Program Reviews

My experience in Omeida was amazing. Besides, I've been studied a lot of Chinese language and characters, a I've been deeply sunk in Chinese culture, I mean I recomend this school, you wouldn't be regret.

Hello, my name is Jana an I come from Germany. I stayed at Omeida for 2 weeks in summer 2014. I think, I improved my Chinese, because the classes were small an d the teachers were very engaged. The contact with the other teachers and students were really relaxed. You can come into the office when ever you want and get a tea or coffee and a good talk. It was also a good combination of staff-organized events and self-organized activities of the students. To have one or two language partners I liked, I ´ve got more informations about the daily China (and they helped me to do my homework...) Yangshuo and the region offer such a lot facilities, that I must come back to use them all. At the morning my daughter and I had Tai-Chi-lessons and if we have had time, we mostly went by bike in the wonderful landscape. We also enjoyed the food at Omeida cantine and at the restaurants of Yangshuo and the fruits from the markets.
I hope, I will have time to come back sometime! It was a really great experience.

I just spent two weeks at Omeida (which is actually too short) but I really enjoyed them. The landscape is amazing and the school as well as the teachers are very good. I took intensive courses (lessons in the morning and in the afternoon) and had a language partner. Both was good, the intensive courses because you have a lot of time to study Chinese with a teacher and the language partner program because I learned so much about Chinese people and Chinese culture. However, doing both means I had little time to do other things including reviewing the Chinese words. I had some time during noon, when I reviewed what I had learned during morning classes and I had time after dinner and in the night to review the content of the afternoon lessons. But sometimes you just want to go to a bar or so with others, which means I was really struggeling to find the time to get all of the grammar and the words into my head. However, staying at Omeida was a great experience for me and I learned a lot of Chinese within those to weeks. I hope I will come back some day but than I probably won't take intenisve courses.

I was already living in Yangshuo when I spent 3 months studying Chinese with Omeida. My Chinese was patchy and I had quite a lot of vocabulary but not a good understanding of grammar. The teachers were incredibly helpful and the class was small so a lot of help was available. I advanced a long way in 3 months. I had tried to study formally before but found the approach with other schools or teachers was not well set out and confusing.
I did not stay in the accommodation or eat the food as I already had accommodation. The other students were very happy with the standard. You will not find a meal for 10rmb anywhere else in Yangshuo unless you eat noodles three times a day.
Yangshuo is a beautiful place and there are many opportunities to involved yourself in other activities such as cycling, climbing or hiking. Best to get outside the town and spend some time talking to the locals in the small villages if you want to practice your Chinese.

Overall, I think the program is great. The scenery is beautiful and the city is alive. You can study during the weekdays and go traveling during the weekends. The teachers had great knowledge in their field of study and they answered all my questions thoroughly. The scheduled weekend activities are really cool and would recommend attending (especially water rafting). The whole atmosphere of Yang Shuo is very relaxing and it was easy to get around and navigate. I really loved the Chinese roommate experience and Chinese dorm mates, I made some good friends. Lastly, Anya and the staff at Omeida do the maximum to make sure you ahve a safe trip to and from Omeida, Thanks! These are amongst the positive parts of the program.

As for the negatives they are little nuounces here and there. The food in the canteen was good, but I feel like it wasn't worth 10 yuan per meal. Overall, I feel like the program is more suited for beginners, as you can fall back on English anytime you want - this was one thing I didn't really like. I was hoping for a more submersed Chinese experience, but I found alot of staff (especially in English Department) talking to me (and others) in English. The city will probably bore you after 1 month, as it is really small. Probably the only major negative part of the whole experience was the housing. Some pretty big bugs crawled around and I squashed a cockroach or two.

Overall I'd recommend the program to any beginner/intermediate Chinese learner or HSK Test taker.

Living in yangshuo is lovely! Be carefull of mosquitoes, they are everywhere. I noticed there are no danger at all (except when crossing the main road!). Sometimes you don't understand how yo go somewhere or how to do something but is not a problem, just ask someone in omeida's office. If you are a smoker watch out cause Chinese cigarettes are horrible.
i suggest everybody that want to learn Chinese to go to omeida: school is well organized and there is a lot to do on weekends

Omeinda is a great choice. The teachers are perfect and they really teach in a good way. We practiced a lot of speaking and a lot of grammar structures. I had the chance that I was in a very small class, first week 3 students and second/third week we were only two students. The way of teaching is not the dominant Chinese way, it's more western style or even better. I arrived at Omeida and my Chinese was really poor but when I left three weeks later I really that the impression that my Chinese improved a lot!

Yangshuo is a great place to stay! There are a lot of outdoor activities and some fun bars! First I was affraid that all the people there speak English (it's a rather touristy city) but thats definitely not the case. You can still use your Chinese very often.

For me it was the perfect school and I really loved my time there. I will definitely come back one day!

I really liked being in Yangshuo! It's a small but very interesting town with many tourists coming from all over china and from western countries. Therefore you can find many western bars and (mainly young) people.
I didn't know any Chinese when I arrived there and I was surprised how fast I had learned enough to be able to write dialogs and stories in Chinese. The lessons are very good: challenging but also interesting. In my first week I was the only one in my class, then I had lessons together with another student and in the end we were three students. You can learn so much in a very short period of time and the teachers are so friendly and enthusiastic. You also get to know something about Chinese culture as there is a cultural lesson and a social night every week. In my opinion it's a great place to learn Chinese and a very beautiful one, too.

The Chinese teachers were always very helpful and patient. If I forget chinese words my teacher repeated it so often just I got it.
Sometimes I had lessons at the Yangshuo Parc, at Kellys or we visited the canteen kitchen to learn the words for vegetables or fruits. I liked very much this kind of teaching. I learned very much.
After four weeks par example I wanted to stopp eating in the canteen, because I had problems with my stomach. I got the rest of the money I already paid back.
I liked the social dinners too. And it was really great, that the teachers organized al lot of ativities. We had the possibility to meet somebody.
I was happy that I had the possibillity to visit the TaiChi-School. My favorite sports.

Next year I will come back to Omeida, to Yangshuo.

But there was only on thing that I don't like. It was the bathroom. It was very dirty. I would be happy to pay more money for a proper room.
The last two days I lived in the Tiffanys Hostel. It was the same room, but proper.

Every day I think of Omeida and my wonderful experiences and adventures I had gain.
Many greetings to Yangshuo....;-)))

I was only there for 1 week but couldve easily satye a month. All the stagf there is soooo welcoming and generous with their time, it really made learning chinese motivating! I followed the intensive classes and have learn much more than I wouldve hoped for. Moreover, the school organize activities almost everyday like hikes, social nights, chinese art classes, karaoke, visit of nearby villages on weekends, etc. This is a great way to meet ither foreigners and other chinese students learning english that will practice your chinese with you. Everything was great, would go again anytime! THANKS OMEIDA :)