Au Pairs – How to Find Friends?

One of the most frequent questions smartaupairs au pair agency receives from new au pairs is how to make friends. In most cases, it is easier than it may initially seem (especially to someone who is new to the country!). Key advice for any au pair looking to find new friends is to be proactive - to approach other au pairs rather than to wait for others to make the first move.  We have gathered a few tips to get started. Most host families are happy to put you in contact with their previous au pair - use this chance to ask for the contact details of the friends of the previous au pair. This will get you quickly in touch with the local "au pair network". You can continue the tradition by preparing a list of your friends to the au pair that continues in the host family after you. Language school is another important point of contact with local au pairs - majority of the European au pairs attend a course and it is highly likely that there are au pairs also in your local English course. If your English level is already high, you may wish to consider taking a course in another area of interest - such as cooking or arts. If you do not wish to attend any course or the chosen course is not due to start for a while you may find the next suggestions especially useful. Au pairs can always contact us, smartaupairs, for local au pair listing. Alternatively, au pairs can register on some of the websites we recommend for au pairs. One of the main websites for au pairs to contact each other is www.aupair2aupair.com for which smartaupairs provides access to. Only au pairs who are registered with a BAPAA agency can register on this website. Facebook however is open for every au pair – and aside of our own smartaupairs group there are tens of other groups dedicated to au pairs in different locations. You can search by using keywords such as smartaupairs; au pair in UK or au pair in Surrey. The smartaupairs agency group has already over 300 members and is growing! Smartaupairs also organizes au pair meetings locally – Tuuli & Audrey from the agency met with seven of the Kent au pairs recently for a meal and drink in a restaurant in Maidstone. Other meetings are to follow and au pairs will be notified of these directly. Any suggestions on future events are more than welcome! Below is a photo from our recent au pair meeting - together we covered 6 different nationalities including Dutch, Finnish, Austrian, Canadian, French and Polish au pairs, giving the evening a true multi-cultural feel. Already a smartaupair? Follow the link to connect with us on Facebook (Remember to LIKE the page) - chat to us and other au pairs about the experience, and receive discounts and tips useful for your au pair stay!