Maarit was very excited. She´d just received a confirmation letter from the au pair association to say that her placement with her chosen host family in the Unites States had been accepted! This meant she had at least a year living with the family and taking care of the two children.

She’d chosen a family with young children; a boy and a girl aged 6 and 8 years old. Their parents both worked full-time so she would have to get them ready for school each day, collect them after school and look after them until their parents came home in the evenings. She had lots of exciting activities planned to keep them occupied. She´d also get to spend some of her free time going on outings with the family at weekends and during the holidays which she was really looking forward to, and she also wanted to explore some of the US while she was there.

One of the visa requirements was to study during her year as an au pair and she was given a grant for this. She had a selection of courses to choose from but decided to stick with English lessons as a continuation from her current studies, plus she felt she had a responsibility to be as fluent and as accurate as she could in the English language, bearing in mind she was looking after young children and would be an influence over them. Besides, a number of au pairs from the local areas would be attending the same classes so it was a good way to make new friends and keep in touch.

With her suitcase packed, including special Finnish presents for the children and Finnish souvenirs for the parents, Maarit made her way to the airport and waited eagerly to board the ’plane ready to start her new adventure as an au pair in the United States of America!