Charlotte salmeron

Working abroad as an Au pair is getting more and more popular, as it’s an easy way of learning languages, discover a new culture, and having an experience in another country. 

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But what is Au pair? An au pair is an unmarried young adult aged 18 to 30 years, who has no children and travels to a foreign country for a defined period of time to live with a host family. The au pair is considered a full member of the family during the entire stay. As such, he or she helps the family with childcare and assumes some light household tasks. In return, the host family provides free board and lodging, as well as pocket money. However, the au pair is neither a housekeeper, nor a nanny. 

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Aude, a French girl of 20 years old decided to embark on the adventure of becoming an Au pair in Chatham (Kent) and see where the future would lead her. 

‘’I wanted to start a new life abroad, as well I needed to improve my English and I knew that the best way to do it was travelling abroad, so some friends recommended me to do Au pair’’ Aude explained. 

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After speaking with her parents and giving it a though, Aude decided to initiate the search of her new host family through the globally website known as aupairworld.com. 

AuPairWorld is the world`s leading au pair agency  on the Internet. By using AuPairWorld, you have the opportunity to find your au pair or host family directly and independently.  
 

-AuPairWorld allows you to find your au pair or host family according to your own wishes without the interference and high expense of a traditional agency. 

-All of the profiles of au pairs and host families listed at AuPairWorld are up-to-date and carefully checked by our experienced staff. 

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 ‘’The fact of been far away from my family scared me. At the beginning, my mum wasn’t really convinced, she never liked everything related with the internet ,however, my dad was the opposite , despite the fact that he was scared ,he wanted the best for me and he helped me a lot’’. 

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3 Quotes from Different Au pairs that resume their experience : 

1.The past is like an anchor holding us back. You have to let go of who you are to become who you will be. 

2.One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching it. 

3.Life brings you to unexpected places, love brings you home. 

 

There are 2 ways to register as an au pair, you can either do it online which is free but less secure, or you can do it privately with an agency which means you would have to pay to register, but you would have a security insurance, plus they would find a host family where you could match. 

As soon as Aude was registered onto the page, one week later she found her host family in Chatham. 

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‘’They sent me a message, saying that they liked my profile and  they were interested on me, so we did Skype ,to avoid possible fraud as is not always secure’’. 

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Sometimes you need to be aware about registering yourself as an Au pair on the internet, some Mafias can create fake family profiles to mislead young people who are anxious of traveling and trying new experiences. 

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‘’It happened to one of my colleagues, it turns out that the family that contacted her, asked her to send money to them because they had to book her room, when normally you don’t need to book a room or even to send money,” Aude stated, “So I suggest to someone who would like to do Au pair that they should be careful and always do Skype with the host family before doing anything.’ 

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Scam or scammer are those creating a fake Au Pair / Host Family profile to get some benefit from the Au Pair program. 

Be aware :Scammers will ask you for money as soon as they see such opportunity.   

Usually, scammers will contact you through email, Facebook or by phone so that we cannot  further  follow their steps and block them. 

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Also, they might want you to contact a specific real estate agent   who is supposed to help you to rent a room close to their place; they will offer to pay for the room but you will need to send some money in advance to prove that you are committed  to become their Au Pair. 

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Aude arrived knowing just a Basic English and she ended up having a B2 certificate in English. 

‘’It was really difficult at the beginning to have a proper conversation with the family and the child. However I could manage the situation as the only language that they could speak was English, I had no choice so I was just practicing and practicing , and that lead me to end up with a bit of accent’’. 

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Aude had the best time of her life. However, she had difficult times as well as she was away from her family and friends. 

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‘‘I had a really good time in those 6 months, we laugh, dance, went to the cinema, went to Wales for holidays etc..., I’ll never forget any of these experiences, of course it was difficult because sometimes as I was away from my family and friends but in spite of that I would like to say to those   who are scared of doing Au pair work, they should definitely do it, because there is no reward in life without risk.’’ 

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Aude is now studying at Exeter University as she got accepted after she finished au pairing.