (trust me, it’s more complicated than it seems), Chinese family gatherings, and Chinese society in general were by far the most valuable skills learned during my stay.
While in Qingdao, I also had the opportunity of working as a legal intern at a very large state-owned enterprise. This experience was also very rewarding since learning the Chinese working culture was one of my goals during my stay in China. This was a very unique learning experience because it allowed me to analyze firsthand the way in which Chinese companies are structured. To be specific, the strict hierarchy of Chinese companies and the assigned roles of the employees became evident during my two and a half stay in Qingdao. The relationship with my coworkers, Chinese and foreigners alike, was not only limited to the time I spent at the office, however. I was invited to a few traditional roundtable Chinese dinners during my internship (another feature of Chinese culture that has a unique set of rules. Trust me, my first dinner was quite embarrassing!) Overall, the friendships made during my experience at the state-owned enterprise became very valuable attributes of my stay in Qingdao.
Overall, I highly recommend other people who are interested in Chinese culture and the work culture to highly consider going to Qingdao through Intern China. In addition to learning about the work culture and daily lives of Chinese citizens (and hopefully improving their Chinese language proficiency), they will make friendships and connections that are sure to last for years after they have been in China.
Traveling to China has been my dream for some years. I planned to earn some money in Germany this summer vacation, but than I met a great person and changed my mind. Do not waste your time, go your way NOW. So an internship in a foreign country where maybe nobody speaks English sounds like stress, and yes, the first few days in Asia were not easy. Looking for cash when you did not prepare your finance affairs properly, finding the address of any place when you do not have a map, or just eating in a Chinese restaurant can be challenging.
It is 4 weeks now that I have been living in Qingdao and I am very happy about the having chosen Intern China for organizing this trip. It was difficult for me to find an internship in China where I can improve both my English as well as my Chinese skills. With Intern China's help it was no problem at all. I was quite enthusiastic about the possible at all. I was quite enthusiastic about the possibility of staying with a host family as well.
a Chinese trading company in Qingdao for then weeks in the summer of 2011, and stayed with two different host families during that time. I decided to do an internship and a homestay in China and Qingdao primarily to improve my spoken Chinese, and it turned out really well. Qingdao is a great city with really friendly people, faily clean air and dcent weather, and I've come to like it much more than both Shanghai and Beijing. As people are kinder here and there are less foreigners around, it's a great place for practicing your spoken Chinese.
When I arrived back in Germany 2009 after I have spent a long time in South Africa, I started my studies of International Business Economics at the Martin-Luther-University in Halle. Being tired of 4 semesters of theory, I decided to do an internship in East-Asia. With the help of Intern China I got an interesting position in a Sino-German consulting company in Qingdao, a city in the east of China. Since Chinese bureaucracy is far more difficult than our German, for example when foreigners have to register in the local police office, an agency is very helpful. Especially, if your Chinese skills are not that good. Moreover you can avoid a lot of complications with renting an apartment or applying for a visa.
For many reasons China is an exciting destination for me: The impressive economic boom, with all its pros and cons, holds a lot to learn for my studies. I am very interested in how this frequently discussed topic affects the life of the people. Furthermore, there have always been many critics accusing China of an anti-democratic position. But so far there have been too little people making their way to Far East and those like me who have, experience a cosmopolitan, culturally rich country with people you can discuss political topics with and that live the normal life we are used to.
I have already lived and studied in the U.S. and South Africa and compared to these countries, I can’t see too many differences here in China. Except some daily things which make life in China so interesting: like the food which is incredibly manifold. Sometimes it is hard to decide between the various dishes of which I often have never heard before. Foreigners are a sensation here, even in big cities like Qingdao, with its 8.5 Mio inhabitants. Especially when there are a few of us together, it often happens that people stop to look at us, take photos or simply because they are curious about where we are from and what we are doing in China
Who wants to explore a totally different and exotic culture with only a low budget, should try China. There is hardly any other place where you can experience so many new things, keep up a western life-style and only need a little money for daily life. Compared to western prices, life in China offers many possibilities: for example a bus ride is around 0,10 Euro, going by taxi around 1-2 Euro, you can get a meal for 1 Euro and internet for your apartment for 11 Euro per month. You can see, China is perfect especially for students.
