Erfahrungsbericht
My name is Friderike St., though everybody in America calls Frida, I am nineteen years old and from Germany. I am living in Somerville, New Jersey since August now with my great host family!
I would describe myself as a caring, loving, open-hearted and open-minded, organized, creative and fun person! I love to be outside in the nature, to swim, to ride the bicycle and go for walks. Music is a big passion of mine, I am playing the piano and I am singing in a choir! Since I am here in the States I love to do my Scrapbooks.
I decided to be an au pair when I was 15 years old. When my mother was in my age, she was an au pair in France for half a year and I always thought that it is a great idea. When I found a information magazine in my school about Cultural Care, my agency, I knew that this is the thing I want to do after school! Too bad that I had to wait for another four years until I was able to live this dream!
I love children and childcare and I babysat since I was twelve years old, so I thought it is the best opportunity to bring my love to children and my love to travel together! Years and years I was dreaming of this and after an information meeting that I attended together with a friend I was sure: that
When the time finally came closer we started doing our applications, that took us at least six month to finish them! But we started so early that it didn’t matter and it was just so much fun to do them! And in the end it was worth it, because they turned out great, what the agency assured us! We put them in the mailbox together close to Christmas 2006 and after that we started to wait for an answer from CC! Finally in the end of January we got an answer: We were accepted to the program and the agency will start looking for families! After two families in my account, who never called or mailed, and a lot of time to wait I finally got to know my current host family! I was so excited when they were in my account and my host mum wrote me an email immediately introducing me to their family!
We matched in the beginning of April, so the base for my year was all set!
My host family that is my host mum Kellianne, who is working as a lawyer, my host dad Danny, who is working as an carpenter, specialized on pharmaceutical chambers, and my three host children Jack, five years old, Mary Bridget(Bridey), three years old and our little sunshine Liam, six month old!
I really love my host family and I think that they are a great match for my first year!
I am working nine hours, five days a week and I am taking care of all three of them.
Jack is still in preschool, because he had some problems with his motor skills so that his parents decided to send him to them same program like last year. He is in school every day from 12 pm to 2.30 pm. Bridey and Liam are home all day! I definitely don
Jack is a very wild, but on the other hand extremely smart and fun boy! He loves to spend time with me alone, when Bridey and Liam are sleeping, and to get my full attention, and he loves to talk about the world around him that he loves to explore!
Bridey is a fun little girl, even though she can be very naughty, too! She loves to dance, to color and to sing and it is so much fun to play with her or just watch her! She is a real character!
Liam is the cutest baby in the world! He is such a happy boy and he is very excited about the world around him! He is smiling and laughing most of the time. He love to watch his older brother and sister and they love to entertain them, too! He is a very good eater, but a very bad sleeper! He enjoys to be outside and love it if I sing for him! It is very interesting to see him grow and I really saw every new thing he could do, since he was born!
I love to go outside with them, do little art project, go to the library, play with them in the playroom or in the basement and play imaginary games!
They are really cute and fun kids, but they can still make me go crazy sometimes! So that I am glad to
My host family always asks me if I want to come to their family activities. We went to the Christmas Spectacular in New York together, went Christmas tree cutting together, we will go to the circus soon and just go out for dinner together! They are very fun people and it is great to be around them!
I really love the area I am living in. New Jersey is in my opinion a great state and I love the variety you get to know here. On the one hand you are close to big cities like New York and Philadelphia. But New Jersey is called the Garden State, too, so there are great places like the Jersey Shore and the Delaware River. You can even go to the mountains to go skiing!
I am living in a small town called Somerville. It is a cute little city with a quaint charm! The downtown is a great place to walk around, especially in the summertime when the show the old cars at Friday nights and play music! There are little town festivals like the Fall festival, too and it is a great community and a fun place to live! Bridey especially love the library, that
Another thing I really love about the town, is that you can walk places! It is great to put the kids in the stroller and carriage and walk to the park, the library, the post office or the bank! Our house is very close to the downtown, so that it is fun to just walk around!
