What the heck am I doing in Madrid? (or Gap Year Ideas pt 2)
Hello, Reader!
Seeing as I've been in Madrid for over two full weeks at this point, I think I've had enough time here to write about how I'm finding it and how you could as well! Before I left, every time I told anyone about the fact that I'm moving to Madrid for 3 months to look after somebody else's kid, the only question I got was "aren't you scared?" Truthfully, it only hit me the night before my flight to Poznan - suddenly I realised that it's my last night at home for a while and how scared I will be to move to a whole new country by myself.
When I decided to take a gap year, I spent a really long time doing research and figuring out what I want to do with it. Pretty much by accident, I stumbled upon an au pair-ing ad and I thought I could give it a shot. I used an agency called Destino Idiomas and the application process was really really drawn out, because of how many documents are actually necessary; I had to send in an introduction letter, a video introduction, photos of me with my friends and family and, of course, the usual documents like medical report or criminal record check. This was all so that the families who receive my file could see what kind of person I am and whether they would like to welcome me into their home. However, before all of this, I had to send out an initial application which showed the agency why I would like to get this opportunity and whether they want to support me through the process. This was followed by a Skype interview with Ana from Destino Idiomas to assess my English, as well as my Spanish, (which has definitely improved since September,) and to discuss my expectations and preferences about the type of family or type of city I'd like to be placed in. Once I've sent all my documents, I was sent files of some families which matched my preferences and whose preferences matched me! Then, I got the chance to choose which family sounded the most appealing to me and I was lucky enough that they liked me too - we had a skype interview, exchanged numbers, signed a contract... and, a couple of months later, here I am!
When I applied, I didn't really know what I was getting into until I started to hear more about the role that the au pairs play in the house (depending on the child's age, the family etc.,). Often au pairs take care of almost everything... cleaning, cooking, bathing children. I knew that I definitely did not want to do that, but Ana reassured me that families in Spain are very different from those in London or in England in general. She explained that the majority of the time, Spanish families decide to have au pairs out of the desire to help their children become fluent in English rather than out of the need to run a household - it really differs between countries and between families.
So what do I actually do? I help a six-year-old Girl become more confident in speaking English. My days are pretty similar during the week. I wake up around 8am to have breakfast with Girl and help her get ready for school. Then I have some free time until I have to pick her up from school at 3pm which means I have 6 hours to do anything I want with my time. Then, we have a few hours of playing and homework - the amount of time depends on the day. Girl has a lot of extracurricular activities so any time she's at home is the time I'm working with her and assisting her with everyday tasks except I speak in English rather than her usual, Spanish. When she goes to her activities, I have a little more free time and then when she returns I eat dinner with her and help her get ready for bed. She's full of energy and has a thousand ideas per minute so my working hours are never boring.
The first week I was here was extremely difficult because it combined the natural process of settling in with the worst cold I have experienced in years. I spent my entire first day here in bed, sleeping until 4pm and the next few coughing my lungs out. When I regained full brain power a few days in, my emotional state was at an all-time low - I cried every time I briefly thought of home or when something mildly inconvenient happened. This lasted about two days before I took some time to write a reflection and realised that damn, why am I crying? It's not that much of a long time and I get to live in a whole another country with endless opportunities. That day I decided that I will spend every weekend exploring something new and I will focus my time on my Spanish, preparation for my exam in June, my art and reading. I've been reading so much since I got here, at first to just pass time, but now, I feel like there isn't enough of it. I'm feeling so so so much better now and my weekends are already planned full 3 weeks in advance because I have no time to waste sitting and moping about!
I try to make the most of my time here through using every one of my free hours productively. I attend Spanish language lessons four days a week and try to speak Spanish with my host mum whenever I can so that I can take a huge leap towards my "master Spanish" goal for 2019 - and I think it's going pretty well so far! Now that I finally have a travel card, I can also explore Madrid in all its glory whenever I have a little more free time, which is usually Fridays and Sundays since I don't have class on Fridays and Sundays are my days off. So far, I've had a wander around but soon enough I will be planning trips to museums! The free time I have apart from this, I spend furthering my other goals - whether they are related to my art, my reading, my Spanish or my studies... but sometimes, like a normal person, I just take time for myself and start a new Netflix series.
Make the most of any situation, even if it scares the life out of you at first.
