My name is Michelle and I’m working for TOSS au pair services. 7 years ago I was lucky to spend 1 year as an au pair in the Netherlands. In this blogpost I would like to inspire future Au Pairs to consider going to the beautiful small country that I have totally fallen in love with.
Why I decided to become au pair
Back in 2016 I had just graduated from University, I had the diploma in my hand and I thought, “what do I want to do next?”. It was clear to me that I did not wanted to start a new job right away but I wanted to travel and experience something new. I started by searching online for exchange programs as, what is the best to experience a new country for a longer period of time? I came across a blog from a girl who was an au pair in Germany and this was how I found out about the au pair program. I immediately started doing research on the countries I was interested in, the Netherlands been one of them.
When I shared this with my family, they were a bit skeptical about the whole idea but thankfully, they ultimately supported me in the process and it turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life.
Time to find a host family
Once I had decided that I wanted to become an au pair, I went on and started searching for potential host families. I found my dream host family quite quickly; they were an international host family as my host mother, Carla, is from Mexico and my host dad, from the Netherlands. After a few video calls, where we all made sure to get to know each other and ask many many questions, my host family asked if I wanted to come to the Netherlands as their au pair.
The next couple of months I spent time preparing all my documents with the help of an au pair agency and they made sure to guide us through the process until I was able to fly to the Netherlands. I was very relieved to know that in the Netherlands it was mandatory to go through the process with an au pair agency as they make sure you have all the correct documents, apply for your visa and support you during your stay in the Netherlands.
Finally all set and ready to go
I travelled to the Netherlands in June of 2017 and already on my first days, I experienced some cultural shock. Not only the country looked completely different from where I came from, but it was very cold and rainy (I assumed it would be very warm and sunny as that what you can expect in summer, right?) and next to this, everyone was biking everywhere! Although I was experiencing cultural shocks, my host parents and their lovely son, Oliver, made me feel like I was part of their family and included me in everything!
My daily life as an au pair
My daily routine was quite structured but I always had some free time to explore the town I was living at, visit other towns close by and attend a Dutch course that was paid by my host family. In the mornings I was in charge of waking up Oliver and get him ready for school. Once he was ready, I would prepare his breakfast and then take him to school. When I was back at the house, I helped with some light tasks such as laundry and tidying up the common living areas. As soon as I was finished, I had time for myself. Around 3pm I had to pick up Oliver from school and when were back at the house, I would prepare him some snacks and then it was playtime! As dinner time approached, I would begin with some dinner preparations and then my host mom would take over as she loved to prepare dinner for everyone.
My time off
I was always off on the weekends and I had plenty of time to go with my friends to explore cities like Amsterdam, Utrecht and Den Haag. It’s good to know that because the Netherlands is a small country, you can get almost anywhere by public transport (I would recommend the NS card with a weekend free subscription). During my year in the Netherlands, I was able to meet people from all over the world and made amazing friendships with other au pairs from Brazil.
Lifetime memories…
Something that was a game changer in my relationship with my host family, was the fact that I was always welcome to have breakfast and dinner with them (even on my days off). This gave us a moment to finally catch up after a busy week. We would talk about our week and how everything went and we would briefly discuss the next week and if we could do something differently. I’m so glad I was able to share so many beautiful moments with them, like the birth of their beautiful daughter, Julie. Yes, I started my au pair year with a family of 3 and ended with a family of 4😊 During this year I also accomplished the goal of teaching Oliver Spanish, which was also one of the reasons why my host mom decided to host a Spanish speaking au pair.
If you have a dream, make it happen!
Those 12 months in the Netherlands definitely made me braver, more self-confident and more open-minded and I am so grateful for all the experiences I was able to gain! So if you would ask me if I recommend this program, I would 100% recommend it.
