Working as a tour guide and an au pair in Sevilla!

Sevilla I am back!

Yesss, after studying in Sevilla for four months and falling in love with my boyfriend during those few months, I wasn´t quite sure what to do next. I was about to graduate and I was done with going back and forth to my boyfriend every two months. So I decided to return to my favorite city for a longer time. But a longer time also means you have to pay a lot… which basically means you have to work. So as a Dutchie who doesn´t speak Spanish that well… what kind of job could I do?

Process

So after thinking and discussing with my boyfriend, I decided to apply to something which sounded very interesting to me: being a tour guide. Very challenging as I hate presenting. But also super cool, because I love travelling, working with people, teaching and I couldn´t wait to learn more about my favorite city.

Two organisations
So in June I went to two organisations to attend a tour and one of the organisations I liked so much, that I knew that I wanted to work for them. Still super scary, but my motto is that you have to keep challenging yourself.

Then from June on, I starting thinking about a second job. I couldn´t challenge myself enough haha ;). This was, because I knew I would have a lot of free time and you don´t get paid that well as being just a tour guide.

Because I studied pedagogy (social work with children), I wanted to do something in that field of work.

There the second job flew into my life, being an au pair! An au pair is like a nanny, you have to take care of children.

In a few weeks I found a lovely family and luckily the timings of both of my jobs fit together. I couldn´t wait to get started!

Tour guide

Right now I am working as a tour guide and cycle with more or less 14 persons for 3 hours through this amazing city… every single day!

So far I only have done the tours in Dutch, which is very easy for me. I have done some walking tours, which is also very cool. The people of both of the walking tours had problems with their body and that´s why they couldn´t cycle.

Walking tours

To hear their stories was very inspiring. Besides that I have done private tours (with 2 or 4 persons), which I also like a lot. One time there were three young ladies that were half Spanish and they gave me the best recommendations on where to go. Lots of fuel for my wanderlust haha. Later I actually went to those places, which you can read about here. This tour is still my favorite so far, I also told the ladies, that those tours are the ones why I choose to become a tour guide.

Until this day I try to study everyday new things about the city and visit new places, because I want to be the best I can.

Free walking tour

Yesterday I also did a free walking tour and got so much new information. It is so nice to share stories of the city and it´s history, because there´s is never one story about a part of the history in Sevilla. That is also a reason why being a tour guide in Sevilla is so cool. I can give lots of reasons why the history of Seville is rich and beautiful.

But if you really want to know about that, you have to do a tour with me 😉 (With Andalucía Tours and Discovery or Baja Bikes (the mother company))

P.S. want to see me work as a tour guide? Watch the video below! 🙂

Au Pair

After being one week with the host family I knew this wasn´t what I wanted, so I told the family I would just stay until December, instead of February. The more the weeks flew by, the less I liked being an au pair, while I loved my job as a tour guide. So then in the beginning of October I decided to stay until the end of October, so I would have time to find another au pair for the family. I am still very happy with that decision.

Not the job for me

I did not like it that much, because I did not feel like I had freedom, did not like the choirs that much and had to do a lot of cleaning. Besides that I felt like I was always working, because I was living with them. These are things I don´t like. I am not going too much in detail, because of their privacy.
Think well before you start becoming an au pair. I know people who did not like it, just like me. But I also know some who absolutely loved it and are still part of the family.

Right now (November 2019) I am living with my boyfriend, doing my job as a tour guide and have time to work on my blog, which I also love to do! At the moment I am still very happy with my decision to come back to Sevilla and to be a tour guide.

My lesson for you today is to keep challenging yourself, go out of your comfort zone and find a job you might find really scary, but also very cool and challenging. You will get so much of it!
Another lesson for today is: if you are not happy with the situation you are in, change it! Don´t keep doing it if it makes you unhappy. Life is short and you have to enjoy it to the fullest!