By Michael Veith

While people defer a year at university for different reasons, Natalie Lai (Class of 2009) did so for a goal that spanned multiple continents. In 2011, after studying two years at the International College of Management in Sydney (ICMS), she deferred a year to volunteer as a project assistant on, “Waking Love”, a Hong Kong to Europe Charity Road Trip, which raised funds for the Zhuhai Red Cross. She was involved with planning, finding the trip’s sponsors and managing the crew’s travelling documents. She also went along on the trip, which took place in the months of July and August, and involved driving through China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, France, Spain, Monaco, Portugal and England.

“I assisted with all the logistics side of things. I had to find accommodation everyday, locations for filming, and also assisted with the film script.” The team hoped to document the trip and produce a travelling documentary, however, copyright issues have prevented that from happening. “Couldn’t call it a success at all, but the experience was insane!”

Not stopping there, she deferred a semester in Spring 2012 for a one-month internship at Asia Society Hong Kong. The branch is part of the larger international Asia Society organization that helps to foster closer ties between Asia and the West. Instead of an internship, the organization hired Natalie right away as a contract staff until her next semester started. During that time, she helped the organization with the opening of their planned center in Hong Kong. “I met many notable people like Steve Forbes, the French foreign minister, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive and a Thai princess.”

Natalie returned to university to finish her Business Administration degree, graduating in December 2012. She then returned to Asia Society Hong Kong to work as an external affairs officer.