Month Four: Summer is Coming

It’s now December. I have been abroad for four months and working full time for my host family for three. I have realized this is not for me; Au Pairing that is. Unfortunately, the family and I are not a good match. It is different than I thought it was going to be so I’ve decided to leave them. I just gave them my 2 weeks notice and will be leaving on December 17th.

Now what? It look me 5 years to get over here and now I am leaving the people who made it possible? First off, they agreed that this wasn’t a good match. The combination of me being the third Au Pair and the children getting older has made things different for me than the previous two Au Pairs. This made it easier for me to leave, but it was still hard not to take is personally. Second, I’ve learned so much about myself here that I want to take the rest of the year to continue to grow personally. So, I am giving up on this family but I am not giving up on living abroad.

Option 1: find another host family. I talked and interviewed with a few other families. All of them fell through. I am NOT going home. This was going to be my year in France. Or was it?

Option 2: move to another country. I applied for a working holiday visa for Australia and New Zealand, and got approved for New Zealand. Thats it! I’m moving to Auckland in January.

I am happy to announce that I will be moving to my second foreign country and seeing a whole other continent. I don’t have much planned and I kind of like it that way. All I know is where I am staying for the first week. I don’t have a job. I don’t know anyone. All I know is English. All I know is that I am ready for this new adventure.

What was a big life change that “just happened” to you?!