The mall is in walking distance, too, but I am already Americanized and I am driving there most of the time!
I already experienced a lot in the States and I got to know the American way of life a little bit better! I traveled to a few cities and I hope I will get to see some more in my second half of the year! I love to go to New York City on the weekend, because I think it is a great city! There is so much to see and I still haven
Philadelphia is great, too and I love the historic places you can visit there! It made me feel like I don
Boston seemed to me like an old European city to me, probably because of the British settlers who founded it! I spent New Years Eve in Boston and we watched the firework above the Boston Harbor and I fell in love with this city, too! The freedom trail is something I really want to do, before I
During the Easter weekend I went to Baltimore and Washington to do some sightseeing! I love Washington, there are so many things to see! It is great to take a walk from the Capitol hill to the Lincoln Memorial! There are so many places to see, that it was impossible to see them all in one day! Another great thing is that all the museums are for free, especially as an au pair who does not have so much money it is a great thing! I am very interested in history but sometimes it just seems to be too much money to walk around for an hour! That makes Washington very interesting and even for a low budget it is affordable!
To be standing at the Lincoln Monument looking down at the National Mall, it is amazing to imagine Martin Luther King Jr. standing there, speaking to all the people, expressing his dream!
It is great to have the opportunity to see so much in just one year! I love to be able to explore the world in this way! And it is not only the places you get to know, but you get to know people, from America, and au pairs from all over the world and last but not least you get to know yourself in a way, that I have never imagined before!
Another great experience I have here in America is the choir I joined! It is a group of German people who immigrated to America after the World War II and later. They are the loveliest and most warmhearted people I have ever met! We are singing German and American songs, we already had a Christmas concert and we will have a Spring Concert soon, too! It is so nice to know people, who are supporting you and I really enjoy to go there every Monday! These two hours every week are my time for myself where I can sing, think and talk to people, who are not involved in the au Pair program in any way!
After the rehearsals we are eating self baked cake and we are talking to each other! It is very interesting to hear, why they came to the USA in the first place and for them it is interesting, too, to hear how we feel here! I love this choir a lot and I already miss them, when I think about leaving them!
All this great experiences I had in the United States in the last seven month made me think about extending my stay in the States and to stay here for another nine month!
I already send my application to my agency and now I am waiting for a future host family!
I love my host family and I really enjoying the time I am staying here, but for my second year I am looking forward to see another part of the country and to have new experiences in another host family. That
I am looking forward to go to the West Coast and to explore all the great places over there! My dream is to see the Grand Canyon, the great National Parks like Yosemite National Park and to see the Hollywood Sign with my own eyes once!
All these dreams seem to come true now and that makes me very happy! Even though I will miss my friends and my family a lot and to know that all my au pair friends will leave in the summer to go finally home is not easy!
But I decided to stay here, because this is a once in a lifetime experience and chance, that I will probably not have again, or not in this uncomplicated way! And to be an au pair is not that bad, that you couldn’t do it for another year!
But when I am thinking of leaving my host family to go to another unknown family and not to go home where I do know everybody, I can imagine that it won
But my parents are coming in May 2008 to visit me and they assured me to visit me again at the West Coast! I am very excited to show them the world I am living in now!
Since I knew that I want to participate in the au pair program I was sure that I want to be a teacher afterwards! But now that I am here I am not sure anymore if that is really the job I want to do for my whole life! I feel now that I have so many opportunities in my life that I am not sure if that is really the perfect job for me! I love to have challenges and I would like to have a job with changing challenges! I love to travel and I would love to combine that with my love for children and childcare and education! Unfortunately that is not so easy, so that I have to do some more research to find the perfect job for me!
To be an Au Pair in America is definitely the best decision and experience of my lifetime!
I learned so much and I feel so much more mature and responsible than before! I got to know some really great friend here, and it will be hard to say goodbye to them!
I love the country and the people and I enjoy every minute here, and all the great and the challenging moments I have !
