Au Pair in Asturias, Spain

I stayed in Gijon, which is a costal city in Asturias, in the north of Spain for a period of 12 weeks. Overall the experience was really good for me. I initially wanted to come to improve my Spanish, learn more bout the culture, and explore a bit too- in the end, I feel that as well as doing this, the experience has helped me further improve my confidence, learn how to deal with language barriers, and in my case due to befriending some international students in the area (from Europe and Latin America), my cultural knowledge of not only Spain significantly increased too.

Ana (from Destino Idiomas) was very helpful throughout the process, and patient with me. She made the matching process much easier, and consistently checked up on me once I was in Spain too. The family I was with had had au pairs before so were very welcoming from the start, didn’t mind clarifying things when I was uncertain, and all of my au pair duties were completely manageable. I found that I very quickly got used to the routine.

In terms of money, I ended up saving up less than I intended to, as my weekly spending was much higher than usual, but this was due to doing more than usual- my main costs were bus/train tickets to other cities, buying things such as snacks on trips, some hygiene products, and even a few souvenirs. But even though I personally didn’t end up saving up much, I still made enough to cover the costs of coming, so I had no net loss, and many of these costs could easily be reduced.

I believe au pairing is a great way to be completely immersed in the culture of a certain country. Personally, in my free time over the weekends, I often went out either exploring Gijon or other nearby cities and villages. Spain is a beautiful country and even in the early spring, there was lots of nature to be seen. I was able to do some short hiking routes, and I got to try some ‘typical’ Spanish foods from different places too.
Overall it was a great way for me to see another part of the world and experience another culture, I would highly recommend au pairing to anyone thinking about it and using Destino Idiomas to do so.