Great weather, great food, great company!

Hi everyone,

The last two weeks of working as an au pair have been spent trying to get into a routine with the girls. We try to do at least half an hour of "homework" (either reading, writing or English) every day, followed by an activity. The elder daughter Lucia and I have come up with some games to play, crafts to make, recipes to cook, things to do at the park and activities for the garden, which so far are doing well at keeping everyone entertained! Here are a few pictures from our lessons and activities:

Maeva learning some words in English

Leana doing a reading comprehension in Spanish

We made an apple crumble!

I went back to my childhood making Hama beads with the girls 

We went on a trip to the park to collect materials... 

...to make miniature gardens!

We do have some challenges. Sometimes the girls refuse to eat, or don't want to work, or generally are just in a bickering mood, which I find tough as I can't really express myself well enough in Spanish to deal with things as I would at home. So some days are difficult, but others are fantastic fun! I was invited to a dance show they put on in their parents' bedroom with handmade programmes, we've been to the cinema to see 'Finding Dory', the girls are making a lot of progress with English and they're always excited to find out what activity we will be doing each day.

I'm getting to know the girls a lot better now. Lucia is quite quiet, but likes to speak English with me, and often will sit with me while I'm planning lessons or help me plan activities. Leana loves to talk, and sometimes I haven't a clue what she's saying, but it means there's never a dull moment! And Maeva is very sweet, although also quite sensitive, and loves to play and watch Peppa Pig at any opportunity!

My English lessons with Lucia, Dario and Marie Jose are going well, and I'm realising how much I enjoy tutoring as opposed to teaching. Being one on one with someone is very rewarding and means you can focus your lessons to them. I'm also really appreciating having the one on one time with Marie Jose to learn Spanish.

And my Spanish is definitely improving. I am completely immersed in Spanish - the only time I speak English is during the lessons or with family over the phone. It's tiring but really rewarding and my understanding is significantly better than three weeks ago. However the weekends are my own, and I've been lucky enough to spend time with some wonderful people in Madrid over the last few weeks, and speak English!

I met up with Brooke and some friends of hers to watch the Gay Pride festival in Madrid:

And my friend Beth was visiting Madrid so I met up with her for a couple of days this weekend:

We visited the Botanical Gardens

We watched the beautiful sunset in Parque de Retiro by the boating lake

We went on a cable car ride over Madrid and the view was incredible 

The view of the palace, cathedral and river from the cable car

We ate the 'best churros in Madrid' - and they were pretty great!

The weather is great - between 30 to 40 degrees every day! But during the night it's a little too warm, although I enjoy being able to swim in the pool and sit outside until 12am if I want. We went to a late night outdoor cinema with the girls on Sunday to see 'Big Hero 6' which was great fun. I will definitely miss the beautiful sunshine and the relaxed way of life in Spain.

So overall, although au pairing can be tough, I have a very generous and kind family here and I am thoroughly enjoying working with the girls. It's all fun and games, and there will be a lot more fun and games to come in the final three weeks of my time here!

Thanks for reading :)

Laura

Surprising Mum for her birthday!

This surprise had been a long time in the making. In February, I'd decided that instead of doing the trip I had planned, in which I spent the first two weeks of June travelling along the south of France, I would fly home and surprise my Mum for her birthday. Naturally I had to get some people on board to help me out (thank you to Rachel and Nanny for being my accomplices, I very much appreciate it!) and I decided to continue planning my France trip to use as a cover story for Mum.

By the week before I came home, Mum wanted to know everything about my trip, where I was going and staying, what I was doing...and I managed to put it off as long as possible and be as vague as possible, but I worried she was getting suspicious.

Luckily though, she wasn't. So on 2nd June I flew home and Rachel came and picked me up, having made an excuse to borrow the car that left Mum thinking she was going to pick up a cat she'd bought for Mum's birthday! Thankfully Mum wasn't too disappointed when it was me and not a cat who came through the door :P

I had a wonderful week at home, it was so nice to be back and see some friends and family. Here are a few pictures from my time in Devon:

I spent time with my friend James, and walking on Dartmoor, which I have really missed!

Mum and I got all dressed up for the theatre...

I took Mum and Nanny to see 'Guys and Dolls' in Plymouth for Mum's birthday and it was brilliant - we even had second row seats!

We spent Sunday afternoon at the steam fair

My best bud came to stay for a couple of days and we went to see 'Me Before You' which we sobbed our way through

And I got to catch up with lots of other people who I have missed dearly.

Thank you to everyone for a lovely week at home. It was great to be back, and now I'm off on my next adventure. I am currently in Cubas de la Sagra, just south of Madrid, where I am working as an Au Pair until the end of July. The family are lovely and have made me feel very welcome. I am struggling with the Spanish a bit having spoken only German or English for the last year, but being completely immersed in a language you improve quickly so I'm sure I'll be OK! More updates on my time in Spain to come.

Thanks for reading!

Laura :)

Saying goodbye to Austria

I've spent just over eight months in Austria and I honestly don't know where that time has gone. It feels like just yesterday that I was boarding my first solo flight, nervous and excited, and worried that I wasn't going to settle in. I've done so much this year, I've made so many wonderful friends who will never be forgotten, and the experiences I've had this year are incredible. Here are a few pictures from my final two weeks in Austria:

1. I went on the teachers' outing for my other school to Bavaria and yet again we had a tour of a brewery. It was lovely to spend time with the French assistant and to get to know the teachers even better.

2. Charlotte, Markus and I went to a zoo in the Mühlviertel called Altenfelden where we saw a falconry display and got to feed lots of animals. It was the hottest day of my time in Austria - 30 degrees!

3. My wonderful students and colleagues were very generous in giving me wonderful goodbye gifts - lots of traditional Austrian food! And Niki the cat was very helpful while I was packing...

