So… Chinese New Year is here and 2016 is the year of the Monkey. I was born in 1992 which is the year of the Monkey and in 17 days I’ll on a plane en-route China! Crazy right!? One reason I wanted to start this blog was so I could document this journey! SO YEAH… I AM GOING TO CHINA!!



So brief back story, after I finished my undergraduate degree in 2014 and was applying for graduate jobs, I was always really scared in interviews and the feedback I would get is “you need more technical skills”. So, I thought let me do my post-graduate degree and maybe I will feel more confident with my skills and I did. I learnt so much, more than ever but now when I approach the BIG companies for graduate roles, I have no work experience and I feel un-confident. So, I Googled around for an internship and was blessed with an amazing opportunity with InternChina to go be an intern for TWO MONTHS at a Technology start-up company in Chengdu, China. Ironically Chengdu is the home of the Panda and I love panda’s. I never thought I would have the opportunity to be in China FULL STOP.

WAIT! Your black why go China?

AND!? I get really tired of this question and I have had to pretty much deal with it for ages…(black girl likes K-POP/’Asian stuff’ you so weird) BUT anyway China is a country of 1.3 billion and Mandarin is the most spoken language in the world! I remember when Microsoft came and did an educational talk at my university and kept emphasising how we all need to learn Mandarin; I wish I had taken it more seriously then.
China is a technology powerhouse, Chengdu where I will be based is pushing to become China’s Silicon Valley (‘Tianfu Software Park’) I am so excited to be in such an environment and recently business relations between China and the UK are growing.
Lastly, lets be real I also wanted to see the Panda’s, Chinese culture is beautiful and hello CHINESE FOOD of-course.

Racism/Ignorance?

Yes, true. Being black in China I already have the expectation of some ignorance from people but that’s life racism/ignorance is everywhere in the world. I assume many Chinese people may have positive or negative stereotypes of what black people are like and that’s fine. Racism I wont tolerate but ignorance is different, I hope I can change any negative attitudes I come across by just being myself.

Can you even speak Chinese?

I can speak a little Mandarin…really badly haha. I’ve been using books and iPhone apps to learn the basics! Speaking of which my current favourite iPhone app is Tandem. My closest Chinese friends speak Cantonese so they are no help haha but using Tandem is am amazing way to communicate with native speakers and learn ANY language.

Will you see Pandas?!!

I hope I do! I have the nickname Panda and they are my favourite animal so seeing them would be a LIFE dream come true. I will for sure CRY.

Are you scared?!

Hmmm…not scared I have no expectations but for everything to feel different, but different does not mean anything negative. I am really open-minded to majority of situations. Pretty exited tbh.

How are you going to manage being in a working office with Chinese people who do not speak much ENGLISH!?

I ask myself this too also, because:

1. I have never had a ‘proper’ job before in general. The major fear I have is I do not want to let down the company or be a fool.

Of course the language barrier will be HARD to manage but I really am ready to work hard and learn as much as a I can. TBH I am just scared of not being ‘good enough’ and I am hoping that this extreme environment will give me the confidence to believe in myself and gain belief that I can actually have a job. Haha I must really sound like a loser, but how else will BuzzFeed hire me unless I have experience 😉

Overall, I am super excited for China whatever happens it is going to be an experience and I am going to try make it the best experience, take every opportunity to learn, meet new people and just become a DOPER person! TBH It had not really hit me that I am going to China, until I began writing this post.

I really like this quote from my favourite Anime Paradise Kiss because It sums me up and this opportunity

‘Up until now, all I did was study. I had a very narrow world-view. If I don’t expand my horizons and experience new things and grow as a person, I’ll never become an appealing woman.’ – Yukari

Till next week

xo