January 6th, 2019

Finally, I had sent my first application to the organization iSt (Internationale Sprach- und Studienreisen). I chose this organization because it was recommended to me by a friend. She had been in Australia with this organization as an Au Pair the year before. I had looked at the homepage and it all convinced me directly. So I made my decision to travel with this organization.

When applying, I had to briefly state my name, address, language skills and childcare experience. After five minutes everything was already done and I was able to send my application.

January 7th, 2019

The very next day I got an e-mail that my application had been received. I also received an overview of what has to be in the application which will be submitted to my host families. What was done so quickly and easy the day before was now a bit more difficult.

Now I had six weeks to complete the documents for the host families and the organization, to prepare a photo collage, in which I introduce myself, my hobby’s and my family and to write a letter to my future host family, in which I introduce myself again. Furthermore I had to give in my experience in child care, to go to a doctor who filled out a medical certificate, to apply for my passport and add a lot of other documents.

February 19th, 2019

After six weeks in which I carefully prepared my application, I now had it complete and could finally send it back to my organization.

February 20th, 2019

On the following day I received an e-mail from my organization that my documents are complete and could now be submitted to the host families in Australia. I was relieved that everything was detailed and complete. Because I had put a lot of work into my application over the past six weeks. I was a little afraid that something was missing or that I had done something wrong.

February 21st, 2019

On this day I was a little bit overwhelmed haha. I had received four e-mails. From the organization in Germany as well as from the partner organization in Australia. In one of those e-mails I received the access data to my au pair profile, where I could look at the profiles from the host families who are interested in me. I immediately logged in and already had “2 matched families” on my profile which made me very happy.

I read the families profiles and looked at their photos. If I was interested in the family I could get in touch with them via e-mail.

February 24th, 2019

I had a telephone interview with someone from my organization in Germany so that they could assess my English skills. Before the telephone call I was really nervous as I didn´t knew what to expect. The woman asked me some questions for twenty minutes (this can be pretty long sometimes haha). She asked me for example why I want to be an au pair, what my hobby’s are, questions about my family, what I would do if I got homesick and how I would deal with children in a certain situation. According to my own assessment the interview was not good at all. I was absolutely nervous and stuttered the whole time.

After a few days I was able to see my rating on my profile, which the host families also see. All questions and my answers were written down so now the families could see them too. My English skills were rated with 7 out of 10 points, which made me happy, because after this interview I would had assessed my English skills much worse.

March 4th, 2019

Every day I checked my profile to see if other families were interested in me as an au pair. This day I contacted the first family I was interested in.

Once again I was totally nervous when I sent my e-mail. In the following days I checked my e-mails over and over again to make sure I didn’t miss anything. 10 days later I got an answer, but we never met up on Skype.

April 3rd, 2019

Up to this day I had no Skype conversation and was barely in contact with families. I panicked a little bit because I had been looking for a family for over a month and still wasn’t a step further and my departure date should be in four months. There was still enough time, but if you consider what I had to do before, I thought that it would slowly become scarce.

I contacted my organization and shortly afterwards I received an answer that the families are currently looking for an au pair for June and July. The families who would like to host an au pair from August on would start looking for an au pair in a few weeks. I calmed down and I wasn’t worried anymore.

April 25th, 2019

Finally I had my first Skype-interview. The family contacted me a few days earlier and we arranged a meet up on Skype. Once again I was totally nervous, because I absolutely didn’t know what to expect.

At first the family who were very nice asked me some questions about me, my hobby’s, my family and my experiences in child care. I already prepared myself a little for these questions before the interview. And I also prepared some questions which the family answered for me. All in all, we skyped for twenty minutes. I was a little surprised that it was so “long” because it seemed much shorter to me. Also I was a little disappointed that it was already over, because once you got used to speak in English, it wasn’t so bad anymore. I had to admit I was a little surprised that it was so easy for me to understand everything the family said because of the connection it is not always so easy.

May 2019

During this month I was in contact with some families. We wrote E-Mails or meet up on Skype. Before every Skype Interview I was really nervous. But every time the time went by very quickly and it wasn’t as bad as I expected.

Until then I didn’t matched with a family yet even though I was in contact with some of them for a long time.

Every night when I woke up, I looked at my phone to see if I had received an email from a family. As soon as an E-mail arrived in the middle of the night I read it immediately.

June 2019

After I still hadn’t found a family at the beginning of June, I slowly became nervous. My departure date was only two months away and I still had no family.

June 15th, 2019

My organization offered a preparation workshop for the au pair stay, in which I also participated. With me there were also other au pairs who will go to Australia, New Zealand or the United States. We received important information about living in a foreign country and in the host family, about the visa and about child care.

I also talked to the other au pairs and many of them hadn’t found a host family yet. So my fear of not finding a family became a little less.

At the beginning when we were all sitting together, we hadn’t talked yet and the woman’s from the organization were talking about the life in a foreign country and a foreign family (among other things they also listed the risks), my first thought was: What the hell are you doing here?

But after they told us about the experiences of the other au pairs and the positive aspects of the life as an au pair, I was really excited. By now I had also talked to other au pairs and got to know very nice people. At the end of the almost five-hour workshop I was so excited that I would have liked to pack my suitcase right away.

June 16th, 2019

By now I had my fifth Skype-Interview. The first Skype-Interview with my host family. I skyped with the host mother and we got along very well. She also made a friendly impression on me.

Only 10 minutes after we finished our Skype call, she wrote me an E-Mail asking me if I wanted to get to know her children. Right away we arranged a meet up for the next week.

June 18th, 2019

On this day I had meet the children of the family and their current au pair on Skype. The children were more interested in their toys than in me but they still made a funny and loving impression on me.

June 19th, 2019

On the following day I meet up again with the current au pair of the family. I asked her some questions about the family and the life as an au pair. Everything she told me about the host parents and the children convinced me. Afterwards I wrote another e-mail to the host mother that I would like to skype with her again.

June 23rd, 2019

A few days later I skyped with the host dad. He was also very nice. He already showed me a little bit from their house and told me a lot about their family and the responsibilities as an au pair that would come up to me.

June 26th, 2019

On this day I met the host mother again on Skype. She asked me what my impression of the family was and if I could imagine being their next au pair. At the end of our conversation she told me she would talk to her husband and then contact me in the next few days.

Of course I hoped that they would choose me because I could imagine very well living in this family as an au pair.

June 27th, 2019

Finally I had received an e-mail from my host family asking me if I would like to be their next au pair as they thought that I would fit in well into their family. I was so happy and excited.

My family from Sydney consists of the host mother, the host dad and two boys who are three and four years old.

My host mother had sent me a second e-mail saying that her current au pair would stay there for another two weeks when I arrive. She will show me everything and support me in these weeks. I was happy to have another au pair in the first weeks that can show and teach me everything.

July 2019

During this time I was often in contact with my host family. We have clarified the most important information and exchanged photos. We also wrote a lot of e-mails asking each other (funny) questions in order to get to know each other better.

As the day of my arrival we have agreed on the 24th of August. From this day on I started counting the days because I couldn’t wait anymore.

Now I could buy my suitcase, apply for my visa, book my flight, apply for my credit card, pay all the bills, complete the insurance and write my packing list.

Furthermore I wrote a lot of e-mails with my host family. And my host mother had already invited me to a camping trip in October.

August 2019

Now it was time to make the final preparations. I got Australian dollars to have some money with me in the first days, bought a socket adapter, refreshed my vaccinations, did some last errands and bought the presents for my host family.

I already was in contact with other au pairs from Sydney I met on Facebook.

And then everything was done and I could finally pack my bags.