Austrian Au Pair in Cambridge – Experience
This blog post is about a 25 year old girl from Vienna/ Austria. She gladly took the time to talk to us about her experience as an Austrian Au Pair in Cambridge, Bury St. Edmunds, a few years ago. Thank you a lot for your support, the Hostmum.com team wishes you all the best for your future!
From the age of seven I wanted to become an Au Pair!
I remember that I was about seven years old, when I first thought of becoming an Au Pair somewhere around the world.
Within the following years, I always kept my dream alive and finally, after school, I took the chance to realise my childhood dream and started looking for a Host Family. I love children and I never had a doubt concerning my wish to become an Au Pair.
Within a week I found my Host Family…. which was a stroke of luck!
I was particularly looking for an English Family as I knew that I wanted, apart from taking care of somebody’s lovely children, to improve my English skills as well. As it is common sense that you need several weeks or even month to get a daily routine and you need some month to really improve your language skills, I was looking for a Host Family for a period of a year up to two years.
I was searching online on my own and in the end, I stumbled over the homepage of AuPairWorld which I can highly recommend. Within seven days, I found my Host Family on AuPairWorld and right from the beginning, I got the feeling, that this was the right family for me. We stayed in contact before my arrival and we had a really good connection.
I only had one month before leaving Austria but due to the fact that we do not need to pass that much administrative issues, I had enough time to organise my Au Pair adventure.
Saying goodbye was tough but my Host Family gave me a warm welcome!
I do not lie when I say that saying goodbye was a little bit tough at the beginning. Although my parents and friends agreed on staying in touch almost every day, I felt a bit sad when I boarded the plane. All sadness disappeared when I first met my Host Family. The warm welcome they gave me was really nice and I felt comfortable right from the start.
The children (ages 1,5 and 2,5 years old) and me got along very well immediately. As the mother was only three years older than I, we were pretty close and she was more like a sister to me. The vivid children and the animals the family owned, helped me to fight any home sickness which disappeared only three days after my arrival. I kept in touch with my parents regularly via Skype or Facetime, so I never felt cut off from home. All in all, I can say that my Au Pair experience started with a really smooth settling in.
Making friends was no problem at all
Even before my departure I got in touch with people from the UK, so I never felt completely alone. As my English was already pretty good, I did not attend a language school but visited a sign language course and joined dancing classes where I got to know even more friends. I was paid enough pocket money to enjoy my life in Britain and went to several concerts while traveling the country.
The Au Pair experience was the best time of my life so far
My Au Pair experience was a great one and I would love to repeat it every time. I really felt so sad the moment I had to say goodbye to my Host Family. I got really lucky and we are still in contact after all this time. It is truly amazing watching the children growing up although I am not with them anymore.
My tips for prospective Au Pairs?
Well, I did not have that many problems, but the best advice is to be yourself all the time. In case you have problems, please tell the Host Family in order to give them the chance to solve problems together. Make sure that you do know your tasks in advance and do not end up as a cleaner or cheap worker. Enjoy your free time, travel as much as possible to see the country and simply enjoy your Au Pair experience!