Ten days in Hong Kong and Shanghai are over now. I am sitting in the plane back to Vancouver and reflecting a week full of new impressions and surprises. Actually, the past days do not feel like a week only. Moreover, the days in Asia feel like an eternity. That might also be caused by the fact that many of my experiences during the past week exceeded my expectations by far.
This blog posting will be longer than usual and therefore I will divide everything into some single topics:
The purpose of the trip:
The Business Career Center (BCC) of the Sauder School of Business provides several trips to other cities to give the Students the opportunity to network with local companies and to learn more about the individual job markets. In addition to trips to Calgary, Toronto and Waterloo, a trip to Asia is provided in the reading break between period two and three (to say it straight away: I haven’t read that much during the week).
Key take-aways Hong Kong (3.5 days visit – Sunday to Wednesday):
- The city is small (at least downtown).
- The city is snobbish and spoiled. Haven’t seen so many premium stores in my entire life. Primary hobby of Hong Kong people seems to be spending money for luxury goods.
- But… The city is beautiful
- Everyone speaks English
- You can have fantastic seafood in the fishing villages on the backside of the island
- Fantastic place for serious partying
Summarizing: A great city to land in Asia, combining the lifestyle of London with the Asian spirit.
Key take-aways Shanghai (5.5 days – Wednesday to Monday)
- This city is big
- Better learn mandarin if you want to talk with locals
- This city has unlimited energy
- Fantastic food (forget the crappy china food in Germany)
- Incredible party locations
- Many job opportunities but the lucrative expat contracts a decreasing.
- A world rank business school that is way too far outside of the city and looks like a hybrid of a monastery and a military base camp.
- Billy Chan is the cool travel mate.
Summarizing: I am totally excited about the exchange to Shanghai in fall now. This will be a great experience. However, I have to learn at least basic mandarin to take full advantage of the time in Shanghai.
What’s next:
Recently, I broad guy mentioned in a speech that people often overestimate what they can achieve within the next year but underestimate what they can achieve in the next ten years. Looking only five years back, I did not considered China as a place to live at all. I wasn’t even able to eat with shop sticks. Only a few ago, I wrote in my application for this trek that I want to join to check my mental capacity to live in China. Now, I am totally excited and consider an extended stay in China.
This MBA is incredible. Never stop exploring. Life is good.
