I’ve been living with my host family for about three weeks now and I can already tell you what I think are the best things to look for when you are deciding which family to choose. By the way, anyone can do this. If you are looking for a way to take a gap year before or after college, to travel with a decent income, or to simply immerse yourself in a new culture, I would highly recommend looking into being an Au Pair. I started my experience by creating an account on aupairworld.com. Simply fill out basic information, and then use the search bar to look for a family that fits your hopes- and theirs! Here are some things to keep in mind when searching.
Make sure they are willing to video call you in some way before meeting in person.
This is crucial since you are going to be LIVING with them. You want to make sure that they are friendly over the phone, that their home seems welcoming to you, and that their kids seem well-behaved.
Create a list of what you are hoping for during your experience.
You are going to live with a family to help their kids learn another language, but you also need to make sure that you are happy. If you are wondering about your own room, ask. If you want to be able to walk to the nearest train station, ask. If you want to make sure that you are being paid, ask. There is a perfect family for everyone- you just have to keep looking.
Location, Location, Location!
To all the HGTV fans out there, you know what I’m talking about. Really, this is talking about home value, but in this case, we’re talking about the value of your EXPERIENCE. You may or may not have been to the country you want to become an au pair in. Let’s say you have. You might already have a city in mind that you loved when you first visited it, and now you would like to live there. On aupairworld.com you can search by city and country. When you find a potential host family, ask them about their location and where you can go within walking distance, bus, train, etc.
I wouldn’t change anything about the way I found my host family. I think I got lucky with choosing the perfect family. But, this won’t be the case for everyone. By paying attention to these three things, I’m sure everyone can find a family that they are comfortable with.
