Author: Roisin Astell

What a weekend!

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I have been in Paris as of two weeks today. Time has flown by so quickly! Last week was my first ‘proper week’ of the Au Pair lifestyle, which included picking up the children from school on my own, making dinner and making sure there was no fighting! I had a blast, and can definitely tell that I am going to enjoy my year here. As well as looking after the children after school, I also went into Paris on different days, including enrolling in person for my Language school. However, this post is all about the amazing Beyonce and Jay Z who came to Paris for two nights to complete the end of their On the Run tour. Ruth, the family’s previous Au Pair, had a spare ticket to the concert so I tagged along – and boy am I happy I went! It was amazing! The concert was at Stade de France, near Saint Denis Abbey, and pretty much the whole venue was packed (as you can see in my photos). Jay Z …

Cycling in Saint-Cloud Park with the most amazing views

Parc de Saint-Cloud

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Pretty much every day that I have been in Paris so far, I have been blessed with sun and beautiful weather, and this weekend was no different. On Sunday (Dimanche) I took M’s bike, and went cycling around Saint-Cloud park (the one I previously adventured through last week). Because I was on bike I was able to cover more ground, and wow, the park just keeps getting more beautiful and spectacular every time I go. The park has many different axial avenues which led to different parts of the park. The main one leads you towards a French style designed garden, including sculptures, fountains and a variety of trees and flowers. The most amazing thing though was the view that you got once the landscape had opened up from the woods – you can see pretty much the whole of Paris! Although not captured very well in the below photographs that I took, there was a hot air balloon floating above the city which reminded me of the ones used during the Parisian 19th century Exposition …

Semaine un à Paris

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Salut from France! I thought it was time to update y’all on the happenings of my life so far having arrived in Paris on Monday. It’s so hard to believe that today is Friday already! Seriously, where has the time gone? For those who don’t know, I am an Au Pair for three children (who will be referred to by initials throughout my blog) P – 15 years old; Con – 13 years old girl; and Ch, the youngest boy at 8 years old. Lundi – arriving in Paris On Monday I left England via Liverpool Airport, and made my way to Paris. Everything went smoothly, including trying to pull my two extremely heavy bags whilst negotiating the Parisian airport (which was very confusing). It took me about 10 minutes to finally find the bus stop. However, it all began to go down hill from there. I ended up getting off at the wrong stop. I am still adamant and will only take 50% of the blame for this occurrence, as there were no signs …

C’est officiel, je suis arrivé!

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Bonjour from Paris! After what seemed like an age of travelling, I have finally arrived. Despite getting off at the wrong station to meet my Au Pair mother (not the best ways to start the trip, but never mind) I have begun to settle in, getting used to my surroundings and ‘family’. Tomorrow I will blog about the last few days – what have seen, done and encountered etc. But for now, I am trying to catch up with the latest episode of The Great British Bake Off! Salut!

The end of an old chapter, the start of a new one

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I often start the beginning of a blog post saying something on the lines of ‘wow, I can’t believe I’m writing this’ etc. But when writing this blog post, I have to repeat myself. I cannot believe that the time has come for me to pack and move to Paris. It seems so long ago that I had found the family and skyped them for an interview. Yet here I am. It’s finally hit me. I’m moving to Paris for a year. Although the road has been smooth sailing so far, one thing that has had a slight effect on me is packing. Many people enjoy packing, and don’t get me wrong, I also do on the odd occasion. But when you’re trying to cram everything that you think you’ll need for the year in one luggage case it can get quite tough! But woe is me. How bad does that last sentence sound?! It feels a bit like getting ready for my first year at University again. Except for all the Supermarket value alcohol. That …