2019 Summer Intern: Paris

Paris Yamamoto, a CET study abroad student studying at U Pitt (but originally from Hawaii), interned at AllSet Learning for the summer of 2019. Paris was a lot of fun, educating us on youth culture and the "alternate reality" of Hawaii. She also got a ton of work done, focusing mainly on social media and graded reader testing.

When I was applying to colleges, I had no idea what I was doing. All I knew was that I needed to study abroad in China. Little did I know what I was getting myself into! Through my university’s study abroad office, I found CET. All the Pitt students I knew who had completed the program spoke very highly of it. They went as far to say that they had helped them decide on a career path. As a directionless, tentative Chinese and Linguistics double major, CET put me in contact with AllSet. T-12 hours before I left for Shanghai, I interviewed with John for the internship.I had very few expectations coming into this internship. I knew I wanted to improve my Chinese — which I guess is a given if you’re studying abroad in China — and experience a different way of learning Chinese that was not sitting in a classroom for seven hours a week.

I am glad to report that both of my expectations were met. Reading the new Mandarin Companion books tested my reading comprehension, only speaking Chinese in the office improved my listening and speaking, and creating media content helped me understand more about Chinese culture, language, and history. As a rising college sophomore, spending the summer interning for AllSet gave me a push in the right direction. I am proud of the work that I did and I am thankful that AllSet gave me this opportunity.

As our first Japanese American intern, Paris brought an interesting perspective to the experience of studying Chinese in China as an Asian American. Thank you for all the help, Paris. We can't wait to see what you do with Chinese/Linguistics double major!