I can only advice everybody, no matter which major, to explore China. You can really feel the restart in the country, experience many adventures, and enrich your studies with an internship without spending too much money.
They spoke no English which was difficult in the beginning but very beneficial for my own Chinese, they patiently listened to my statements and explanations (which were sometimes more sign language then sentences), they gave me good insight into Chinese life, society and especially food (which was very delicious) and really made me feel at home from day one.
my actual profession but particularly about the Chinese business environment and things like negotiating or the importance of connections (never thought guanxi would really be that important). InternChina not only handled all organisational issues in a professional way that exceeded my expectations by far, they also managed to get most of the interns together on a regular basis. Apart from the host family, the people working at InternChina together with the other interns became my second family for my time in China (and I'm not the only one who said that). And the social life with the people I met there was truly fantastic, something I have never experienced before. We were able to take part in real Chinese business dinners, went to night markets, spent some nice evenings together but also went hiking to Laoshan, had a BBQ at the beach, played beach volleyball or visited sights in Qingdao.
During the placement I was working in the Marketing department and was responsible for attracting new customers to the company. As I study international business management I already knew some techniques for marketing and the placement was the perfect opportunity for me to put my knowledge into practice. My idea was to make contact with foreign companies in Qingdao and visit them in order to pursue direct-marketing, which led me to present the company along with my Chinese colleagues to several firms in Qingdao. I also contacted the English-language schools in Qingdao and gained sales through this, as well as establishing cooperation with regard health insurance.
2 years ago I had the idea to come to China to write my essay for y master degree. So I started to look how I could manage this experience, where I could go in China (because it’s a kind of a big country…) what I can do as an internship that could fit with my essay’s topic.
As a French International Business student, to do my internship in China was a challenge! I was expecting something very different and special, and I had a very, very good experience in Qingdao! The first steps could have been difficult but Interchina's staff was there to take care of us. I chose to live in my own apartment, with another French student, and it was really cool! The city is a good size and you can find almost anything there, the living costs are quite low. My time in internship was very interesting, and very different from what I was expecting! Still, the people are very nice, and there is a very helpful foreigners community, so much that you won't feel all alone at anytime. Internchina organizes many round-tables, in order to make you meet some new faces! Don't hesitate to bring your Chinese friends there, it's the best way to share! Don't forget to spend some time at the LPG bar, best place ever!
Starting May this year, I undertook a 6 month internship in Qingdao , China. I came to this internship through "InternChina" in Qingdao. Because of my deep interest in the Chinese culture, language and everything associated with China, I chose the “Home Stay” program. I was living in a family with 3 members (Father, Mother, Daughter) in a very modern and western, well appointed apartment. Having a room of my own, I could have time for myself, but I find it more interesting to get an insight in the daily life of an average Chinese family by having dinner with them and going on excursions. Naturally you have to adapt to some seemingly odd Chinese habits, but I think this is completely normal when visiting a foreign country. As the saying goes: “When in Rome do as the Romans do!”
Every now and then, my host family mother takes me with her to her office. There I had the opportunity to get to know even more Chinese people from various social classes. Furthermore, Qingdao offers a wide variety of attractions and historic sites, which you can visit during your free time. Qingdao is located very conveniently, having the sea, the mountains, a metropolis and the historic German center, a relic from the German occupation, all in the same place.
Hey, my name is Simon and I did an internship in the Internchina office in Qingdao for five months and then for another month in the Zhuhai office. For my university I had to do a placement, either in Germany or abroad, and because China was always a country I wanted to visit, I thought why not now?? So I was departing from Germany, had a terrible flight and arrived really tired in Qingdao.I was picked up by the Internchina team, got on the cramped bus, was driven recklessly through Qingdao (when there are three lanes for cars,
you can be sure, there are five cars driving alongside each other).
