Acceptance for a Summer Internship in Zhuhai, China: Pre-departure.

“We are pleased to inform you that your application for an internship in China, has been successful.” These exact words still give me the same feeling as to when I received this email. I am so lost for words. Something like this just never sunk in and still has not. I cannot believe I’m saying this but I have 3 days left to depart the UK and visit Zhuhai, China for 2 whole months!

I am currently so busy preparing for China. There’s lots to prepare for. From getting the necessary vaccinations, shopping for items that I’ll need while there to doing a quick Asda run to get all the snacks I will crave while there (the most important thing of course). It’s all been so hectic but I know for sure it will be so worth it!

For some time now I’ve been saying to myself, family and friends that “I have 2 months to go” or “I have so much time yet before I depart.” In less than 72 hours I will be in a country that is not written down on my ‘destinations to visit’ list. Overwhelming if you ask me.

“It will be a once in a lifetime opportunity.” Opportunity. It’s a word that holds a meaning to me personally. One may go on to do everything in their reach to pursue an opportunity and can face rejection. This is reality. We get an opportunity, we apply for it, attend interviews and are never quite successful. It’s happened to me many times in the past. To a point that I felt like giving up. Why? Because all the doors were shutting and I felt as if I was not capable of getting work experience/a job/vacation scheme. But someone once said that when one door closes, another one opens. This internship is an opportunity that I wholeheartedly applied for and was successful. No one ever said it will be an easy road.

(Quick game of golf with friends before I head to China)

China. It will be so different. Where the West meets the East. The food, the culture, the people. Excited, nervous, happy, anxious and grateful. I’m just feeling a whole load of mixed emotions. Excited because it will be an experience that I have never dreamt of before. To explore a culture, I have only ever seen in the media, to taste the food I only ever eat once in 6 months and people who hold different traditions will be something I am keen on learning about.

(Summer is only official when you have all the necessary travel essentials)

As I have come to the end of my first blog, it has still not sunk in. But when will it? While I’m on that 11-hour flight or possibly when I’m walking the streets of Zhuhai. Despite it all, excited beyond belief and looking forward to eating dumplings for the first time and the local people of China of course stopping to take selfies because why not?