fsb interns: the final week
our final week was a busy and exciting one. monday started with a trip to ignite, a pre seed start-up organisation that invests in tech companies before they gain investment. ignite helps the companies with networking and offers them an office to work from. this was especially useful for the project as a lot of the companies there were using or had utilised open data in some form. moreover, it was great to meet some entrepreneurs and ask them about running and starting a business. after our meeting the newcastle students took the xiamen students to blakes café and introduced them to a ‘full english breakfast’ – which they described as “delicious”!
on tuesday we went to the careers service to assist them with some questions they had regarding arriving in newcastle and at the university, with particular emphasis on the xiamen students. tuesday was also dandan’s 21st birthday so as a treat we went bowling – something the xiamen students had never done before. she also brought in a birthday cake! to celebrate dandan’s 21st we took the xiamen students on a newcastle night out, where they tried to trebles (and managed to finish them all!)
wednesday was devoted to finishing off the project and preparing our presentation. thursday we met professor richard davis, one of the university’s pro-vice chancellors. he was interested in hearing about our project and how the xiamen students have found being in newcastle. and finally friday was presentation day! hopefully the fsb has been impressed with the work we have done. the xiamen students are going to go back to china, but we are all in agreement that it has been a fantastic experience – and we would definitely do it again!