About Qingdao: Great city! I loved the first 3 months, because of the weather. You could go to the beach every day (at the weekends) and we had a great time there, playing volleyball, going swimming and playing Frisbee.? But even in the winter months (which I tried to spend in the south) were most of the time sunny, so no real winter depression, like in Germany, could occur. For Qingdao being situated between Beijing (great cultural city) and Shanghai (party!!!), it is a good place for some travelling. Zhuhai: Always warm, always nice to stay outside. A bit smaller than Qingdao but great for trips to the Pearl River cities, Macao or Hong Kong. I only stayed there for a little bit less than one month, but it was also a great time (but I think for the most part because of the people there). 
I stayed in a Chinese family in Qingdao which gave me the chance and opportunity to have an overview about the Chinese culture and their everyday life. 
Besides the wonderful and delicious Chinese cooking I got the chance to participate in their everyday habits and to learn about the relationships between them.
My initial worries when I arrived in Qingdao were: What was I doing here in China? Will I survive here (not physically) - that wasn’t a concern- but mentally would I be able to stay stable? Will I learn the language enough to get by day-to-day? I really didn’t know what was in store for me. On our first day Jamie showed us the map of the city, talked us through some of the daily in Qingdao and answered our questions. From then on it was a rollercoaster of experiences which I will never forget!
If you want to learn Chinese, going to China obviously is the best choice. There are several opportunities and offers of language courses all over China, at universities or private language schools, with a long tradition of teaching foreigners. Since I already participated in a 4-week language course at a Chinese university the year before, I was looking for something new; maybe even better than what I had before.
The language course provided me with the vocabulary I needed for everyday life and was very intensive, since I had one-to-one tuition most of the time. Originally I only did the internship kind of in an addition to the language course and because it was allowable at my university. I would never have expected to be integrated that much and fast. After only one week I could consider myself a full-scale coworker. My colleagues were the kindest people I could imagine and I really enjoyed my time there. Now, back in Germany I often miss the chatting with my colleagues and boss.
Hi my name is Andi. 
I visited Qingdao with “Intern China” for 9 weeks. To get the feeling of what the life in China is like, I decided to live with a host family. This was a great experience!
Told by some friends of mine I heard about the chance of doing an internship in Qingdao/China including a language course offered by the international business exchange center in Qingdao in 2006. 
Landed in Qingdao I was welcomed by my host family and even though I just studied three months of Chinese our communications went out well. Communicating by my 13 year old host brother, whose English was not perfect but enough to communicate all the necessary things. In the next couple of days I just acclimatized very well according to the different time, working surrounding and of course the Chinese food.
As a part of my job training as a foreign language correspondence clerk I have to complete a four-month internship abroad. It didn't take me much time for my decision to go to China. Mine was offered the maximum competence by InternChina and the contact with Frank Lenhardt and his staff was really friendly and helpful. In spite of all the potential problems that could have arisen, everything was going fine - at least what Frank could already manage in China regarding my guest family and the internship company. Just getting the visa was a little bit complicated due to all the inconsistent information I received from the different consulate, embassies and travel agencies. 
China. I started from Dresden to Munich and afterwards via Beijing to Qingdao. The flight was passing by without any problems and at Qingdao airport I was welcomed very kindly by one InternChina employee (Duan Yifan). We took a bus downtown together and I got my welcome packet with a lot of useful stuff inside, such as a mobile phone card, a city map, a dictionary, addresses and some more information material. Later on we went to the office of my guest mother, Shan Jie. A friendly and sometimes a little hyper person, but altogether very nice. Even though I had a jetlag, she took me directly to a restaurant where we met some business partners from Jakarta which also have been very friendly and I already learned my first Chinese lesson: "Ganbei"!
My name is Sonja and I did an internship and homestay in Zhuhai. I was really lucky to have had such a good experience with my host family and especially with my host company. My host parents were really nice. For example Shirley always gave me new things to eat and I think there was nothing which was too much trouble if I had particular requests.
