The Opportunity in China

First of all, I like to recall how the opportunity to come to China began. It is all about doing the internship abroad. IAESTE was one of the options for acquiring an internship, although it was not guaranteed. They called me one day and said that there is an offer to Australia, but then it turned out that UAE resident students cannot take this offer because they had to stay in Australia for more than 6 months, which means my UAE residency will expire and I would not be able to get back. At that time there was not any other offer than the Australian and I thought that IAESTE is no longer an option.  Until few days later, Ms. Rana calls me from IAESTE and eagerly offers me an opportunity in China and said that this was the only available. The first impression was “why China? I want Australia, Europe, USA, Canada…simply a western modern country to enjoy and gain experience from.” But surely I could not say no to the only offer that allows me to travel abroad although, initially, I was not feeling enthusiastic about it. When I gave out the yes to China, I had to give a no to Petrofac’s offer in Sharjah that would have possibly guaranteed me a full-time job after I graduate. This is because I thought, and others have also advised especially Ali my brother, that traveling abroad would be a more fulfilling and rewarding experience than staying in the same place that I have always been; that going to a new part of the world will widen my scope of experience in life and would actually open up more chances when I get back to UAE.

At that time, I had perceived China to be an East Asian country seeking development, a country from which all the world imports its Chinese “cheap” products. As a word itself, “cheap” actually primed in my subconscious mind that China as a country would also be characterized as such - cheap. Eventually, after reading and actually coming here, I realized that China turned out to be utilizing the word “cheap” to be able to develop itself to the highest standards, when many other countries still do not even think of being productive.

I do not want to make the first post longer so it would not get boring from the beginning! But soon I will keep on sharing all about what makes China’s experience unique. There are a lot of positives and yet many negatives, but in the end, it all includes priceless, interesting and joyful experiences  that one can only obtain by gaining real-life exposure to the country that is expected to be the world’s largest and strongest economy in the coming few decades.