It was summer 2021, I had finished my A levels and was officially on my gap year. I had chosen to delay going to university to do an 8-month placement abroad with the educational charity ‘Project Trust’, starting in January. I therefore had four months to fill, limited funds, and a desperation to leave the UK ASAP. What does one do in this situation? Become an Au Pair for the Spanish elite.
I signed up to the forum ‘Aupairworld.com,’ made a highly cringey profile, and in an unnervingly tinder-esc style, I started receiving ‘likes’ from various families around the world. I received a message from the mum of the ‘Font’ family, who described her four children, their life in central Barcelona, and why she thought I would be the perfect fit for her family. One short video call later I had signed the contract and booked my one-way ticket. I touched down in Barcelona two weeks later, and contrary to my very anxious mum’s assumption, was met by the family, rather than a network of human traffickers. Thinking about it now through an older, less naïve lens, that process could really do with some extra-security measures.
The three months that followed were straight out of a film. The family owned houses in Barcelona, coastal towns, and the Pyrenees; had season tickets to three major Spanish football teams; and had very refined taste in everything from food, to clothes, to holidays.
A day in my life would look something like this:
7:00 am – Wake up the kids, get them dressed, empty the dishwasher, set the breakfast table, and take on the mighty challenge of getting all four of them, who were all under ten, to be ready by 7:45, at the door, having not forgotten any of their things… a mission to say the least.
8:00 am – Drop the kids off at school and inevitably realise that we have forgotten something.
8:30 – 1:30 – Spanish class. I attended lessons every morning Monday to Friday for eight weeks, going from being a complete beginner to knowing far more Spanish than I spoke Welsh, following twelve years of classes in the British Education system.
1:30 – 5:00 – Hang out with friends. Right after I moved, I joined the Facebook group ‘Au Pairs in Barcelona,’ and by the end of my first week, had made an amazing friend group of au pairs my age. A typical afternoon could be anything from having a picnic on the beach, going to an art gallery or museum, renting bikes, or exploring new parts of the city.
5:00 – 8:30 – Pick up the kids (and often their friends and cousins) from school; make everyone a snack; organise a fun activity – painting, baking, going to the park etc; drop at least one child off at an after-school activity; give the kids their dinner; and then undertake the biggest challenge that I have ever been faced with… making four young children have a bath and then do their homework. I am shuddering at the thought of what I went through to make this happen every day. I promise you, one week of dealing with bath and homework tantrums is the best contraception you could ever need.
8:30 – Get all the kids into bed, read them a story, and if I had successfully tired them out enough, say goodnight to four almost sleeping children by 9pm.
9:00 onwards – free time. Often by 9:30 I would be fast asleep, but a few nights a week I would drag myself out to a bar with some friends, and of course, what gap year life abroad would be complete without a whirlwind romance with a foreign love interest.
On weekends, the family would leave Barcelona and spend some time in their house by the coast. Sometimes I would go with them, but normally I would spend the weekend with my amazing friends, going on day trips to nearby towns, beaches, and mountains, and experiencing the world-renowned Barcelona nightlife.
I felt like I lived an entire life in just three months. I arrived as a child, still needing her mum to do everything, and left having built an entire life in a new country, having made lifelong friendships, and becoming part of a family who I felt cared for me almost as much as my own.