Welcome to my website! On this website you can read about my adventures during my internship in Shanghai, China.

When?

My internship starts at the 20th of January 2006 and ends the 30th of April 2006.

How did you end up in China?

I have started searching for an internship in 2005 . An internship is an obligatory part of my study (master Mechanical Engineering at the University of Twente) I entered the Vulcanus program (internship program in Japan) and was selected in the 1st round. Unfortunately I was not selected in the 2nd round , so I had to look for something else. In the meanwhile I also became a member of the Solarteam at the University of Twente. Me and the rest of the team worked very hard and finally we succeed to get our finished solar car at the starting line of the World Solar Challenge in Australia. We have been there in September and October( the race itself and some travelling along the coast of Victoria afterwards ). In the meanwhile I still kept searching for a internship. Through a messageboard on the Internet I got in touch with an international company in Shanghai, China and they offered me an internship. After I got back from Australia I contacted them again and I arranged all the stuff necesary to do my internship there. Shanghai, here I come...

To Shanghai and back....

I have now been to Shanghai and I am already back in the Netherlands. It was an experience I will never forget. I worked till the end of April and after that I took about 2 weeks to travel around. My mom and sister were coming over and we travelled together to Beijing, Taiyuan , Pingyao and Xi'an. A part of this travel was during the first week of May.That's a holiday week in China, so I now know what "crowded" means... During my time in Shanghai I made a lot of friends and gained a lot of experience I couldn't get anywhere else. I really would love to go back to Shanghai some day soon... and drink a beer or tequilla at Zapata's on Hengshan Lu or go to one of the Shanghaiexpat meetings at the CoffeeBean in XinTianDi. Although there are many other places on this Earth I still need to explore , Shanghai is high up one my list of favorite places.

Where did you stay in Shanghai and what did you do?

After some searching on the Internet I found an apartment on HongQiao Lu. For the people who are familiar with Shanghai, that is the road going from XuJiaHui in the direction of Gubei. It was a really nice apartment, that I shared with a German intern. My job was not too far away, just a short walk to XuJiaHui and a short ride with the metro. Then I got out at CaoBao Lu (not too far from the IKEA). I worked there everyday from 9:00 to 18:00 or 19:00 as a development/procurement engineer. I never cooked , I always went to a restaurant for dinner. There are so many restaurants in Shanghai that it is nearly impossible to try them all. I often went to some of the restaurants at XuJiaHui , for example in the Grand Gateway or just behind it. On Friday and saturday ofcourse going out with friends/colleagues. We went to several places all around Shanghai. Hengshan Lu is a favorite place for many foreigners to go out.For example to Zapata's. With my roommate I often visited one of the Windows bars. Especially the Windows Scoreboard on Huaihai Lu ... cheap drinks and a relaxed atmosphere... But also many other bars,lounges and nightclubs I've been to...Can't mention them all here.

Are you planning to go back to Shanghai someday?

Well, I might.I liked living there and I have a couple of good friends there. Maybe there will be some job opportunity that brings me back to Shanghai. Or I have to create this opportunity myself. But working as an expat in Shanghai has become less attractive, because there are more and more highly qualified Chinese employees that can do the same job.

Do you have some more information on Shanghai?

Well, I collected some links to useful information on this page. To get an idea of what the city looks like check out the pictures of Shanghai