Here are all the pictures from my trip! Enjoy!!
A Tramp Abroad (pt. 2)
Another Adventure!
As September creeps closer, I grow more and more anxious to go to a new country and learn a new language. Until then I need to fill my time. What better way to spend two long hot months other than travel and adventure! My boys are at their grandparents until the end of August and I am not going to just sit around in Zürich and do nothing. A few friends and I decided to take one last hurrah trip before we all go our separate ways. We have been planning, texting and planning some more. At first we thought we would just travel around Italy for a week and hang out on the beach. As both of my friends are going back to the U.S. and a visit to a single country is no proper way to say goodbye to such a beautiful continent, we’ve decided to extend our horizons and venture to 6 other countries in just 9 short days. Why would we waste our time on one country when we are so close to so many other countries and cultures?
Our 9 day trip will start on a night train from Zürich to Berlin. We spend the day and night in Berlin and then we venture onto Prague. After a day in Prague we take a night train from Prague to Warsaw where we will spend a day and then we head off to Budapest. From there we head to Vienna and then Venice for two days. After Venice we spend a day in Milan. The world’s fair is in Milan right now and we really didn’t want to miss that. I cannot wait to see more of Europe this summer. I am also planning to explore more of Switzerland. I have now lived here for a year and I haven’t seen nearly enough of this beautiful country. Interlaken, Bern and the Cailler chocolate factory are just a few places on my list.
If you guys have any suggestions of places I should visit I am open to any suggestions. Leave your comments below or email me at riley@rileycochran.me
Big News!
I have a big announcement. I have been in contact with many families over the past week. They have all been pretty great but I found a family that is the family! This family is so kind. They have three very sweet children and they live just outside of Stockholm, Sweden in a small town called Sollentuna. I will be moving to Stockholm in September and living with this family for a year. On top of all of that I found out that with an au pair work permit I can go to university classes for free and all medical is covered because I become a resident! I am beyond excited to go on this new adventure.
A year ago I never thought I would fall in love with a continent as much as I have fallen in love with Europe. I hope that I can stay longer than just another year. I know that God has plans and I am not meant to come home yet. It’s hard to think about all the things I am missing out on back home, but I am so happy to share all my adventures with the people in my life!
I hope to have friends and family visit and explore this new country with me. Sweden is a lot richer in culture than Switzerland and that excites me. I can’t wait to learn a new language and a meet new family. I know that this family will make learning Swedish even easier because they speak it fluently. That was an issue I ran into with learning German. Not only did the family speak French but in Zürich they speak Swiss German which is far different from German. I hope to actually excel in Swedish and maybe even become fluent!!
Join me on my adventure here. If you have ever been to Sweden or any other Scandinavian country comment and tell me your favorite cities you’ve been to. I would love to hear from you. You can also email me at riley@rileycochran.me.
Goodbye Zurich!!
I have missed writing oh so very much! I have been quite sick and I was in bed all of last week. I am glad to be better and writing again. I am also pleased to announce that I have finally made a big decision. I have fallen in love with Zürich and although I am extremely bummed that I cannot stay, I have been searching for a new family in a few other countries. I have been in contact with about 20 different families in Germany, Ireland, Australia and some other Northern European countries. This process seemed so tedious and complicated when I lived in the U.S. I am very fortunate to live close to most of the countries I have been looking in because I can go to that country to get my visa. Instead of taking up to three months I can go straight into the country and get the visa in about a week!
I really miss my family back home but, my heart still remains in my travels and the nomadic life I have recently discovered. I have to say the best part of being in Europe is that I can have my job and social life back home but for just a small price I can hop on a plane or a train and I can be in the country next door in sometimes less than 3 hrs. I can have my cake and eat it too. Europe is really such an amazing place. The culture and history that differs from country to country makes all my travels even more worthwhile.
Although I am really sad to leave Zürich, I am really excited to get to know a new culture. I cannot wait to live with another family that speaks another language and I am excited to get to know some new kiddos and watch them grow for a year! The family I have lived with for the past year could not have been a better family to start my adventure with. They are all so supportive and sweet and parting will be very emotional. I do know that I will have so much fun continuing on with this crazy adventure.
I am excited to learn a new city. I can tell you all the best coffee shops and the best clothing stores in Zürich and I am so excited to share those with the new Au-Pair for my old family. I am also excited to learn these things from the old Au-Pair of my next family. I know now that there are very few cities in Europe that aren’t easily accessible by train and that aren’t easy to navigate by tram or Metro. I cannot wait to write more about my next adventure!
Please feel free to comment below and tell me your favorite cities in Europe. I want to see them all!
