Go Abroad China Reviews

I miss my friends, our time together and the classes we had at BLCU. I decided to take a break from college and applied for a Chinese Langauge program in China through GAC where I could improve my speaking and reading Mandarin and explore the hidden gem which is China. I was not disappointed at all when I got to China. Now that Ive left i wish i took more photos and went out more. I would recommend this program to anyone looking to improve their Chinese reading and speaking skills and just to travel to China, its a beautiful place.

Before I started college, I decided to get the experience of visiting China as I was planning on majoring in Mandarin. I discussed extensively with GAC, making sure they found me an appropriate college where I could gain and improve my Chinese language skills while also enjoy and explore China. GAC really did well and were attentive to my requests. I enjoyed my stay in China and gained memorable experiences

I left for Beijing China in June last year, completely clueless of what to expect. Everything got better though when I was picked up from the airport, I was really nervous when I got to China at first. I got to stay in a shared student accommodation with the best roommates and flat mates. We had so much fun, playing ping pong and also practicing our Chinese while in class. I really miss them now though.

Fun classes, trips to popular tourist destinations in Beijing and cultural activities during the weekend, these were the factors that made my visit and stay in Shanghai a great and unforgettable memory. I really wanted to go to China when I saw the ad and I am happy I did. GAC were very helpful in enabling achieve my dream. I was able to learn more phrases in Chinese than i had learned in my 3 years studying Mandarin from my journey. I plan to visit China sometime again in the future if i get the chance to.

Before I left for China in June 2017, I was a very shy and quite kid, when I got back from China, after learning some Mandarin, visiting the Great Wall, making and eating dumplings and gaining some tai chi moves, I became more confident after all my experiences. I was in China for just 2 months, but Id like to repeat those 2 months again. Before I left, I had been studying some Mandarin and learning from my sister who had visited the previous year, so I was really looking forward to visiting China and practicing my “Ni Hao” and “Sie Sie”. I contacted Go Abroad China and they were able to get me a nice college in Guangzhou. We were very few in our class, about 12 of us which was really perfect as though the class was always noisy with jokes and laughs we still got to learn a lot about China and get some Chinese phrases.

My parents really wanted me to take some time off from college, travel and get some wholesome experience before I went into university. While searching through the Internet for the perfect destination and experience package, I came across Go Abroad China. I discussed with them and within a month I was presented an offer. The classes were taught by native teachers who were really fluent in English, which was a great surprise to me. The classes were engaging and we even got to go on trips organized by the university. It was really great to know that the university cared for the well being of its international students. I had a great experience in China and Im grateful to Go Abroad China for their great service.

My business internship in China was one of my most memorable experiences. I cant forget arriving in China, so nervous and asking myself what I had gotten myself into, then being picked up by Serena from Go Abroad China and driven to my accommodation. But, within 2 weeks I was commuting to work by myself, doing some shopping and I made really funny friends. My internship went too fast for me though I enjoyed every moment of it.

I enrolled in GAC program - Go Abroad China,

As clearly stated and agreed finalizing the contract,
I would have made an internship to learn new professional skills,
I'd have been followed Tutor on the job place and a career advisor from GAC.
Moreover,
Gac would have me attended professional marketing conferences and networking events.
GAC would have guided me through all the bureaucratic steps necessary to stay in China.
GAC would have arranged some Chinese classes that I paid for.
All the above has been agreed during the contract.

In reality:
1- the company I worked for as an intern didn’t provide me any training at all - (I even had to bring and use my own pc on the job place - they asked me what they had to do and I felt, that they totally took advantage of my academic knowledge but I didn't receive anything in return in terms of new skills and competences).
Therefore, I didn’t learn anything new and I didn’t improve my professional skills, which is what I soundly paid for.
2- Even if, I reminded GAC many times about the marketing conferences that I paid for and agreed during the contract, when I enrolled in the program, I have never been invited to any professional conferences and networking events. At a certain point, after my insistent requests, they informed me that GAC didn’t provide that service anymore. Weird thing is that they sold/ promised me the service and it’s one of the reasons I enrolled with them as conferences and networking events are important elements of professional growth
3- About the "help and guidance" through the bureaucratic processes necessary to stay in China, they forgot to make me register at the municipal police station as it is requested to all temporary residents in Shanghai within a week of their arrival.. To mend, I was told to go to an hotel, stay one night and get the temporary registration form from the hotel. So I had to book an hotel and spend more money. I paid for it not them...
I was confused about this procedure.
Just later, I found out that they asked me to go to an hotel, because if I had registered to the city police, as required, I would have incurred in an expensive fee for registering so late.
I was informed about this fact by the police itself, when, later on, I had to change my apartment and I had to register my new residence once again. The police checked my entries and could see that I had registered through an hotel and not on time, within a week as required, after I had first entered the country. The police was nice and after I started crying for the extremely expensive fee they asked me to pay, they let me go with no charge.

What annoys me is that I paid so much the agency GAC, because I just wanted to focus on myself, my professional growth and development without worrying about complex procedures and bureaucracy.
But instead, I had to worry all the time to solve issues, attend conferences and learn something new ( professionally ) by myself.
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I was offered a full time job.
After I invested about 2000 Euros in documents and notarisation services to get a working visa,
The Company I worked for decided to outsource all marketing services and I was suddenly left home with no refund, no explanations and a consistent loss of money.
GAC did nothing!

As a Chinese major I had to travel to China to get experience the China experience and develop my skill more by practicing my Chinese speaking and writing there while learning more about the chinese culture. The program was great for the cultural experiences and the classes helped to compliment my overall experience. I went with the goal of improving my Chinese and that is what I did I gained fluency in Mandarin Chinese and made great friends. Overall, I discovered a city that I would love to revisit in the future. It was definitely worthwhile.

I dont think I've had a better internship than the one i had through GAC. My internship company pushd me to take on the same work the full-time staffers worked on. This made me gain new skills in my career field. I gained technical skills, exposure to workforce culture and education about the chinese corporate structure. On the weekdays, GAC would take us to chinese events and theater shows. I practised tai chi and got to make some dumplings. It was a worthwhile experience overall.