Master’s Degree and Living in Germany

Today I’ll tell you a story about a friend, she became an Au Pair in Germany, learned German, then did her master’s degree at Kaiserslautern University, and is currently happy living in that country. And the best thing is that it all started with an investment of fewer than 1,000 dollars.

Being an Au Pair is a great experience that allows you to travel, learn new languages, and generally grow on a personal, academic, and professional level. It is one of the cheapest programs to start having international experiences and you do not need intermediaries (as is usually believed).

How I found out about being an Au Pair in Germany

Before deciding to travel to Germany as an Au Pair, I was finishing my Civil Engineering degree at university. At the same time, he worked as an engineering assistant for an important consulting firm in the construction sector.

Although the company I was working with had made me an offer to stay after obtaining my degree, I did not accept it because I already had in mind to go to Germany as an Au Pair. So I did it.

I had always liked the idea of living somewhere else. Traveling and getting to know another culture was very interesting for me.

In this way, I had in mind to carry out my graduate studies abroad. My first option was the US because the language would not be a problem and I would not be very far from home.

Later, when I learned about DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) offers for studies in Germany and all its advantages, I put aside the idea of the US and Germany became my new goal.

The only drawback was the language at the time. I had no idea of German and would have to start with zero.

It was then that my sister recommended the Au Pair program to me. She knew someone who through the program had learned a language while she was living with a family and after that, she had continued her studies there. So I found the idea of an Au Pair interesting and I started to learn more about it.

How does the program work?

Being an Au Pair or babysitter consists of knowing the culture and learning the language while living with a German family and taking care of one or more children.

Although it is true that there are many agencies to carry out the Au Pair process, I decided to do it ALL on my own by looking for a family on the Au Pair World page.

There you can create a profile with your family type preferences and thus find family profiles that are looking for an Au Pair. You can filter your search with for example number of children, city/region, among others.

Through this platform, I made the first contact with some families with whom I later spoke through other means such as WhatsApp or Skype. So I was choosing until I found the family with whom I felt the most affinity. I stayed with that family.

Once with a family, for the visa process, I was informed on the page of the German embassy in Bogotá about the requirements for VISA AU PAIR and I was in charge of obtaining the necessary documents.