Xoxo,
Riley
The Best Hidden Spots in Italy
I am trying to plan my next trip! A friend and I decided that Italy would be fun. The Worlds Fair is in Milano right now so that is for sure on our list. I was wondering what else we could do in Italy, that not many foreigners would know about! Leave your comments below! So excited to hear what you all have to say.
How to be an Au-Pair and Love Doing it
Being an Au-Pair is hands down the best experience I have ever had. I really am lucky to have an amazing family to work for and amazing friends that have helped me through so much. It isn’t always easy, but here are some ways you can make the experience more positive than negative.
It All Comes Down to Who you Decide to Au-Pair For
When you decide you want to become an Au-Pair, first things first, you have to lay out ALL of your expectations during the interview. If you want all weekends free, make sure the family is aware of that. Express all of your concerns in the interview. My biggest concern when interviewing with families was that the family I ended up living with wouldn’t just treat me like an employee, but as a member of the family. I am living and sharing meals with them after all. I told them flat out I don’t want to be the Help, I want to be considered another family member, just like I am adopting you as my second family. I was lucky enough to find people on the same page as me, but some people don’t realize that communicating these things during the interview is a huge deal.
Communication is Key
When I first got here we all sat down and laid out the next 6 months to see what our daily routine would be like. I was able to see when I could have free time and when I had to work later. I am very fortunate to have a family that, not only is on the same page as me, but also communicates important details to me just as much as I communicate with them. If you feel like there have been overstepped boundaries or you are working too much, you should not be afraid to sit down with your host parents and have that conversation with them. Communicating with each other makes your job easier and your relationship with your host family stronger.
Look Into Going Through an Agency
When you sign up with an agency not only does it make it easier to find a family, but it also makes the visa process and resident applications go much smoother. You are also completely protected by your agency. If anything goes wrong with the family or you feel homesick, the agency has you covered. If you have issues that you cannot resolve with your family, the agency is willing to sit down and help you and the family, even if that means relocation for you and a new Au-Pair for the family. They are really there to protect you and make sure you have a pleasant experience.
Language Barriers are Only Barriers if You Make Them Barriers
My favorite part of being an Au-Pair is getting to hear the kids’ English progress. They didn’t know a lick of English before I came here. Now they are able to understand me when I speak and respond to me in phrases and words that I actually understand. I also take a German course. I can hold a basic German conversation with most of the people in my course. If one of them doesn’t share a basic knowledge of English and I don’t share a basic knowledge of their language it gets to be very complicated. I am not able to further explain things in my mother tongue and neither are they. We often revert to childish hand gestures and trying to decypher other body language. The more I did this, the easier it became. We can now communicate a little more in German, but we still use a lot of pointing.
Be Willing to Embrace the Family You Work for as Your Family
When you move into someone’s house and you eat dinner with them every night, they become more than just friends or acquaintances they become family. After about month and a few glasses of wine, you get to know them pretty well. My host parents have become like an older brother and sister to me. They complain to me about work and we talk some serious life issues. When I went through a tough time with some stuff back home, I was able to confide in my host mom. She was there to support me and really love me in the ways she knew how. You may not have as close of a relationship with your host family, but nonetheless they are still your family for at least a year. It is important to somewhat try and bond with them. It makes the experience more worthwhile.
Facebook Groups For Au-Pairs are a Great Way To Make Friends
I met most of the friends I have here in Zürich on Facebook. Keep in mind a lot of Facebook groups are private and you have to either be invited or request to be a part of the group. These Au-Pairs are all going through the same things I am. Some have a harder workload at home or are just plain homesick. These Au-Pairs are here for the same reasons as I am and are often like minded. This makes it extremely easy to connect with them. I feel like I have this kind of fraternal bond.They are all there for me when I am having a hard time with the kids, or when I really miss home. My Au-Pair friends usually make amazing travel buddies as well!
Making Friends From Home Will Help You When You Are Feeling Homesick
Meeting new people can be super nerve-wracking, but when I met people from my home I felt an even closer bond to them than I did with other Au-Pairs. Some of my closest friends here in Zürich are American girls who are here for the same reasons I am. They both have a similar mindset as me and were raised in similar family dynamics. Having these girls by my side makes me less homesick and actually even more excited to continue my travels and exploration. They also miss the same things I miss from back home, like Nordstrom Rack, American T.V. shows, and here in Zürich we all miss good Mexican food. The girls from back home are also amazing travel companions!
Explore and Welcome the Culture and Traditions of Your Host Family and the Country you are Living in
Moving to another country can be a huge shock: A new language, odd streets to remember, learning to navigate by public transportation, but the culture can be amazing if you really immerse yourself in it. Swiss German lifestyle is very different than any other culture I have experienced. I didn’t know much about the Swiss, before I came, other than they made good chocolate and used to communicate Ricola style, with an Alpenhorn. Now that I live here I know that Switzerland has three main languages French, German, and Italian. I also know the Swiss are proud of their heritage and if you call them just German or French or Italian you will be corrected. They are Swiss and they are rightly proud of it. Culture is one of the most important parts of being an Au-Pair. Through culture you make some of the best memories and you sometimes even inherit silly habits that will stick with you when you go home.
