Having completed her A Levels at Wymondham College this summer, Clara headed off to Shanghi as the only student in Norfolk to be awarded an internship in accountants Price Waterhouse Cooper's Shanghai office.
Clara headed out to China two weeks ago to begin a Mandarin Chinese course organised by the British Council whilst she also teaches English to students in our Shanghai partner school, Nanyang High.
Here are Clara's first impressions.....
I’ve landed, it’s actually happened; I’m here for the next seven months! The vastness of Shanghai is hard to comprehend, over my two weeks here so far I have yet to fully discover XuHui District- an area larger than Norwich with a population nearly triple that of Norwich, which only forms a tiny section of Shanghai.
Construction is part of everyday life in Shanghai, you won’t walk down a street without a random obstruction to the footpath or a bus ride without witnessing construction of large scale apartment complexes. Banners and billboards advertising preparation for World EXPO 2010 are everywhere. Nanyang High school is situated across the Huangpu River from the EXPO site, the constant murmur of construction and the resultant dust in my dorm is an inconvenient reality of the speed and scale of Shanghai’s development.
Our sister school is situated away from the bright lights of the business hubs, where high rise apartment blocks still dominate the skyline, but are contrasted with ordinary people carrying out their ordinary lives at a normal pace. The school is considered to be small, with 1000 students spread over 3 years, class sizes of over 40, where everyone is summoned to the classroom at 7am where their lessons will be conducted for the rest of the day. The ring of the bell at 9.15 beckons the whole school to the running track where they carry out strict robotic exercises all in sequence, a sight that is replicated in every Shanghai school. Perhaps it is testament to the order that enables such a large population to function so efficiently.
Shanghai, as I have witnessed so far is like nowhere else on earth, somewhere that one cannot imagine unless being here in person, somewhere that will surprise, shock, enlighten and expose. I am both anxious and excited about the length of my time here, after two weeks I am slowly adjusting, but at the same time I already feel like I am living like a local. I’d like to thank everyone involved for making this happen and people here for being so welcoming. I urge anyone thinking of coming to Shanghai to do so- come see what you make of it!
We will be hearing more from Clara over the coming weeks as she works at Nanyang School and in the New Year, when she takes up a three month placement with PWC for the rest of her very special gap year.
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