GRIP, Virtual Internships Abroad First Days of Working From Home (Literally!)

Keru, China

At Keru, I’m involved in mainly two areas: office projects and leading pre-program sessions for the students who are enrolled in one of the specific social impact courses. For the office projects, each intern is assigned to around three or so areas, it so happens that all of mine fall into the Business Development Department. One of the thing that Keru offers is service trips to local students in China to work towards fulfilling the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals as well as for students themselves to be able to create an impact in their immediate community. 

For Keru’s business development project, I am working on business research, sales data analysis, and survey analysis for their student programs. This is done to ensure that their offerings remain competitive and in touch with both potential students as well as the current COVID circumstances in China. 

Starting off the internship, I was a little confused at first because I was both trying to navigate the new online format as well as reaccustom myself to how I would communicate to my supervisor (and students) in China. Before approaching the internship, I did not consider the impact of the firewall on my day-to-day work and how I would deliver my lessons to the students. For example, I am unable to communicate with students through platforms I have been accustomed to nor have I been able to share files through Google Drive. Therefore, within the first sessions, I readapted and turned to other methods of communication in order to ensure that I could deliver my results as expected.

However, beyond this, I have enjoyed meeting everyone on the team so far! The Keru team really tried to close the online gap between the different people across time zones with bonding sessions and ice breakers. I was able to really connect with the people I’m working with while also learning more about the company. Additionally, through my pre-program sessions and the company that I am exposed to as part of my case study task, I am able to gain some exposure to the unique socio-economic landscape of both modern and rural China. It has also been nice to understand this from both my perspective and in interactions with the students I have met – albeit online.

I am currently working from home (Vietnam), literally! I haven’t been back in a while so it has been really great reconnecting with old friends, seeing family, and witnessing how so much has changed. Luckily, outside our online sessions, there is also another Keru intern who from working in the same city I am in so we were able to meet up for dinner a couple of times – we went for ramen.