Going abroad is an incredible adventure ✨ ! Find out what advantages you can gain from a trip to the other side of the world.
Why go abroad and live an international experience?
Learn a language
Living abroad means immersing yourself in a new culture. Take the time to discover the country in depth. This experience will be both a journey ✈️ to learn how the people of this country live and also to learn a new language.
Developing soft skills
Soft skills are behavioral skills that you acquire outside the classroom.
- Going off on your own is an opportunity for you to develop skills that will be useful in both your personal and professional life 💼 :
- Becoming independent. Far from your comfort zone, and especially from your family, you have new responsibilities to manage. You’ll have to learn how to get by and be more independent.
Adaptability. Surrounded by another culture and foreigners who may not speak French, you’re bound to have to adapt to situations you’ve never had to deal with before. - Gaining self-confidence. Following on from adaptation, confidence is another skill you’ll acquire through contact with new people. It’s intimidating to meet new people, but it’s also very formative.
- Communication skills. Building relationships with foreigners is not for everyone. Moving to another country will help you improve your communication and interpersonal skills.
- Become open-minded. Thanks to all the encounters you’ll have during your stay abroad, you’ll learn about different cultures, get to know different people, and so on. This will make you more open-minded and tolerant of those around you.
Getting to know yourself
Travelling is an opportunity to be alone with yourself and reflect 🧠 on who you are, who you want to be and what your future plans are. Away from your landmarks, you can finally discover your own strengths and realize what you really want. Ask yourself the right questions. What are your values? What’s your dream?
Making international friends
Being abroad also means meeting 🤝 people and building relationships. At first, the language barrier will be hard to overcome, but this will enable you to improve both your language skills and your interpersonal skills – linked to the softskills seen above. These encounters will become acquaintances, then friends 🙌 who will bring you a lot as open-minded people.
Boost your CV
International experience is a valuable addition to your CV 📄. For all the reasons mentioned above, traveling is synonymous with being bilingual or nearly so, gaining skills, personal development and international social networking. That’s why you’ll have the advantage over others.
👉 See also “How to include your au pair experience in your CV”.
⚠️ It’s also extremely important to know how to justify your experience. Why did you decide to volunteer abroad? Why did you become an au pair? Etc.
👉 Read also “Being an Au Pair, what is it?”.
If you’re interested in becoming an au pair, check out our destinations ⬇️
Have you noticed the emphasis on meeting foreign people? Yes, it’s the encounters with foreigners that will enable you to improve your English (or others), to develop certain behavioral skills, to know the right questions to ask, to mature.
In short, leaving home is an incredible experience with real human values.
To find out more about being an au pair, come and join us at our next meet-up and ask us all your questions. 👇
