My name is Katie, I am 18 years old, and I come from Germany. I graduated in July 2025, and in the following, I will write about my experience as an Au Pair in Spain. 

To start off, I always knew that I wanted to go abroad after graduating and before starting university. That is something I can wholeheartedly recommend to everyone! You are only young once, and you will never have this kind of freedom and openness that you have now! DO IT, THESE WILL BE YOUR BEST MEMORIES! 

How to become an Au Pair

I looked at various options for my gap year and in the end chose to be an Au Pair. I used the AuPair.com platform because a friend recommended it, and it looked as if it was easier than using an agency. I felt like I had all the control to choose the host families that fit to me. After a while, I had to pay for the premium membership because it was necessary to communicate properly with the host families. I then found my host family on the platform, and we started to get to know each other. 

They live in Mancha Real, a small village in Spain, and have three children. A five-year-old girl, a three-year-old boy, and a 1,5 year old girl. I made a contract with them for half a year, and during my stay, I was always very happy about the length of time I was staying. It’s not too long, but plenty of time for great memories! 

I have always enjoyed spending time with kids, so I was looking forward to being an Au Pair. 
I texted a lot with my host mum; we sent each other pictures, and my departure came closer and closer. After I successfully made everything fit in my suitcases, the journey started, and I flew to Malaga. My host family has a little apartment at the beach in Fuengirola, that’s where my journey began and where I made a lot of beautiful memories. 

Highlights of the Au Pair stay

The best thing for me was that my host family travelled a lot with me. Therefore, I got to see so many places in Spain and even outside of Spain. One big highlight was our trip to Istanbul. More travel highlights were Malaga, Granada, Madrid, Saragossa, and even Ceuta in North Africa! My family also visited me once, and I could spend an amazing week with them and see even more, for example, Gibraltar, which was very impressive! 

I am so thankful that my host family always treated me as if I were a family member. That is a very important part of being an Au Pair! 

I mostly spent the afternoon with the children, although sometimes I helped out in the morning or on weekends, for example, when the kids were sick and the parents had to work. As an Au Pair, you have to be very flexible and adaptable! These days were not always easy, but I always made sure to be there for the kids and help the family where I could. The long and hard days just make you stronger! 

Overall, I developed a great bond with the kids and they will forever be in my heart! I told them to visit me in Germany, and my host family says that I can always come back home. I think that says a lot about our relationship!

I would recommend to people who would like to become an Au Pair to make sure that you get to know the family well in advance, and then it’s important to listen to your gut when you’re finally choosing. For me, it worked great! 

Learning a language while being an Au Pair

Another part of being an Au Pair is to learn or get better at a language. For me, that definitely was the case! I never had Spanish in school; therefore, I came here knowing only the basics. Over the months, I learned more and more, which made me really proud! I attended a Spanish course twice a week, but I can say that I learned the most in daily life! 
Apart from that, there is another major point why I would recommend an experience like that to everyone: personal growth. You learn to adapt to life in a new country, with a different language, with a new family, with new habits and routines. You get to know new people, try new hobbies, new foods, and looking back, you’ll realise how much you have actually grown. 

I am very thankful that I documented every day of my stay in a diary because, like that, I will always have all the nice experiences and also the hardships written down. 

Honest opinion and useful tips

There is no denying the fact that not everything is always perfect. There are days when it was harder for me to be so far from my family, my friends, my boyfriend, and my normal daily life that I was used to. But exactly that is also a huge part of growth. You learn to be on your own. You learn to take care of yourself. You learn to push yourself to do something and to wake up each and every day to be there for your host kids and host family, and also for yourself. Of course, your loved ones are always only a phone call away, but it often feels so much further than that. There are days like Christmas or New Year’s Eve that you are used to spending with your family. And suddenly it is the first time without them. And the best thing is that this is GREAT! I will never know how often I will experience days like that in another country. So I always tried to enjoy every moment and to make sure I take everything in. You always have to remember that homesickness is a blessing, not a curse. And sooner than you think, you will be home again, and you will miss the time you had. 

Something that I learned here is, for example, that the most important Christmas Day in Spain is the 6th of January. The Three Kings bring the presents for the kids overnight. It was a very special day and a great experience that is different from my home country! 

To sum up, I want to point out that you have to know that you yourself have the control to make the best of everything.

In my room in the house of my host family, there is a picture with a quote that really inspired me: “THE HAPPIEST PEOPLE DON’T HAVE THE BEST OF EVERYTHING, THEY JUST MAKE THE BEST OF EVERYTHING.” 

And this is exactly what I always kept in mind!