Program Reviews

This was the best way to get a foot in China especially if you have always wanted to visit China. You get your flight paid for, health insurance, Mandarin courses, housing and meals paid for and some pocket money to pay for your necessities. Beijing is a really big city and has a lot of different places you can visit. Its a great place for you to site see and develop a further understanding of China. Being an au pair is a great way for you to learn more about Chinese culture, especially because you will live with a host family. You can learn a lot by living with them, for example, what their beliefs are, their cooking style and activities they do. If you don't know any Mandarin or have a basic foundation of the language, by the time you are done with the program you will know how to speak or understand Mandarin for the most part. That's if you are here for six months.

Going through with this program was one of the best decisions I've made in my life. When this opportunity came to me it was almost like a blessing in disguise and it sounded too good to be true. I met loads of wonderful people and made good friends from all walks of life whom i still keep in contact with. We had free housing as we lived with the host family, we had complimentary chinese language and cultural classes at a university, monthly cultural activities, the company really looks after you from the moment you land in China, they'll pick you up, set and brief you up, prepare you for whats to come and basically tries to make your stay as pleasant and most enjoyable as possible.
Living with a chinese family has it's own benefits, one if them is that it deeply allows us to immerse, understand and experience their culture and traditions first hand, you learn a lot of things in a quick pace because you're in an environment where you're constantly exposed to their day to day life and also having to converse with them increases your mandarin skills.
Of course, it's not all just rainbows, ponies and sweet happy land out here. Let's be honest, just like with everything there will be some ups and downs you'll come across, it's just inevitable. But if any problem rises up, Aupairia will be sure to help.
As my title says: No regrets! What so ever!

I had an amazing time learning about the culture， language， food and the role/responsibility as an older brother。 The programme organisers made the transition into a new country and family very smooth! I thought the programme allowed for a good lifestyle- I could balance Chinese language and cultural classes with exploring the city (and rest of the country), as well as hanging out with the kids and introducing my own culture whilst improving their English skills。I found it to be a real privilege to be able to so seamlessly integrate into a new family, and I have to thank AuPairia for making this so much easier. They were very thoughtful and organised from the get go and made China a very accessible country to visit and participate in a cultural exchange.

i had the opportunity to meet amazing people from all over the world, and be able to explore China with them thanks to this program. it wasnt what i was expecting, it was great, I my host family was amazing, the staff is helpful and they care about how you feel, i had the opportunity to travel to lots of places, places that i never thought i will visit, and all thanks to this program.
China itself its such an interesting country to visit, it wasnt on my mind, to be honest, to come to China as an aupair, but some friends from my country did it and shared to me how amazing and diferent it is to live in a country like China, its safe, there is always something new to discover and see, the public transportation and the pay methots are fast and convinient

The company itself is great. The host families, however, are not always what you may expect. Some other aupairs have had issues with the families that have made their stay less than enjoyable. Do not expect to be able to save money during this program as the monthly allowance barely covers the full month. While this does greatly depend upon your spending habbits, if you do activites with other aupairs mutiple times a week it is not likely that you will have money left over at the end of the month. I have found the company to be extremely helpfull in any issue that I have had. Though this program is technically free, I would still like to see an increase in the monthly allowance. Overall, I would absolutely recommend this program to anyone wanting to travel to China and have a chance to learn Mandarin! I also would like to advise that you do not immediately agree to a long term contract. Instead, you should choose the short term stay, due to the fact that you can always extend your stay once here.

I had a very interesting time working as an au pair。The Mandarin classes are a definite highlight of the program， as I have felt my skills improve greatly since first arriving here。Very good program for someone looking for something to do in their gap year. The cultural activities were very enjoyable and I learned a lot about people from other cultures. You have a lot of free time during the day to explore Beijing and some time to do traveling outside the city as well. In my time here, I visited Shanghai, Dalian, and even had a quick jaunt over to Seoul, which I never would have been able to afford without the help of this program. My family treated me very well and I consider myself rather lucky to have chosen them。I recommend this to anyone looking for an inexpensive way to visit China.

At first when I came across this opportunity I very sceptical as I have heard of many of these programs the end really bad but it turned into one the most amazing trips of my life. With a company full of world class employees that love what they do and host families that cherish you from the moment you walk through their doors how could this not be a great success. The Aupairia staff help you from the moment you first make contact till the day you get back on the the airplane to go home. In a country like China that has such a vast culture and so many history rich places to visit there was never a dull moment form the time you get up in the morning till you go to bed at night. During the program you meet so many new people from all kind of walks in life and in the end you leave with friend you've made for life. If anyone ever asked me if I'd recommend the Aupairia program, I'd say yes in a heart beat. Do it, enrich your life and you'll have memories you'll adore forever.

I enjoyed this experience a lot and it has taught me a lot about chinese culture especially since we got to live with a Chinese family. We got to learn Chinese at Beijing Foreign Studies University and have cultural activities with the company. Everyone was very helpful at the office when we had any problems. The other aupairs old and new ones are all so friendly and we would help each other out when we felt a little bit homesick. I changed a lot since being here and have learned to be independent as well as adapt to this culture and the food. One advice that I would give to the future participants is to be prepared as this culture is significantly different to others and I would do some research before arriving. My favorite memory in Beijing was going to inner Mongolia with my host family and being to spend more time bonding with my host kid.

China is big and can be scary when you don't understand the language and don't know the people. But (as forces as this sounds) Aupairia really takes care of you, sets you up really nice and holds your hand all along the way (if you want them).

While you might think you'd get kidnapped the moment you land or that you'd be slaving away the whole time you're here that you won't get to do anything for yourself at all, I'm glad to tell you you're wrong. There's really so much freedom and flexibility to explore the city, other parts of China and learn one of the toughest languages in the world.

The families are also really cool and treat you as one of their own. Staying with them has also helped improve my Mandarin to a greater degree because you're forced to be better, stronger, faster. Fun!

I spent 3 months in Beijing living with 2 different families as an Au pair with Auparia.

Overall it was a very positive experience, both my host families were very welcoming and the living conditions were very good. The host kids were nice and it was enjoyable to work with them. I had a lot of free time to explore Beijing which made my experience even better as it is a really interesting city to explore. The other Au pairs were all very friendly and easy to get along with and I made some really good friends. The Aupairia staff were very helpful towards me and always looking for feedback to help improve.

It is definately an experience I would recommend however your time here will be very dependant on your host family and how well you get along with them. Also, be ready to spent some of your own money if you want to travel around China. Be prepared for some hard times, lots of good times and an unforgetable experience.