Alright ! Let's talk on skype with your host family ! This is going to be so exciting and... WAIT ! What should you ask?

- What is going to be my TYPICAL DAY?

Ask them about a time schedule ! You want to know why? Because you don't want to work 45 hours every week for one year without knowing it before ! Ask about the work in itself : can the kids dress up by themselves? Do you need to clean the kitchen? ... Anything you have in mind !
If you know before what is going to be your work then it is all about your decision to do it or not. You won't have a surprise once you get there. And trust me, it's too late after that !

- How is my ROOM?

In this world of massive kids brain destructions you will need to have your own quiet time. And your private space, this is why you should always give a lot of importance to the room you will have. Is it close to the kids room? Is it on the top of the house? One of my friend had her own room at the top of the house + her own bathroom + TV room. Don't expect this to happen everytime, but this is for sure one good point for this host family !

- What can I do during my FREE TIME? 

You must think that is secondary... What you can do during your free time or not is what will make your au pair experience great or not ! It is as simple ! So ask those questions : 
- Will I be able to go out at night?
- Can I use the car to go to my friends?
- Are you ok if I have some friends coming to your house?
This job is great but also very tiring, you need to be able to relax and do the things you love : running, eating fat cakes, laughing with your friends, whatever !

Let’s face it : having the time to relax and enjoy your life when you are an au pair is like the moments when they write your name on your cup correctly at Starbucks. It almost never happens. But au pair vacations might be the solution and be the cherry at the top of your cake : The key to be a better english speaker, grow up faster and be proud of yourself. Here’s why you need to use those 2 short little weeks to travel in the USA and not to fly back home.

1.  Finally speaking english ! « I know you don’t want to clean your room I’m sorry but don’t poop on the table to protest » Please ! Do you know what it is to have the same conversations day after day with your host kids ? With the vacations break you finally have the opportunity to meet other people, take it ! Travel in cheap hostels, party with everyone, you will meet plenty of awesome people and won’t regret it for sure. Speaking english with your host kids will be a good english lesson on the first days but not after a few weeks.

2. 1 year is so short ! What was part of your dream when you thought of living in the USA ? Walking down NYC ? Having a coffee with George Clooney ? Hell yeah ! But certainly not to go back home ! Even for Christmas, come on! You will be there for the next one. The au pair year goes fast every au pair will tell you this so don’t make it shorter !

3. Traveling in the USA will stay as a fantastic experience. That you will have so much pleasure telling to your grand children on your rocking chair against a fire. They will be on their iPad74 so they won’t listen, but still ! San Francisco, Boston, the Grand Canyon… According to some Geography specialists the country is wider than the butt of Kim Kardashian. What are you waiting for ? Take a backpack and let’s go !

Here is a concrete and precise idea of a successful cultural trip using your au pair vacations.

South Beach, Miami

My mission with this article is to give you the motivation to live the experience entirely. Going back home when you don’t have to stay and work is just to easy. This is in those moments that you will grow up by making good choices. So be brave and get that backpack on your shoulders, eat an organic cereal bar and go somewhere with your friends !

A little thought for Kim Kardashian as she allows myself to give you a precise picture of my thoughts.

17-12-2014. 3 :50 am.

To all my friends, I think I was the only one who had finished his studies.
When I was flying to NYC for the au pair school, I was 23. Waiting for my studies to finish was so hard. I did a master. It’s long. As soon as I finished it I matched with a host family in Massachusetts and burned my note book from school right away.

Should you finish your studies first? I would say yes.

-   Being underage in the USA sucks. Let’s face it! In the country of guns where you can go to war at 18 to kill Iraqi people it is not authorized to enter in a pub with your friends if you are not 21. It is also not authorized to buy a beer at a supermarket. You can’t go to nightclubs too (officially, but a lot of night clubs go over the law).   
A funny thing: you can’t go to a night club if you are under 21 but you can go to the majority of the strip clubs of the country at 18! As long as you don’t drink alcohol.

-    You don’t have to worry about registering to universities and about the scholar timing. So no need to cut your au pair year, you can also stay more if you like it. “Aaah I have to go back home otherwise I will miss the beginning of classes”.

-    You might appreciate your au pair year more when you are more mature. Don’t forget that you are doing an adventure. You leave your family, your mom and her good pastas, you cat on your knees… Everything is new, it’s a new language for you, the food tastes different and sellers in clothes stores are always weird (especially Abercombie&Fitch). I am not saying that at 18 you won’t be a good au pair and won’t be able to “catch” all this new culture. But I am sure that you will be more prepared at the age of 21 than 18.

The problem to what I just wrote is that all my friends were au pair before their studies and found advantages of leaving before 21. And the best one is to do your studies as a new English speaking person!

So should you wait the end of your studies or should you just go as soon as you can? Let’s make it very simple: it depends of your maturity. Do you think you can handle taking care of a child, driving the family car at only 18? I don’t think I was. But my friends were!

I am always busy and running after time but I did skype a few times. With people asking me questions about the au pair experience.

If you want to talk about your au pair project with me, just send me your skype contact in the comments and I'll try to talk with you and help you the best I can.

J'ai fait plusieurs skype avec des personnes qui m'ont demandé, dans le but de parler de l'expérience au pair et aider du mieux que je peux ceux qui sont concernés.

Si vous voulez en discuter avec moi, envoyez en message privé vos contacts et j'essaierai de trouver du temps pour qu'on en discute!

(au vu de la photo j'ai d'ailleurs l'air de me marrer un maximum)

The question is: What video would like me to do now?

I am back in France but there are still plenty of subjects I did not talk about (like"why English people really can't make good food?" or "why do we French people love strikes so much?" but there are not au pair subjects)

Leave me a good idea in the comments. As a thank, I will send you an underwear (clean) with my signature.

Quelle vidéo devrais je faire maintenant?

Je suis de retour en France mais il reste encore plein de sujets intéressants à traiter.

Laissez moi une bonne idée dans les commentaires. Et en remerciement vous recevrez un pin's dédicacé pour épater vos amis.