Sure.. I haven' t been so lucky as aupair, but I wanted to remain in Ireland as planned, so I started looking with motivation for another job.

Dropping off cvs everywhere was definitely a good idea, when just after two days I had a call for a trial.

That same day I got the job. I have been hired as waitress in an italian restaurant. Not the job of my dreams, but "better than nothing"( mama said)

If from one hand working with other italians wasn' t helpful for my english, on the other hand I had a job in which I was already comfident.

The manager made me sign a contract, filled in with my passport's details. Everything was correct and looked honest to me,while  scrolling my eyes through the contract' s agreements.

But as soon as I started working there, I gradually became consious about irish working policys, and  I started relizing  how negative the atmosphere was for me.

Of course, my sarcastically "honest" manager didn' t tell me anything about the PPS number( the Personal Public Service Number. requested to be register as a worker in Ireland)..

Without this number, the 50 % of my total income become taxes for the government.

Althought I asked directly to the manager more informations about it  while signing the contract, He told me that the pps wasn' t important...

It took me 3 weeks to realize the importance of that number, just after reciving my first pocket money.

Half of my income has been taken to pay taxes to the irish government.

Furthermore I was working less than 20 hours a week, despite my request of a full time job.

Of course I could have asked my taxes back later, but the process of compensation would have taken at least 3-4 weeks more.

And my plan of staying in Dublin for not more than 2 months wouldn' t have worked.

With the money earned from my tax back,and the little hours of work, I could have barely paid for food and accomodation. Without earning any effective income.

The constantly bad weather added to the great costs of life and the tendency of people to create groups of the same nationality, made me feel like an unwelcome guest.

I tried to apply to other jobs, but losing the mojo I had before.

Some pub's owners replied coldly to my job proposals, saying that they would have hired just irish job seekers.

Hanging out with people from other countries was also  challenging, while I had the impression that everybody was looking for connationals to be friend with.

There couldn' t be bigger mistake than avoiding conversations with people from other countries, loosing the best possibility to improve your spoken english and learn more about new cultures.

Although my attempts to avoid italians, it seemd almost impossible in that almost racist context.

Later I decided to move to an apartment., while the  hostel' s life was becoming way too expensive for me.

I shared my room with other 3 girls and the apartment with other 7 mates.

During my time in Dublin I noticed a strong presence of people from south America, mostly from Brasil.

And I ended speaking more with brasilian people than irish ones, my flatmates indeed were from São Paulo.

In addittion, people and the same place didn' t gave me that "good vibes" I was looking for,as a young traveller.

I had no satisfaction with my job, and I started being a bit bored in that always grey atmosphere, where drinking beer seems to be the only way to have some fun.

And of course, after living in Australia and Italy, I started missing the sun!

Furthermore my salary couldn' t permits me to spend some time in pleasure' s activities like shopping and tours around the city.

I realized I had no good reasons to stay and after one month I decided to book my flight back home.

Ireland didn' t give me an enjoyable experience, but at least I can say that I learnt a lot about working and living in Ireland, as much as avoiding negative people in my future.

Not all families hiring aupairs, do know exactly who an aupair is.

Unfortunately many families still consider the aupair as a cheap little slave, that comes to another country to learn the language and do exactly what they want.

Firstly, we should make some clarity about the aupair figure.

 Who is an aupair? A clear definition is given in the aupair' s network "aupairworld.com":

"An au pair is an unmarried young adult aged 18 to 30 years, who has no children and travels to a foreign country for a defined period of time to live with a host family. The au pair is considered as a full member of the family during the entire stay. As such, he or she helps the family with childcare and can be asked to assume some light household tasks. In return, the host family provides free board and lodging, as well as pocket money. However, the au pair is neither a housekeeper, nor a nanny.  The main purpose of the au pair placement is a cultural exchange, which gives the the au pair an opportunity to improve his or her language skills. For this reason child minding in your own country doesn't count as an au pair stay. The au pair should also attend a language course in the host country. He or she should, however, have some basic language skills beforehand. Whether it is the au pair or the host family who pays for the language course depends on the prevailing practice of the relevant host country. The same applies to the cost of travel and insurance".   

link at the page--> (https://www.aupairworld.com/en/au_pair/au_pair).

