Daniel in China

Daniel enjoyed his stay in China very much, he made new professional as well as friendly relationships, he got to explore China, and even learnt some Chinese.

He is an architect, and his host company was the Atelier Liu Yuyang Architects in Shanghai. He stayed in Shanghai from the 9^th July to 5^th September 2018.

He really enjoyed working for the company, as even though there were not that many people from Europe, lots of the Chinese workers there had studied abroad, and overseas, meaning that lots of them could speak English, and knew European ways of doing things. He “got a chance to work on several different projects, have a better understanding of how an architecture office in china works, and learn things he probably would not have been able to in a better way.” As he reports. Daniel loved how much he was able to help so much in the Chinese architect office. He was able to work on a new project based in Beijing and as part of the initial survey, he was sent to the site to conduct several analyses, and then continued working on these analysis at the office in Shanghai. Another project he took part in was an exhibition in which his office will be showcasing and object. He followed this project from the concept phase all the way to the construction drawings, and the object is now being realized. The last project he took part in was helping in a competition Daniel’s office was taking part in, he did drawings, analysis and worked on presentation material.

As an intern in the firm, Daniel was also able to fulfil general tasks related to every day office life and follow staff professional training and workshops.

Daniel lived in an apartment together with some other internship people, who he got to know better and better throughout his internship, and eventually became very good friends with them. He especially enjoyed how the people who he lived with were in China for almost the same reasons as him, and doing almost the same thing as him, this made it easier to talk to each other at times, Daniel thought.

Also, Daniel loved how integrated he was. He went to school in Shanghai, where he took part in lots of great activities. These activities were the perfect opportunity to meet new people, who could help him find his way in China throughout his internship. He also, of course, learnt Chinese.

Probably the most exciting part for Daniel was that he received the scholarship, which even made his stay in China possible. He says “Everything went really smooth and in a very short time due to the tight schedule before my departure”.

Daniel generally really enjoyed his internship and feels that he gained a lot from the time he spent in Shanghai. He got chances to experience at first-hand what it means to be an architect in China. He also got to experience life in a completely different environment and culture. Daniel reports that he also “got a chance to learn some basic Chinese”, and that the whole internship made him even more curious about the Chinese language as well as culture, almost wanting him to go back to China some time again.