Leaving your boyfriend? your family? your friends?

I might not be the best person to talk about this subject because I'm a very selffish spoiled only child. When I decided to be an Au Pair I had to fight against my mom and grandma's opnion. I couldn't leave college in the middle of my course so I waited until I was graduated to start filling the application. My grandma never accepted the fact I was leaving her to live with a new family. She felt like she was been betrayed. After I graduated all I wanted was match with a family as soon as possible. By this time my mom was supporting me with everything, not my grandma. We are responsible to create the relationship with our relatives. If you let them guide your life and your choices you'll always be under their wings. If you make a choice and show them you want to grow and make your own path, they will let you fly with your wings. They are older than you and have their lives all set. Not you! It's time to wake up and think about yourself. After your time abroad you'll come back and see that nothing has changed, only you!!! Cut the strings and go, go travel, go learn, go study, go work, go live!!! I've known so many girls who refused to do an exchange program because of parents and boyfriends. What a waste of time! Don't let people burn your dreams, you are a grown up! I met a girl who went to USA to be an Au Pair and didn't do anything for the first six months because she didn't want to ''upset'' her boyfriend showing him she was having a great time. Well, if he loves her, he should be really happy for her amazing experience. After six months without travelling and exploring she found out he was cheatting on her, then she started acting like crazy to revenge. What an imature actitude! On the other hand, my best friend from Sao Paulo who went to be an Au Pair and left her boyfriend in Brazil, had a very mature distance relationship. She was having a great time, travelling, learning and living a new culture while her boyfriend was in Brazil praising for her and waiting for her ''new'' girlfriend to go back to him. Can you see that you are responsable to make your relationships? It depends how mature you are to make the right choice. One year goes super fast when you're living an adventure. Don't miss it!!! Remember that things will be the same when you come back home. Everybody will have lost of love to give you and they will be so caring and happy to have you back with an amazing experience to tell them. Well, that's my very personal opnion. You may agree or disagree! It all depends how far you want to fly...wish you good luck on your choice! 

The first interview!!!

I am getting a lot of messages from future Au Pairs asking me about the first interview with the host family. Based on my personal experience I will give you some tips about questions you should give and questions you should expect from the family. I didn't have a chance to use the Skype when I matched with my first family. We just talked on the phone. On my second family I used the Skype and it was great to see the kids and the parents. First of all, pick a very quite place and don't let all your family be around you during the interview. It just makes you even more nervous. Make sure your webcam and your microphone is working well and if there is enough light in the room so they can see you. Have a note with you with the questions you should expect from them and the questions you wanna ask as well. Let me list some tips that might be helpfull:

- smile during the interview, even tough you're freaking nervous, show the family you're a happy person.

- if you don't understand, ask them to repeat and dont't pretend you understood

- show them you're interested to know about the kids, ask about the kids before asking about any other subject.

- don't go ahead and throw questions about car, vacation, payment, curfew, wait for the third interview.

- be carefull with the videos you make, don't be too revealing! pick the right outfit and a nice song.

- be carefull with your webpages like facebook, bloggs etc. Don't post pictures of you at the club or drinking and don't post anything that describe you as a bad person.

- ask them about their birthdates and try to surprise them with a call or a message even if you didn't match yet.

That's all for now and I wish you girls good luck and please contact me if you would like to talk about something else.

Kisses and Hugs!!!