As I go into week 6 of my internship with IBM here in Shenzhen, I cannot believe how much I have learned in this short time and how fast it has all gone. I am starting to realise that all too soon I am going to be sitting on that plane heading back home - so I am starting to plan my last few weeks in the office to take in as much as I possibly can before I go.

If I were to give last week a name in the style of Friends - it would definitely be 'The One with the One on Ones!' Every day I had at least one 'one on one' with either my managers in my department or with the senior managers. The time I spent with the senior managers was very interesting and I have had some good feedback about my performance since I have come here. It was also interesting to hear about their career paths - one of the managers I spoke to, Eva has had such a wide and varied career since she graduated from university, having studied english. With China having experienced such rapid growth over the last twenty years, many of the senior managers here have built up some very impressive C.Vs. It was quite an eye opener to see what opportunites can be out there. In my last week I have scheduled a one on one with the CFO here which I am looking forward to a lot, given I have a financial background.

In other areas of work, I had a lot of meetings to attend last week to review the performance for July. I'm thrilled to say that for July we actually met our inventory targets after a lot of hard work at the month end - this is the first time this has happened in a long time here in the office so as I'm sure you can imagine, the management team were very happy indeed. The end of month has been a very busy time in IBM and I have had many opportunities to give presentations, attend meetings and take part in conference calls - all of which I'm sure will be invaluable experience for my future career.  On my second week here I done a presentation about the cultural differences between Scotland and China - and since then I have been asked to repeat it 6 times now for different groups! It has been good fun, and I always get a good reaction and a lot of questions. The Chinese are very curious about the kilt and whether or not we wear underwear!

Outside of the office has been just as crazy as inside, every night of the week I end up involved in something whether it be snooker, badminton or going for dinner with a colleague. At the weekend I went out for dinner with two managers - one from Lebanon and another from Puerto Rico. We ended up visiting many different alcohol establishments and in the end our group of three became a group of 12. Needless to say that was a very late night and I ensured a most enjoyable sore head in the morning! On Saturday one of my colleagues took me to one of the electronic markets in Shenzhen - I picked up a few cheap things but you really can buy anything you are looking for - just have to be careful as most of it is fake. On Saturday night we ate at a delicious sushi restaurant in the city then finished off by having a few drinks and heading home. Sunday was laundry day and then chilled by the pool with my book which was great! The pool takes the edge off the heat here during the day - towards the end of last week temperatures hit 37 degrees in parts of Shenzhen!

This week is shaping up well too. The office is getting geared up for a company sports day on Friday afternoon, which - weather permitting - should be good fun. I have been elected team captain for the 'tug of war' - hopefully my height and size can be used to some advantage here haha!

So, from Shenzhen, I bid you all another good week in your internships...

Wish me luck for the tug of war!