4. My lovely friend and colleague Susi invited me over for a BBQ at her new house, and it was lovely to spend more time with her before I left.

5. A group of us went to see some fireworks over the Danube river in Linz.

6. Another friend and colleague Ines invited me to her house for the afternoon and we went for a lovely country walk with her family and stopped at a Gasthaus halfway for traditional cider and snacks.

7. We had a goodbye meal with a few of the assistants at a Polish restaurant in Linz - and it was very nice :)

8. I made a traditional steak pie for my housemates Charlotte and Michael, Markus and Susi.

Now time for the soppy part...
Over the past year I have gained confidence, language skills, experiences and friends and I am so pleased that I made the most of my time abroad. And it's not over yet! I am off to Spain to work as an aupair this summer and I am determined that after my degree I will be jetting off somewhere else, having enjoyed this year so much. Thank you to everyone, both in Austria and at home, who has helped to make this year so great. I love you all!

Thanks for reading!

Laura

When in Rome...

As the end of my year abroad came into sight, my housemate Charlotte and I decided we wanted to go on a trip together to end our year on a positive note. And where better to go but Rome?

So on Friday 13th (ooh!) May we set off to the airport for our weekend adventure, and it's safe to say we were very, very excited.

(until we realised that flying with a budget airline means that bits inside the plane are fixed with duct tape...)

But we arrived safely in Rome and took the half an hour train to the city centre. Our hotel (Hotel Seiler) was about a ten minute walk from the main train station, and very close to the centre of the city too, so we were in a great location. 

On Friday evening we headed to the region of Trastevere in Rome, which we were told was less touristy and had some great restaurants. After a rather cramped and frankly scary bus ride, we decided we'd probably walk back to the hotel after dinner. We found a little pizzeria (of course, we were in Italy!) for dinner and on the walk back to the hotel later on we found a gelateria and bought the most amazing ice cream! 

Rome at night was beautiful!

Saturday, our first full day in Rome, was unfortunately very rainy...

...however we bought umbrellas and tried to make the most of the day!

We went for a walk into the centre area of Rome, where we saw parts of the Roman Forum, the Colosseum and Piazza Venezia.

We stopped for lunch in a lovely little cafe by the Colosseum and although it was raining, we were able to sit outside in the sheltered area. It was such a shame seeing so many tourists getting soaked (as we were) by the torrential rain and we tried to decide what we could still do.

We decided that we would try doing a bus tour of the city, as at least that way we would learn about the area and see some of the sights. So we bought our tickets, which included entry to the Roman Forum and Colosseum, and got on the bus. Unfortunately despite the rain, the company had put up the roof but no windows upstairs, so sitting by the 'window' meant that you got absolutely soaked. By this point I was feeling quite uncomfortable, and we decided we needed to have a change of plans.

We got off the bus at the Trevi fountain, and the rain had eased off a little. 

After that we thought that shopping in Rome might be a good way of being inside, dry and still experiencing the city. So we headed off around the corner to Via del Corso to do some shopping and it was very successful. 

We also found La Durée, a famous Parisian tea house, so we had to go in and try!

The hot chocolate was literally just melted chocolate in a mug - amazing!

On the way to the hotel on the Friday we'd seen a lovely little restaurant in a little alley that we really wanted to try, so we got back on the (rather wet) tour bus and headed back to the train station to find it. And we weren't disappointed. At Alessio Ristorante we had a lovely meal, with traditional bread, wine and, to quote Charlotte, 'The best panna cotta I've ever had!'

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to watch Eurovision and although I understood pretty much nothing of the Italian, it was great fun, especially to watch with someone from another participating country.

On Sunday the weather was a lot better, and we tried to make up for lost time. One thing I learnt is that two days is not long enough to see Rome. You need at least a week I'd say! But we enjoyed it nonetheless, and I would love to go back one day.
We started out at the Roman Forum, as we had to pick up our tickets here for the Colosseum and Roman Forum. As we couldn't get into the Colosseum until 2.30pm we took our time in the Roman Forum, learning a bit about the Roman civilisation that existed such a long time ago.

At around 1pm we'd still only seen about half of the Roman Forum, but we were pretty hungry by then, so we decided to go back to the same restaurant as yesterday and have some lunch before heading to the Colosseum.
As we arrived at the Colosseum, we were a little confused. We'd bought 'skip the line' tickets, but couldn't see a way in other than an extremely long queue. It turned out that this queue was for the 'skip the line' tickets (ironic!) which was ridiculous...so we asked a tourist information worker for advice. He said we could take part in an English tour (of course for more money) and then we wouldn't have to queue. We thought this sounded like the best idea, as then we also get information about the Colosseum and learn something, so we joined the tour group.
I did get a little freaked out when the tour guide told us we had to pretend not to have a ticket to get in, and then after the metal detector we could just head on through as though we did have tickets (which we did), but we couldn't go as a group because it wasn't 'official' and that he would meet us in there...eek! But we trusted him, and it paid off, because he did appear and the tour was fantastic, informative and I learnt a lot - definitely worth that little extra money for a tour and skipping the queue!

As we were headed back to the hotel to drop our bags off before dinner, it started pouring with rain...

We sheltered in a couple of shops and popped into a supermarket to buy some traditional Italian food to take home with us, and eventually made it back to the hotel, completely soaking wet (I had to throw my poor shoes away!)

Our plan was to head back to the same restaurant at the day before, but we decided that because we were now soaking wet, we'd have a picnic at the hotel instead, and it was totally worth it!

Early on Monday morning we flew back to Austria. Despite the weather, I had a wonderful time in Rome, and it was a great way to end my time living with Charlotte. She's been an amazing housemate, so generous, helpful and fun - a friend for life!

Thanks for reading!

Laura