As an au
pair you are going to experience a whole new environment and culture when you
move to the United States. Everything in there is done a bit differently than
you are used to do in your home country and in the beginning you might want to
question certain things – why do they do things like that? Why can’t they do it
like I do it in my home country? Those questions are part of the adapting
process when moving to a new culture, and believe me – soon you will feel more comfortable
in your new surroundings and start to think why I ever did things so
differently in my own country.
I have been
moving several times to a new culture within past few years, the latest one was
just four months ago when I moved to Stockholm to start working here at the
Cultural Care Au Pair Stockholm office for the Scandinavian au pair team. I
have also been living in Germany and in Dubai and I have seen very radical
differences compared to Finnish culture. As I come from Finland I thought
“Sweden is not going to be so different, it’s just the neighbor country of
Finland”. But as soon as I moved here, Stockholm, I realized that even here
some things are done differently than in Finland.
First weeks
at the office were very exhausting for me. I learned many new things and new
ways to work. Even the fact that I had to learn how do I get to work and where
can I find the closest grocery story to me made me tired. After work when I got
home I was always very tired and usually went to sleep straight after eating
the dinner. As an au pair your first weeks will be full of learning new things
and it’s no wonder if you are super tired after your work shift is over. You
might think before you move to another culture that you can’t get tired just
because of learning new things but believe me – you can, and it’s totally fine.
My tip for all the new au pairs is to give 100 % focus on the new things you
will have to learn in your host family, new culture and surroundings and after
you have done that: eat, sleep and collect some energy for the next day!
I wish all
of you a nice and relaxing weekend, I hope the weather is spoiling you and you
will get a lot of energy for the next week!
Sunny wishes
from Stockholm,
Jenni
Jenni
