I have become aware of a subtle shift in my circumstances over the past week or so. Where I was once the 'newbie', wide eyed and finding me feet, I am noticing more and more that people are asking me for advice on where to go, how to meet people and things to do. It is a strange feeling given that I have only been here for four weeks (three if you discount my food poisoning adventure) but fantastic to be the one providing contacts and helping others settle in and adjust to life here. It is making me appreciate just how much I have achieved since arriving in Shanghai and, on reflection, fully understand what people mean when they describe life out here as ‘fast-paced’. For a girl who a month ago had no idea where her local metro station was, never mind how to navigate it, it's a fairly stark turn of events!

Last Sunday for example I met a Danish couple who had arrived in the city two weeks previously to undertake internships. They had not yet managed to meet many people so were keen to know as much as possible about my experiences so far. The next day I wrote them a long email, explaining each of the various things they had expressed interest in during the previous night's conversation. It included everything from my favored networking events and brunch spots, to what footwear was most suited to Gaelic football and how best to locate a mandarin teacher. It's a great feeling to know that you are making life a bit easier for others, whist also making new friends and constantly seeing the city with a fresh pair of eyes.

This trend continued through the week as on Tuesday (in the hotel lobby as I was trying to sneak upstairs, unnoticed, after a particularly sweaty Gaelic session) a Durham student clocked my St Andrews sports wear and stopped me for a chat. He had only been in the city for 5 days on an internship which seemed to be going less smoothly than my own so was despairing slightly at his situation. On explaining my weekly timetable he admitted he was impressed that I am managing to squeeze so much out of my time here. I assured him that it was no heroic effort and he would most likely find himself doing the same. I am simply not very good at sitting still when so many opportunities keep presenting themselves.

Given their similar situations I decided to link the three of them up so organized for us to go to ladies night in the World Financial Center. It's a pretty special occasion as the bar is on the 92nd floor of the tallest building in Shanghai and on a Wednesday ladies get in for free and are entitled to free champagne from 8:30pm until 10:30pm. Unfortunately the boys still had to pay but didn't seem to mind particularly given that in our respective ‘home’ countries such a situation is hardly an everyday occurrence! What followed was a very enjoyable night, good conversation and useful connections. On the subject of networking and linking people together, this weekend one of the Gaelic football girls greeted me with the infamous 'I met someone today who knows you Emily!'. I am fairly used to this happening at home (St Andrews is a pretty small place) but being greeted as such in a city of 23 million was a bit of a surprise. It turned out our mutual connection was a girl I had met at the British Chamber of Commerce women’s networking event the previous week and had agreed to pass on some hits and tips for life in Edinburgh to a friend of hers. It's a clichéd phrase, but even in a city such as Shanghai, the world can be a small place!

At Gaelic football, I have definitely graduated from my 'new girl' status which has both its advantages and disadvantages. Whilst it is wonderful to have been welcomed so readily into the ‘family’, I am definitely working a lot harder at training now the immunity of it 'just being my first/second time' has worn off. If I drop the ball or fire off a less-than-brilliant kick, I now get awarded my 10 push-ups, just like the veterans. Don't tell them, but it's working and my game is improving substantially!
 

With regards to progressing from simply learning to occupying a more useful role, I have noticed a clear shift in my tasks and abilities at work. I have moved on from the frantic learning and digestion of jargon of the first couple of weeks and now, when I receive a request for information from a colleague, I am able to quickly provide succinct and knowledgeable responses. It is good to be able to get stuck into 'real' work, proper responsibility and having enough of an understanding to successfully undertake a task independently. I have been assigned a specific project by the team who deal with acquiring suppliers for IBM and am enjoying getting under the skin of IBM in order to obtain the information and insight I require to complete it. Additionally I am given varied tasks from a diverse range of other sections of the procurement center, from phoning existing suppliers in India to explain terms and requests that have been ‘lost in translation’, to taking minutes in conference calls and attending a wide range of training sessions. This means that though I have a solid line of focus, I am also able to expand my knowledge of the company, its activities and ultimately my own skill base through these additional opportunities. 

Despite all of this, don't let me give you the impression that Shanghai is now 'old hat' and has nothing left to throw at me. Every day brings new experiences from food, to people, to culture and a lot more besides. Last weekend for example a number of my Shanghainese friends coerced me into to my first karaoke session. I had been very skeptical at the initial suggestion, particularly given my singing abilities and warnings from other friends that a typical bank of songs was mostly in Mandarin, aside from Lady Gaga (who I didn’t even want to attempt to imitate!). I was very surprised therefore to be greeted with a library inclusive of such Scottish classics as the The Fratellis and Amy MacDonald, alongside what seemed like the entire back catalogue of Westlife and Nsync amongst many others. What followed was a surreal 3 hour session of total immersion in one of the most popular pass times in Asia. I was once again reminded 'not to knock it until you've tried it' as the girls danced around our high-tech room as though they were in a mega club, everyone got involved and secretly I absolutely loved it.

In a complete u-turn of culture, that weekend also saw me waiting out my first typhoon in an Australian sports bar, watching underdogs Dublin comfortably beat Tyrone in a Gaelic football semifinal. A number of my Irish team mates were very much supporting Dublin and celebrations of the win went on long after I had caught a taxi home. Thankfully we were spared the full force of Typhoon Mufia, experiencing only some fairly strong wind and rain, thus making it to Monday morning without having to break into the government-recommended emergency supplies!

All of these events have caused me to reflect on the moment I decided to apply for a Saltire internship. On sending off my application at the start of the year, none of these adventures even crossed my mind. When I packed my suitcase at the start of July, I half-halfheartedly threw in two 'socializing' outfits on top of my work clothes and hoped that I would get a chance to wear them at least once. Now I am scrambling to locate (nice) western-sized clothing in shops that traditionally cater to the most petite of petite in order that I don’t turn up to every event in exactly the same dress (a rather large faux pas in this fashion-forward city!). This is perhaps one of the biggest compliments that I can pay to the Saltire team. I came here expecting to learn a lot from my placement and perhaps to socialize a bit with my colleagues after work and whilst I have certainly done both of those things, this encounter has been about far more than simply turning up at the IBM office every weekday. I have made wonderful friends and had some unbelievable experiences, from attending exclusive invite-only fashion shows and discovering hidden rooftop bars to talking with fascinating individuals at a host of events and being given the opportunity to see all sides of life here in Shanghai, my internship has surpassed all expectations.

I will sign off with an anecdote which I think quite nicely sums up the surprises and ridiculous situations I have encountered here. Last week I attended an event with a friend I have spent quite a lot of time with over the past month or so. About halfway through the evening she bumped into an old friend and we stopped for a chat. On enquiring how they knew each other (and expecting a run of the mill ‘we are old colleagues’ style response), I was fairly shocked when informed that they had been numbers 30 and 31 respectively in the Miss World contest a few years ago. This had meant spending a significant amount of time together throughout the process and thus they had become close friends. I’m willing to bet that that is one of the most outlandish responses such a question has ever received and certainly caught me a little off guard! To revert to an often employed phrase in this area of the world: 'that's just China', and I wouldn't have it any other way.