From Scotland to Washington D.C, au pair Laura gives us the lowdown on why she became an Au Pair in America and her experience of life in the US so far!
Hi everyone!
My name is Laura Shaw from Scotland and I am currently an au pair in Washington DC. I chose to be an au pair because I really enjoying caring for children and I wanted to live with an American family and learn about different cultures. I’d also like to pursue a career in childcare when I return home so being an au pair was the perfect choice for me and of course I wanted to travel around the USA…. who doesn’t!
ORIENTATION
Orientation was really interesting! I already had an understanding of most of the things we talked about, but it’s always good to refresh your memory and American families sometimes like to do things slightly different from the UK when it comes to childcare. The Orientation trainers who teach the classes were really friendly and approachable. Our training took place over a couple of days and once you’d finished your training each day, you had free time. On the second night you have the option to go on a tour of NYC which I highly recommend. It was such a great way to see New York City and get to know the other au pairs. All the girls I spoke to were SO welcoming and I gained some great friends during Orientation.
MY EXPERIENCE SO FAR
I was super nervous about meeting my host family but as soon as I saw them that feeling disappeared and I was just excited for my experience with them to start. My au pair year has been incredible so far, I have travelled to so many places I never thought I would get to see in my life. New York City and New Orleans have been my favourite places so far. I have trips planned for nearly every month so I’m definitely making the most of living in this amazing country and visiting as many different states, cities and must see locations as I can. For my educational credits, I attended a New Orleans class which included learning about Hurricane Katrina, Mardi Gras, different types of music and traditional Louisianan food. I also got to visit New Orleans to complete the course which was AMAZING! We attended a tour on the Saturday morning and we had the rest of the weekend to explore the vibrant city. My next course is Art and Architecture which is a course in DC, I will attend this in September to complete my educational credits
I strongly recommend this experience to everyone I speak to who is thinking about becoming an au pair. It’s an opportunity that might not come around again so grab it while you can! It gives you more experience looking after children, you can immerse yourself in the US culture and you get to do so much travelling either with your host family, by yourself or with your friends. I have met the most amazing people here, from all over the world and now have so many incredible friends who I know I’ll keep in touch with. The best part of this whole experience for me has been looking after my host kids, watching them learn new things every day and seeing them grow in their personalities.
Become an Au Pair in America, follow your dream and like me, you’ll be so proud that you did it !
