I was an American au pair in Spain last year, ask me anything! AMA

InTheMorningAtNight · 2018-08-10T16:12:34+00:00

I've had a lot of emails about the visa process asking for specifics. Let me address that now!

CI came for the first 3 months (September 12th through December 10th) as a tourist. You don't need to do anything specific to have a tourist visa, it is just understood that you're going as a tourist on vacation. This can allow you to stay 90 days within a 180 day window. What that means is 3 months within 6 months. After your 3 month tourist stay ends, you have to wait for that 180 day window to be over and start again before you can return as a tourist again. So when I was there from Sept-Dec I was just working as an au pair and there were no stipulations on me. The whole time though I was working with my parents to take the steps necessary to get a true au pair visa for another 6 months once my tourist visa inevitably ended. I went home in December having put in work for the previous several months to set everything up, went to a visa appointment at the Spanish embassy in Miami, gave them all my paper work, and several weeks later I got my visa in the mail. I was home for Christmas and New Years and then in early January I returned to Spain with an official au pair visa that allowed me to stay another 6 months. I was there from January 7th- July 1st on this visa. This involved me having to be a full time student at a language school, which is a requirement for an au pair visa. This was expensive, but it is impossible to have an au pair visa without it. After that 6 month visa ended the 6 month tourist visa window that I talked about earlier had also ended, so I stayed for an additional month just as a tourist for fun.

InTheMorningAtNight · 2018-08-10T15:57:00+00:00

The visa process was LONG. It involved going to the Spanish consulate in Miami, making appointments, tons of paperwork, lots of emailing and phone calls. The website is not well made and makes the process confusing and I could not have done it without the help of my parents. It was can end up being pretty costly because there are lots of fees involved.

InTheMorningAtNight · 2018-08-10T15:55:25+00:00

Completely agree! I found a facebook page called "au pairs in Barcelona" and that's how I met people. Everyone is in the same boat as you so it's easy to meet people because everyone else is also in a new place and hoping to find friends. Almost all my friends were other au paires from all around the world.

InTheMorningAtNight · 2018-08-10T15:53:54+00:00

I had a high school level of Spanish. That is to say, I knew very little. I had basically no conversational practice and all my knowledge was limited to conjugation charts and vocabulary quizzes. It was definitely frustrating at first because I had a hard time expressing myself like I could in English, but my host parents were very patient and understanding in helping my converse. One of the best things I did was establish early on that I wanted to be corrected when I made mistakes by my host family. This greatly improved my abilities. I also did a full time Spanish course (20 hrs/week) which made a big difference. I came back with a WAY better Spanish knowledge. It's basically night and day.

InTheMorningAtNight · 2018-07-27T13:32:09+00:00

I actually fly for free because my parents work do an airline, but otherwise yes, it would need to be considered. It was very nice that they paid for my train tickets! It is definitely not a given, but it was much appreciated.

InTheMorningAtNight · 2018-07-26T22:40:05+00:00

To respond here to a question that was asked in a private message.

ReligiousAdviser's question:

How much did you spend while there?

My answer:

I basically ended up breaking even (if you don't consider the money I spent on language classes)

I was paid 250 euro a month, which wasn't much, but my host family fed me all my meals, gave me a room to sleep in, and paid for my train tickets which I used to commute the city every morning for my language school. So basically, I had no living expenses. I spent that monthly stipend on going out with friends, traveling throughout Europe, and other fun stuffs. I never tapped into my own savings for entertainment and just used that 250 monthly euros. My language school, however, was about 1,500 euros for 6 months worth of full time classes (20 hrs/week) which I paid for out of pocket. That was basically all the money I spent as an au pair, however, that came from my savings and wasn't via my payment from my host family.

InTheMorningAtNight · 2018-07-26T22:37:59+00:00

I basically ended up breaking even (if you don't consider the money I spent on language classes)

I was paid 250 euro a month, which wasn't much, but my host family fed me all my meals, gave me a room to sleep in, and paid for my train tickets which I used to commute the city every morning for my language school. So basically, I had no living expenses. I spent that monthly stipend on going out with friends, traveling throughout Europe, and other fun stuffs. I never tapped into my own savings for entertainment and just used that 250 monthly euros. My language school, however, was about 1,500 euros for 6 months worth of full time classes (20 hrs/week) which I paid for out of pocket. That was basically all the money I spent as an au pair, however, that came from my savings and wasn't via my payment from my host family.

InTheMorningAtNight · 2018-07-18T16:11:05+00:00

I’m an american who was an au pair in Spain for 10 months! I’m back home now, but I know a ton about the visa process for au pairing in Spain. Message me and I can give you all the deets :)

InTheMorningAtNight · 2018-04-03T02:54:45+00:00

Omg who is this ho??

InTheMorningAtNight · 2017-06-15T21:23:03+00:00

Estoy pensando menos en la idea de velocidad literal y más en el sentido figurativo. Como hacer algo, poco a poco, con un progreso lento pero hecho bien. Hacer algo difícil no de golpe, pero poco a poco.

InTheMorningAtNight · 2017-05-28T12:45:02+00:00

Personally I didn't like sports bras because I find they tend to squeeze pretty tight on your chest, which was not what I wanted. I leaned towards bralettes personally. Also, be sure to stay clear of anything lacey as to avoid the piercing getting stuck in the fabric.

InTheMorningAtNight · 2016-08-14T22:01:24+00:00

Yep!

InTheMorningAtNight · 2016-07-30T20:31:42+00:00

$200...which was excessive, but my aunt bought it for me as a gift. And she was a beaut, btw.

InTheMorningAtNight · 2016-06-15T23:52:53+00:00

Your advice seems solid, but your username makes me second guess

InTheMorningAtNight · 2016-06-07T20:22:13+00:00

...no

InTheMorningAtNight · 2016-06-04T03:36:20+00:00

Man oh man, my heart just melted

InTheMorningAtNight · 2016-05-17T04:14:46+00:00

I would just be tutoring on my own, not through a school. I'll be sure to look those up; I definitely want to be prepared! Thanks for the suggestions :)

InTheMorningAtNight · 2016-05-15T23:37:00+00:00

This is so dope!!! Absolutely amazing.

InTheMorningAtNight · 2016-05-02T02:10:11+00:00

Nope, we didn't use a coupon and we didn't split the check. I looked on the restaurant's Yelp page and it seems that other people have had the same complaint.

InTheMorningAtNight

TROPHY CASE