For those who want to see the world

How many people are out there sharing the same thought: ‚I want to see the world!‘ Maybe they just finished high school and want to spend some time exploring more places before starting university, or they are just looking for a new adventure and want to spend some time abroad, doing something different. I was one of these persons. After finishing high school I just wanted to grab my bags and go see the world.
But with going to see the world there comes a lot of stuff to organize. Where am I going? What am I doing there? Where do I get the money from? What if I get lonely, all by myself? Who has my back there, if anything goes wrong or I need some help? All these questions arise when you plan to go on a big journey by yourself. There is an answer to all these questions.
If you are reading this review, you are probably already considering to go to China. You probably already informed yourself at least a bit about this country. So I will just skip the part of telling you how amazing China is and how many opportunities and beautiful things this country has to offer. I will just skip telling you about the kind people you can meet here, the unbelievable amount of good food and the funny language, definitely worth learning!
In fact I will just skip the question of where you should go, but come to the next point, that will answer all the following questions.

When I thought about what I wanted to do, I asked myself what priorities I have for my big journey. I didn’t just want to see the culture, but experience it. I didn’t just want to listen to the language, but learn it. I didn’t just want to watch the people, but talk to them, get to know them, live with them.
I did some research back then and all my concerns seemed to have a solution with the one thing: being an au pair.
As an au pair you can enjoy and experience the country to the fullest. So in the next step I looked for a suitable program for me and this is how I found out about Wanderlust Exchange China.
With this program I you can have everything at once. I lived with a chinese family in Beijing. My duty was it to take care of their son and help him learn and improve his English which was a lot of fun and a great experience. Combining the work with children with travelling a country is probably one of the best things I could have done. Being a part of a chinese family gives you a whole new vision of China and its culture. There are so many things you can never understand about this country if you don’t take the step to make the decision to actually live here. Besides the normal daily life, the host family also took me on several weekend trips and holidays to show me more of China. And as we all know, travelling a country with locals is always a great thing, as they can tell and show you so many more things, you never would have known, travelling by yourself.
Another unique thing about this program and being an aupair in China was that I could attend Mandarin classes and learn the language myself. It was amazing for me to see myself suddenly understanding what people around me were talking about, if it was just at home or even in the streets.
Moreover there were monthly cultural activities included in the program, like cooking traditional chinese food and stuff. That’s how you got in touch with many other au pairs which- if needed or not- made you not feel lonely. I always enjoyed these meetups as it is always great to have someone to talk to who is experiencing just the same as you are.

To sum up, with this program I had an answer to all my questions. I am so grateful for the opportunity I was given to experience China to the fullest and I can recommend it to anyone who is open to something completely new and looking for an adventure out there.