Love, Agnes xo
Seeing as I've been in Madrid for over two full weeks at this point, I think I've had enough time here to write about how I'm finding it and how you could as well! Before I left, every time I told anyone about the fact that I'm moving to Madrid for 3 months to look after somebody else's kid, the only question I got was "aren't you scared?" Truthfully, it only hit me the night before my flight to Poznan - suddenly I realised that it's my last night at home for a while and how scared I will be to move to a whole new country by myself.
When I decided to take a gap year, I spent a really long time doing research and figuring out what I want to do with it. Pretty much by accident, I stumbled upon an au pair-ing ad and I thought I could give it a shot. I used an agency called Destino Idiomas and the application process was really really drawn out, because of how many documents are actually necessary; I had to send in an introduction letter, a video introduction, photos of me with my friends and family and, of course, the usual documents like medical report or criminal record check. This was all so that the families who receive my file could see what kind of person I am and whether they would like to welcome me into their home. However, before all of this, I had to send out an initial application which showed the agency why I would like to get this opportunity and whether they want to support me through the process. This was followed by a Skype interview with Ana from Destino Idiomas to assess my English, as well as my Spanish, (which has definitely improved since September,) and to discuss my expectations and preferences about the type of family or type of city I'd like to be placed in. Once I've sent all my documents, I was sent files of some families which matched my preferences and whose preferences matched me! Then, I got the chance to choose which family sounded the most appealing to me and I was lucky enough that they liked me too - we had a skype interview, exchanged numbers, signed a contract... and, a couple of months later, here I am!
When I applied, I didn't really know what I was getting into until I started to hear more about the role that the au pairs play in the house (depending on the child's age, the family etc.,). Often au pairs take care of almost everything... cleaning, cooking, bathing children. I knew that I definitely did not want to do that, but Ana reassured me that families in Spain are very different from those in London or in England in general. She explained that the majority of the time, Spanish families decide to have au pairs out of the desire to help their children become fluent in English rather than out of the need to run a household - it really differs between countries and between families.
So what do I actually do? I help a six-year-old Girl become more confident in speaking English. My days are pretty similar during the week. I wake up around 8am to have breakfast with Girl and help her get ready for school. Then I have some free time until I have to pick her up from school at 3pm which means I have 6 hours to do anything I want with my time. Then, we have a few hours of playing and homework - the amount of time depends on the day. Girl has a lot of extracurricular activities so any time she's at home is the time I'm working with her and assisting her with everyday tasks except I speak in English rather than her usual, Spanish. When she goes to her activities, I have a little more free time and then when she returns I eat dinner with her and help her get ready for bed. She's full of energy and has a thousand ideas per minute so my working hours are never boring.
The first week I was here was extremely difficult because it combined the natural process of settling in with the worst cold I have experienced in years. I spent my entire first day here in bed, sleeping until 4pm and the next few coughing my lungs out. When I regained full brain power a few days in, my emotional state was at an all-time low - I cried every time I briefly thought of home or when something mildly inconvenient happened. This lasted about two days before I took some time to write a reflection and realised that damn, why am I crying? It's not that much of a long time and I get to live in a whole another country with endless opportunities. That day I decided that I will spend every weekend exploring something new and I will focus my time on my Spanish, preparation for my exam in June, my art and reading. I've been reading so much since I got here, at first to just pass time, but now, I feel like there isn't enough of it. I'm feeling so so so much better now and my weekends are already planned full 3 weeks in advance because I have no time to waste sitting and moping about!
I try to make the most of my time here through using every one of my free hours productively. I attend Spanish language lessons four days a week and try to speak Spanish with my host mum whenever I can so that I can take a huge leap towards my "master Spanish" goal for 2019 - and I think it's going pretty well so far! Now that I finally have a travel card, I can also explore Madrid in all its glory whenever I have a little more free time, which is usually Fridays and Sundays since I don't have class on Fridays and Sundays are my days off. So far, I've had a wander around but soon enough I will be planning trips to museums! The free time I have apart from this, I spend furthering my other goals - whether they are related to my art, my reading, my Spanish or my studies... but sometimes, like a normal person, I just take time for myself and start a new Netflix series.
Make the most of any situation, even if it scares the life out of you at first.
Love, Agnes xo
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