How did I get here??

For those of you who want to know how this all came about, I have been thinking about being an au pair for several months now. I always wanted to study abroad in college, but because of timing and prior commitments, I never had the chance. So, since I had recently graduated from college, I begin to brainstorm ways that I would be able to live abroad for awhile. I remember telling my mom one day that I wanted to go live in another country without having to go to school, yet at the same time I still wanted to be connected with people or a family. My mom then suggested being a nanny, something I had never even considered. I started looking into it and realized there is a whole market out there for people to be au pairs, or live-in nannies, all over the world. I researched online a little and found some websites that I could make a profile on and meet other families.

For months I looked on the Au Pair websites every day, searching for the perfect family. I knew I wanted to go to Italy because it has always captured my heart and I've always dreamed about living there. I considered other places but knew that if I didn't go to Italy, I would never stop wondering what it would be like. Over the course of a few months, I spoke with dozens of families over email and skype. However, I was waiting until my apartment lease was up in March before I committed to going anywhere. One particular family messaged me and I was very interested, but they were looking for someone to come in August. We decided to keep in contact and reconnect a few months down the line when they would have a position available for a new au pair, and then we could see where it went from there.

As events unfolded and I made the decision to go in November rather than March, I emailed this family again to see if they possibly had any positions open. It turned out that the girl that was supposed to be living with them had a change of plans last minute, and they were very much in need of someone right now! I spoke with theme a few more times, and then bought my ticket for Italy!

If you want to know more about the family, I will put up another post for that once I take pictures of everything (I haven't had a chance yet because it hasn't stopped raining since I got here). For now though, the parents are Zoila and Aurelio, two very sweet and wonderful people. Their children are Maria Vittoria, who is six, and Cesare, who is three. They all speak great English (thank goodness!), and I live with them in a beautiful town in Umbria.

That's all for now... more to come later. Hope that explains a little more behind my random travels off to Italy!