Andreas Burdach [andreasburdach@aol.com] : Fall 2010 Peking University Exchange Student

 

“2 days before I got to Beijing, I sent BeijingBuddy an email to arrange a meeting for when I got to China. I immediately received a response from my buddy with his cell number, so I could call him as soon as I got settled in the hotel.

 

My parents, my brother and I met with my buddy during the first couple of days within our arrival to search for an apartment. He already knew the agent very well and it seemed as they both knew exactly what they were doing. And although we did not find one during our first search, we did succeed the second time we went out. I have to admit, that between these two times I went out on my own to meet with an agent I had found online. Although she was very nice and helpful, the quality of the apartments she showed me, as well as their location were not comparable to what I had seen with my buddy.

 

Not only there I realized what great of a service BeijingBuddy provides you, but also the many times I just called Jeff and asked him to translate for me over the phone, or asked him for directions to the police station for the residence permit. And do you know what the best of all of it is? It does not feel like they are working or fulfilling a job. Its rather like a good friend helping you out; a BeijingBuddy.“

 

 

Gracia Catalina [gracia.catalina@gmail.com] : 2010 PKU BIMBA Full Time Student 

 

A few days before coming to China, I knew about BeijingBuddy. I sent an email to them asking if they could help me. I don't speak Chinese and it was my first time in China.I was very lost and didn't know many things about Beijing. Jeff immediately answered to me. He answered all my questions. He even booked a hotel  for me near the neighborhood where I wanted to look for the apartment, and gave to me detailed directions so I could easily get from the airport to the hotel. I met Jeff the same afternoon I arrived in Beijing. He took care of me the following days. We visited several apartments in Zhongguancun and, with the help of Alan, also some others in Wudaokou. Finally, I found a very nice apartment in Zhongguancun. With the help of Alan and Jeff, we negotiated the price with the landlady and agent and finally signed the contract. Apart from helping me with the apartment, they also helped me with many other things, such as opening a bank account, getting a Chinese mobile phone, contract Internet in my apartment, even getting a gym.

 

 

yiyang ye [yiyang.ye@gmail.com] :  2009 Tsinghua SEM Exchange from Spain

 

Thank to Beijing Buddy I found my apartments. My buddy helped me see a variety of apartments and also gave me some useful advice. They arranged some apartment viewings and introduced me some house agents as well. They gave me different options and they were patient all the time. My buddy also went with me to different areas in Beijing. Beijing Buddy is a very helpful organization for exchange students in order to find apartments.  Beijingbuddy also helped me find an internship which leveraged my bilingual ability in Spanish and Mandarin after my study!!! 

 

Carlos Siu [carlos.siu@gmail.com]   2010 Full-Time Guanghua IMBA

After I got to BJ, I received an email from the MBA program office about the Beijingbuddy system. After I have searched for apartments for a while and still haven't found one with satisfactions, I registered on the Beijingbuddy webpage to seek help. In less than two days, Allen (09' IMBA) contacted me and arranged a meeting with the agent, then we checked out 4 apartments which are near to the school. When I made the decision on renting an apartment, Allen helped me in negotiating the rents, and we successfully got the monthly rent deducted a few percentages. The Beijingbuddy system hooked me up with the MBA students and the reliable local agents in searching apartments. Also, their experience sharing, advises and rent negotiations are very valuable to the new studnets who are not familiar with Beijing local environment. Dealing with the agents was a tedious thing, but Beijingbuddy made it easier and shorter in length of time. Other than this, they also provided a lot of advises about getting a living permit and banking related questions.

 Thanks for the help from Beijingbuddy!!!