Why I decided to extend during COVID-19

When I first left home to become an au pair, I thought that I would only do it for one year, which is already really long. The longer I stayed here though, the more I started thinking of staying longer. I talked about it with my family and friends back home, who all support me, and that made my decision even clearer. Now, I just needed to make it official.

That is when schools and everything started shutting down because of COVID-19. Some of my friends went back home even before their year was over because didn’t want to be stuck here and my family started asking if I still wanted to extend.

Why did I extend?

• I felt like I wasn’t done here. Even though I was able to quite a lot of things before COVID-19, I still felt like there was still so much more I wanted to do, so many places I still wanted to see. Overall, I just didn’t feel ready to go home yet because I just wasn’t done here.
• I was/still am optimistic. Back when the whole lockdown first started I was optimistic that everything would be back to normal soon. Now, four months later I am still optimistic and hopeful that things will kinda go back to normal soon, just a little later than I first thought. It might be completely stupid of me to think that but I just couldn’t give up hope, because that was a big part of what helped me stay sane. So instead of focusing on the negative, I started thinking about what I would want to do once everything has calmed down.
• I love my host family. That was the biggest reason why I decided to stay because pandemic or not, I love my host family. My first year with them has been amazing and even if for my second year I would have some restrictions because of COVID-19, I knew that I could get through it with their help.

Some people might think that my decision is reckless and stupid, they are free to think that. I know, that this was the right decision for me and that I won’t regret it, even if things won’t get better for a long time. In the end, whether or not you want to extend and for how long, is a decision only you can make.