Former Polish au pair Martyna tells us what being an au pair in America means to her!
It’s amazing to think that almost two years ago to the day I was starting my Au Pair in America adventure. At that point in my life I was only 18 years old, had just finished school and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my future. The only thing I knew was that I enjoyed looking after children, I wanted to travel and make my dreams come true.
Through my year as an au pair I became part of an amazing host family who treated me as their daughter and sister. I never felt like they didn’t want me there and I never regretted my decision to spend a year in the USA. I had some bad days of course and sometimes I just wanted to go home and see my family, but I didn’t let those days spoil my experience and I believe that made me stronger and that’s why I have ended up where I am today.
One of the best things about being an Au Pair in America for me was the chance it gave me to travel around the USA. I planned a few trips and went travelling by myself and that was one of the best experiences of my life. I spent one week travelling around the West Coast of America. I started in Seattle, flew to San Francisco for two days, took a bus to LA and then I joined a Trek America trip and with a group of super fun women, we went camping in Arizona and in the Grand Canyon National Park and our trip ended in Las Vegas. The trip was full of wonderful views and breath-taking moments and I will never forget it.
I also got to explore parts of the USA with my host family. We spent Christmas in South Carolina and I was amazed how warm it was for December! Since it was a little Southern town I had the chance to explore the town, watch lots of movies with my host mother and during the day I took my host children for bike rides around the neighbourhood. Since they loved that place so much we went back for Easter and we went to this amazing horse show, we all got dressed up and ate a fabulous lunch in a huge tent which looked better than most of the restaurants I have ever been too. I love my host family and we still e-mail each other all the time. They are coming to visit me in London later this year and I am so excited about that!
Being an Au Pair and living with my amazing host family helped me to realise that I can do whatever I want to do with my life and if I try hard enough there are no limits to what I can achieve. At the beginning of my time as an au pair I just wanted to see Times Square and be able to say that I had been to New York but being in my host kids lives and having the opportunity to be a role model to them, changed everything completely. I believe that becoming an au pair was my very first big dream which came true and since then I’ve had so many amazing experiences and opportunities which I wouldn’t of had if I hadn’t been an au pair.