You Live in the Place You Work
The hardest part about being an Au-Pair is you don’t get to pack up and go back to your apartment and the end of the day. You are already home. It is so hard to balance home life and work life as an Au-Pair, because there is no distinction between the two. I have found Starbucks,and local coffee shops to be my best friends. I end up sitting at home all day waiting for school to get done if I don’t go out. I work school holidays and I learned early on to take advantage of the zoos and parks around me. With two boys at home all day during holidays, I ended up going a little stir crazy. Take advantage of being out of the house.
Be Prepared to Say Goodbye
You have made many bonds with many people and if you’re not a citizen of the EU than your visa is up after one year. You will never be prepared to say goodbye to the amazing friends you have made or the amazing people that accepted you into their home as another member of the family. What you can do is keep in mind you are only there for a year. In that year you have bonded with people in ways that will last a life time. You have made friends that you will probably keep forever, and at the end of it all you will probably be booking your ticket back to Europe, just to see these people again. If you’re like me you will be finding another job in another country just so that you can stay close to those that you have become friends with and also to travel the world more because one year really just isn’t enough.
I have loved this experience so much that I am actually thinking of doing it all over again in another country. I love learning new cultures and watching children progress in language, school and life. I also enjoy the adventure and travel that comes along with being an Au-Pair. The friends I have made over the last 9 months have all been so loving and supportive. I am excited to make new friends and making new bonds!
Confessions of a Self-Proclaimed Nomad
Every week I tell someone somewhere what my plans and goals are after I am done here in Zürich and every week my plans seem to change. I do not know what I want to do or where I want to end up, because truth is I want to end up everywhere and do EVERYTHING. I want to see more things and do more things and the more I think about it, working and living in a new country every year is, in my mind the best way to spend my early adulthood. I want to work and travel until I am so tired that I decide to mosey on home and make a life for myself there, if I find a place to truly call home (which right now is where my family is).
I know so many people that are graduating Uni and getting degrees, that may or may not be useful and, even though I would love to go to school and get a degree, I know that in the long run I won’t really use the degree to its full potential. Instead, I will probably continue on with my nomadic life and maybe return to school after I have kids and they are grown up and out of the house. Almost every person I graduated high school with went on to try and accomplish something bigger and better through college that can provide what they need. I consider the Earth my giant classroom.
Each step of the way I am learning something new, not only about the culture and environment of the countries I visit, but also myself. I have learned to fly by the seat of my pants, survive off of $50 for 10 days and I have also learned that I am absolutely and passionately in love with everything to do with having a nomadic life. There is something amazing about being alone and on my own. Traveling alone has allowed me to be completely 100% in my own head. I was so frightened of being alone when I first got here and now that I have learned the art of emotional writing and stress management, I cannot wait for the moment I sit down on that train or in that plane and just sit and contemplate. My ideas and wants and dreams float through my mind and I am usually writing them down after a certain point, making list, after list, after list.
From the first time I set foot on an airplane, I realized, that if I did nothing but travel for the rest of my life, I would be the happiest person on Earth. At first I figured that it was just a pipe dream and that it would never happen, but that was when money meant everything. Back then, my frame of mind was all about picking a career that would make me the most money. I never stopped to think about what I could do to make myself happy. I know now that I have found my calling and passion. I have to live in the here and now while I am young. I can’t worry about what everyone else is doing or thinking.
I was so proud of myself when I finally made my dreams of coming to Europe happen. I really had no idea what I wanted to do. I thought that I would just take a year to be Au-Pair and travel and after that year I would go home maybe go to school. With this, I would be happy and content. The thought of going back to Seattle makes me want to shed tears of joy and angst. I know that seeing my family would make me happy, but now that I have experienced the world a little more, I feel that traveling is just as much of a family member as my sister is. I know that if I were to go back home and have a normal everyday job I would be so completely empty and bored. I would not know what to do with myself.
That’s why I have decided to take another year here in Europe and just live my life and make myself happy! I am currently looking all over for a job. Germany has a lot of beautiful cities, but tomorrow I know Ireland will be just as appealing. My season here in Switzerland is almost up and I feel that in my heart. It is both sad and happy. I have made so many friends and I have had so many fun experiences. I wish I could go back and do it all over again. That’s why I am finding a new country to do it all over again in. I want to make new friends, keep the old, share my joys and experiences with them and, who knows, I might even be sharing from another continent next year … but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves.
