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| Enjoying the view with some new friends |
I'm Blair, a 24 year old guy from Australia currently au pairing in Barcelona. I never expected to become an au pair, it was only teetering in my mind once I met some Spanish au pairs living in Glasgow. After having them tell me about their experiences I went on au pair world and made myself a profile to connect with families from various cities around Europe. I decided to return to Barcelona, I had lived there previously so had already connections in the city. However I did want a new experience, something a little different from my last time living in Barcelona. The first time I was living in a shared flat in the city centre, so I decided to go with a family living in a small village about an hour outside of the city. After a successful first 6 weeks with this family, they asked me to stay 6 more, which I happily accepted, and then after another successful 6 weeks my au pair experience has turned into 14 months.
I am currently with my second host family, back in the city centre but for a more temporary period of time - 2 and a half months. Now it has been 16 months, and I have made so many great memories and experiences with great friends. Personally I did not find myself hanging out with too many other au pairs, but I was coming back to city I had lived before therefore I already had a good group of friends, but when you are heading to live in a big city other expats are usually easy to spot and keen to make new friends, and locals as well are always curious about foreigners living in their city. Having the free time that you do being an au pair makes it much easier to spend time with friends and really enjoy the city, and country as well. Most of my time au pairing has been spent exploring Catalunya with friends during the mornings and on the weekends. The downfall is that of course working few hours and having the free accommodation and food is a low wage, but if you plan it out just right it can go a long way.
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| making my special croquetas on a beach where i like to go camping |
If I could do something differently with my au pair experience, I would definetly not stay in one place for over a year - au pairing is a great way to see the world but it is only something that I could do for 18 months maximum - maybe 6 months in three cities would have been a better plan for me but as I have other commitments in Barcelona now I have stayed here for much longer than intended. I didn't really get into this expecting to get a lot, I just wanted to get away from the cold of Glasgow, improve my spanish and spend a few more nights with a girl I had met my last time in the city. I'm currently writing this while in Barcelona, I dont feel uncomfortable communicating with locals in either spanish or catalan and i'm now dating the girl, so I guess I achieved all that I came for.
One thing I have really enjoyed about this experience is the window it gives you to see the world. I like to people watch and could be seen as a bit of an anthropologist, so to be able to enter into a new family, and the social environments that I have been able to while au pairing has been quite interesting for me. People don't really expect a young guy to be au pairing and having fun running around a city with two kids, but when they see it and talk to me or hear about what i'm doing, I am often welcomed into situations I wouldn't typically be involved in and for me that has made my (second) time in Barcelona even more exciting.
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| Au pairing - the easiest way to see the world on a dime! |
Tyzana is a 24 year old vagabond who was excited to explore the world before settling down. She ended up having some positive and negatives experiences in Canada and the USA that have helped her to discover more about herself and become the person she is today!
"I'm from South Africa, Cape Town to be more specific. I always wanted to visit America and I loved kids so I thought an au pair year would be great especially since I had no idea what I wanted to study after high school. My first experience was both good and bad - I had a crazy family at first. I was 19, had never left my country before, in fact had never been on a plane before. I was terrified and got very little help from the agency but I went into rematch and was extremely blessed. I ended up with a family in Oahu, Hawaii for 9 months. This was truly the most amazing place I've ever been. It allowed me to become who I really was. I discovered my love for hiking and surfing here. Even though I'm from Cape Town and we have all these amazing things I was stuck in a comfort zone that i didn't want to leave. When I returned home I was a new person.
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| Flexible schedules make travelling easy peasy |
I got restless after 2 years and wanted to Travel again. I picked Canada because I heard how nice everyone is and how beautiful the country is. Bare in mind it doesn't get below 0 Celsius in Cape Town - EVER! I ended up in a tiny town called Fort McMurray - my first mistake. The people in this town were not your typical Canadians. They were all rude and money hungry. It is an oil town and everyone works a crazy Schedule. I felt very taken advantage of living here and had little freedom because there was nothing and nowhere to go for hours. My host kids were my life. I still think about them every day. Winter was brutal, -40 Celsius but I got to see snow for the first time and go sledding which was incredible. I made a decision while there that Canada was not for me and that I wanted to go back to America one last time.
With the au pair program in America you cannot come back after the age of 26 so this would be my last year or 2. I'm extremely happy I made this decision. I have travelled extensively this time round. I've visited around 19 States and have a road trip coming up that will take me through another 9! I've lived in San Francisco and currently in Los Angeles. I couldn't picture my life any other way. I'd love to keep doing this, and pick a different country next time.
This experience has taught me so much; how to stand up for myself if I'm not happy with something, how to make friends more easily, be more adventurous, try things that scare me and most importantly it showed me who I really am."
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| The Darling Parc Guell |
Sara is a 20 year old gal from Newcastle, Australia who is absolutely frothing good vibes and positive energy. Keen to travel and learn more about foreign cultures decided to have a quick month of au pairing just outside of Barcelona to chill out between months of consistent travel.
"I was travelling Europe for months when I decided I need a little break from being on the road. I made an Au Pair World account one day in Portugal and I instantly had families contact me! After a few days I went through messages and my own searches to find a family that suited me and my travel. As I only wanted something super temporary (1 month) I thought my chances were slim however I found a Spanish family looking at having their first Au Pair, so used my month stay as a test run for their family.
After Skype sessions, photos and messaging I jumped on a plane bound for Barcelona, putting my complete trust in this family to be who they said they were. And it all worked out...
I had the most amazing home in the village of El Papiol (20 minutes out of Barcelona) with the kindest family and loads of free time to head into the city and meet up with other Au Pairs.
Most days were spent getting my girls off to school, roaming the streets of Barca with my new found Au Pair Gals, sipping sangria for lunch and laying on the beach before picking the kids up from school, teaching English and maintaining the house hold for their parents. Most nights we would meet up again for some dinner and drinks or check out the bars and clubs of Barcelona.
Before doing it all over again...
Positives - lived for free with a all my food, accomodation and transport paid for. Plus a 50€ allowance weekly.
Made loads of friends to spend my days with.
Had a great family that I could learn Spanish from.
Negatives - really nothing but being very picky, it would've been better to be more central and closer to the city.
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| Not just any free food - but Spanish cuisine |
I wouldn't change a thing about my time as an Au Pair. The experience gave me time to relax and have stability rather than constantly being on the move and travelling. It gave me time to plan for my next stage of the trip and to re fresh.
If your looking at doing a long term trip for at least 4 months plus, I would highly recommend finding a short stay half way through to refresh, plan, save money and learn about a culture more in depth. It will make you appreciate your past and future travels and give you time to re think your trips purpose."
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