Families who consider to take advantage from young people travelling from another country, asking them to do all kind of houseworks, and working full time, have not exactly understand the definition I shared with you.

I would like to rise awerness about this job, that is so common in many countries as still a stranger in others.

If you want to be an aupair, you are going to have specific tasks, and a part-time job.

You are going to have also planty of free time to find a second job, or travelling or studying if you would like.

But, please, don' t let yourself be treated as a multi-tasking robot, set boundaries with your hostfamily about your duties, in order to be respected and treated as an aupair is supposed to.

If your family is honest and has already understand what an aupair is, well you are definitely going to have a great experience!

And this is what every single young traveller deserves! :-)

...Just a quick visit to Dublin? Here there are some tips to make you have the best from your irish trip...

Work hard, travel harder.

My working experience in Australia is been something unique and made me grow a lot.

Originally, I went to "Straya" as Aupair, working for a lovely family located on the western coast, just 20 minutes by car from Perth.

This last one claims some of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen, from Rockingham, to Coogee and Scarabough... the best time to visit this gem is definitely Summer!

Working and living outside of the city center I had the possibility to be at the closest contact with the australian lifestyle.

The distances are completely different from our european standard, and "big cars" are a must in that wild habitat!

As  many countries, originally anglosaxon, the driver stays on the right sit, while driving on the left side of the road.

This scared the hell out of me during my first time in the  free way.

But aussie people take life easy, so "no worries", you ll get used to!

Being a babysitter in a goreign country, you develop a certain sense of respondability, towards the kids and yourself too!

Some days were crazy, some extremely boring, but I met a wonderful family, who gave me a tatally different view of lifestyle. 

Taking 2 kinds of public transports to arrive to Perth city center, I definitely started realizing how huge Australia is! I wasn' t used to so much travelling, while in Itally people move for their daily routines on a vespa moped.

I started feeling like a real aussie! But my life had a turned in Noosa, on a Christmas time. sooo humid!

I met some french backpackers, living their life in their apartment, with a job in the hospitality sector, telling me about their travel plans. I don' t know exactly why, but they kind of touched a part of my soul with their stories!

I was in a pub, having one of that famous "little creature beers", a beer from Fremantle. I was speaking about "next plans" with this french friends of mine. I didn' t know exactly what to do next, I was scared to not be able of find another job. I had experience just as babysitter. 

One of that "french fries" convinced me to challenge myself, to start from zero, looking for another job. He kind of trusted in me, more than I did in myself. 

And that worked! I move to Melbourne at the end of January to find my new job! Of course, it was the worst season to look for one...nobody was hiring, but a little coffee shop was, and the owner asked me for a trial. I was so happy I couldn' t even speak at the phone with a proper voice. 

Well, I got the job!

It was incredible, I was a disaster.... but I learnt so much and so fast, afetr just 2 months I was responsable of training every new waitress. Sometimes working also 10 hours a day! 

How much satisfaction you have, working hard, improving your skills, and saving some good money!

Barbe', sausage rolls and chicken Parma!

If you ll tell to an australian that you are italian, expect to recive the answer: " so you know chicken parma!?!"

I have never heard about that until the moment I spoke with an aussie.

Chicken Parma is the aussie version of the italian common "Parmigiana".

In Italy it is a really tasty food, realised in slices of eggplant, parmesan cheese, tomato sauce, olive oil and lasagna pasta.

Well, the aussie version is with ketchup, mozzarella, french fries and chicken.

Healthy food' s lover are not really going to like it.

But I really suggest it to you, as something typical! 

Love or hate.

In those last 2 years, I have met two kinds of people: The ones of "Australia is not for me" and the ones of "I am in love with Oz" (one more way to say Australia).

