1 Year As An Au Pair In The USA

As a 19 year old, moving half way around the world for an entire year seemed to be a very exciting but daunting prospect! After booking my place on the Gap 360 ‘Au pair In America’ program, everything began to move at an incredible pace, from having my interview with the friendly staff in the office at Tunbridge Wells to packing my bags and saying farewell to my family and friends before getting on the plane to America! And now that I am sat in my new home in New Jersey, USA with my 3 adorable host children who I help to take care of every day, I can happily say it was the best decision I have ever made. I’ve been welcomed into the home as a real member of the family and I’ve also made amazing friends that come from all over the world, who I love hanging out with in the evenings and at weekends doing stuff like visiting New York City, taking day trips to the beach just 30 minutes away from us and going to cluster meetings arranged by our lovely local co-coordinator, who is always there if you ever need help with anything at all. Thanks to Gap 360 the whole process has been very easy and the staff are always on hand if you need help with anything from getting your visa to finding your perfect host family. I would recommend the au pair program to anybody because not only do you get to become part of an American family for a year, but there is also the chance to study and travel – in the 5 months that I have been here, I have already visited Boston (twice!), Chicago, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on a skiing trip with my host family and also to visit the Amish country with my cluster group. Next month I will be taking some of my vacation time to visit Miami which I'm very excited about! I will also be taking a class at a university in New York which gives me the opportunity to go on a weekend trip to Niagara Falls in Canada. I have already taken acting classes with a New York film director who is currently helping me to reach my dream of becoming an actress. Being an Au Pair is a truly rewarding experience and I’m very excited to see what the rest of my year in America brings.