Au Pair out of country

[Rathji]

My niece (in High school) is thinking about doing an Au Pair thing in Italy this summer. She goes and takes care of kids and does some kind of English tutor work and gets a little cash (about 150 Euro a week) and room and board paid for.

She asked me to look into it, but I really have no idea about this kind of thing. The company indicated there would be future work in Europe and/or the US as well.

Anyone ever done it? or know of someone who has?

[prarieboy]

My friends daughter did this in the UK. She ended up working in a rural area and getting around to see things off "the farm" was quite difficult.
She came home early

[kenk-la]

I was an Au Pair almost 4 years ago (I was 19-20 at the time) in Paris, mostly because it was a quick and easy way to live abroad. I had a great experience; I made a lot of great friends, learned a new language, I grew exponentially as a person, and it helped focus me for my studies when I came home. It certainly isn't for everyone and there were of course plenty of moments where I had to bite my tongue when I completely disagreed with parental choices (sometimes I couldn't hold back). If you have any questions about my experience feel free to ask.

[4X4]

Hope she has a thick skin. Italians can be pretty harsh, and they're ridiculously over protective of their kids. If little Gianni scrapes his knee, it's gonna be your niece's fault. I love that place as much as any descendent should, but having spent much time there, and after helping out an abandoned au pair, I can tell you that it's not going to be a vacation for her.

If she decides to do it, I would strongly recommend that she learn as much Italian as possible before she arrives, and continues to make her best effort to learn more. And the first phrase she needs to learn is 'Sono Canadese', just so that nobody thinks she's American, because American is about the second worst thing you can be, right after Arabic.

[agulati]

A friend of mine did this in Netherlands. She absolutely loved the experience. It does matter who the family is though.