Of course, I am one of that people who felt in love with it! But I found curious how nobody was halfway with their consideration about the country.

It' s easy, or you love it, or you hate it.

Furthermore I started questioning myself,  how can you hate it?,"

Some people said:.." It' s too hot", "it' s too expensive", "It's too big", " the food is disgusting."; "everything is trying to kill me"......

The reality is that Australia is not for everyone!

In Summer, the temperature can reach more than 40 degrees, and the sun is stronger than the one shining on our european heads. You' ll need a big hat, and a swimsuit to stay some hours chillen at the beach.

Forget your european sunsceam... You' ll need the highest protection( 50*), don' t be the suntan hero, You' ll get burnt anyway.

Australia is not big, it' s huge! That is the reason why you can find so many different landscapes in the same country. But most of it, it' s just desert.

During Australia's development, people decided to grow cities and civilisations along the coastal area. 

Why?A population needs lots of water to survive and grow, and this is  concentrated all along the coast, where almost all the population lives.

Food in Australia is a mixture of different culinary cultures, absorbed from the countries surrounding the continent, mostly asian.

Aussie chef' s style is definitely modern, considering that the country's hiistory is not so ancient as the european and the oriental one..

At least you can try to have a coffee in an avocado-cup. (I am not joking).

About the costs, every country has a different balance. If life is more expensive, it also means that local people earn more money.

According with "Business insider Australia", an average australian weekly ordinary earning is 1164,60 AUD.

Probably your expensive large cappuccino of 5 AUD, it' s just not that expensive for a local..

If thinking about spiders, snakes or crocodiles make run a shiver down your spine, Australia could be a bit an uncomfy place for you.

This country is actually habitat of some of the most dangerous animals in the world.

And some of them live also in urban areas, like red back spiders for example.

I haven' t seen so many dangerous wild animals during my time abroad, you have to really look for them..

Despite this, if you are working in the countryside you have  98% of possibility to find a big hairy spider in your shower. Don' t freak out, that is just an antsman, an harmless spider that feeds itself through other insects.

The magazine " Australian geographic" wrote down a creapy list of the 30 deadly animals you can find in Oz.

https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2013/03/australias-dangerous-animals-the-top-30/

Don't panic!

.........

Just a two hours flight from Darwin took me into that tropical paradise called Bali.

Before to plan all my trip, I wanted to be sure about the best time of the year to visit Indonesia. 

If you don' t want to find yourself stuck into never ending rainy days, the best time of the year to enjoy this country is between June and August, when the dry season appear.

If the season is "dry", do not forget that equatorial climate is highly humid! And you'll need some good repellant against mosquitos, especially if you plan to visit some rice plantations or forests as I did.

In Australia, I booked a 9 days guided tour, a good way to meet some fellow travellers before to take an adventure by yourself.

Arrived at the airport I had to wait a while for a lift to the citycenter, cause the traffic was awful, and most of the shutlle buses weren' t avaiable..

And in that caotich, hot and humid atmosphere I just realized how people were chill, everybody was smiling, doesn' t matter on the level of stress!

A drive to the city center that was supposed to take just 15 minutes turned into almost 1 hour.. while the humidity was smothering me.

Furthermore I had the occasion to have an interesting conversation with the shuttle-bus driver. 

I asked him if people sometimes freak out into that truffic jam, while in Italy we would yell into each other in such a situation.

He smiled and explained me that indonesian have to keep a calm attitude, while living in one of the most turistic cities can be pretty stressful.

Some of the most important companies in Indonesia are located in Bali, and this is the reason why the city center is so crowded, dirty and noisy. But also spectacular in its way.

"Locals are not rich, turists are, but our richness is this beautiful country that we enjoy everyday" he said.

Nothing more true about their culture. Milion of turists spend great money to some holidays in Bali, but sure locals are surrounded by all that stunning landscapes for their entire life.

That open-minded conversation was a great introduction of what I would have seen in the next days.