All posts tagged: Gap year

Brief visit back in England

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This weekend I arose at an un-earthly hour, jumped onto the Metro to commute across the city, and boarded an early morning plane to England. The reason behind this voyage was that it was one of my best friend’s 21st Birthday Masquerade Ball! So before heading down to the Midlands to join my friends, I was able to have lunch at home in Liverpool, see my cat and family, and then hop onto another train. Phew. I feel tired just thinking about it! We had all donned on our best dresses and suites, and danced the night away! Because it was a masquerade ball, as well as having our own individual masks, my friends had also organised having masks of the birthday girl made, so our entrance encompassed us walking into the venue all wearing a mask of her face – what a surprise! I had an amazing time. It was wonderful to see all my friends again, some I haven’t seen since March! Below are a few pictures from the night. Alas, back to …

Do something different challenge

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I recently stumbled onto this amazing blog, which is run by Anne, an American expat in Paris. Pret a Voyager offers an amazing array of information, guides and tips to living and exploring the city that I call home, Paris. One of the posts that I really like the sound of is ‘Do something different everyday’, which includes a list of the various things that the blogger did during her free time. The aim is obvious, to do something different everyday. So I’m going to give it a go! But rather than something everyday, I’m going to make it my challenge to do at least two different things each week! So keep watching this space to see what I get up to. If anyone has any suggestions of what they think/know is off the beaten track here in Paris, please leave a comment to let me know!   Check Anne’s blog and useful pages here: http://www.pret-a-voyager.com/2010/05/do-something-different-everyday/ http://www.pret-a-voyager.com/search/label/Paris%20Travel%20Tip

Palace of Versailles, France

A Flea Market and Versailles

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  As previously mentioned, this weekend the family’s previous Au Pair Ruth came to visit. It was lovely to finally meet Ruth in person, as she was incredibly helpful during the run up of my arrival in Paris. As well as going to Jay Z and Beyonce on the Saturday night (have I already mentioned how amazing they were!?), on Sunday morning we headed over to a local ‘Flea Market’. On this occasion I think the description ‘Flea Market’ is a little off, probably a glorified car boot sale (with out the cars or their boots…) would suffice. Anyway, we spent a good hour looking around, and items that were on sale varied a great deal. There was the usual, such as books, old clothes and toys. However, the odd stall was selling some very interesting stuff. One woman had boxes and boxes of free fur for sale. I was really tempted to buy one that could act as a throw for my chair (for €20, that’s not too bad), but I think my conscience altered me …

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 …