Being an Au Pair in Paris: My Chapter in the City of Love

The notes in my iphone are proving to be the best digital diary. Typos, unpolished writing, French mistakes and all.

September 3, 2014 at 19:58

“I think I’ve found my favourite thing; what excites me the most out of everything! Arriving in a new city and thinking … This will be my new home.

I took a taxi yesterday taking a taxi, soaking in the culture, mentally making notes of cute places I must go back to, all the while thinking .. This is my new home. It’s exhilarating!

Arc du triomphe, moulin rouge, vespers, boulangeries, bikes, if you haven’t guessed – Je suis arrive en Paris !”

For all the bad rap phones get for being our greatest distraction, they are also undeniably the most comprehensive personal archive. The best external memory storage ever placed in a pocket. I would never have been able to tell you the exact date of my arrival in Paris otherwise, but here we are.

Arriving in Paris

The beginning of September 2014, the beginning of a new chapter and the beginning of the school year in the City of Love.

By this point, I was on the final leg of what I called my “post-graduation two-year adventure”: spend one month backpacking in Thailand, return to New York for another half a year, two months in Brazil (which turned into seven), and then learn French in Paris before heading back to England and facing the reality of graduate applications for a big-girl job I’d put on hold until then.

And if I’d already started this journey with very little money, making it last through paid work and various exchanges, by the time planning the move to Paris came around, my finances were practically non-existent. So I had to find a way to move there sans argent (without money) ~ or at least, with very little of it.

Finding My Au Pair Family

There were several options on the table: teaching English, perhaps working in a hostel like I had in Rio de Janeiro or becoming an au pair ~ of which I chose the latter. After speaking with a couple of families via good old AuPair World, which appears to still be going strong today, I found a lovely family to join for ten months.

A husband, an original New Yorker and ghostwriter for Vanity Fair. A French wife who worked as a playwright and theatre director. A confident yet incredibly sweet daughter in high school and a football-loving shy(ish) son in primary school. 

I chose them because of a good feeling during our first video call, but I’d be lying if the offer of being given a separate apartment to live in hadn’t been a massive influence too. In the world of au pairing, being provided with a room within the family’s home was as common as croissants, so the rarer yet far sweeter deal of having your own place, plus a 400 EUR monthly allowance, was not something to um and ah about for too long.

I say ‘own place,’ but really I had two French colocataires (flatmates), Max and Jeremy, and the apartment was in the same building. Still, that’s how I found myself in the 10th arrondissement, lying on the bed like a starfish in my new room, with exactly one unpacked suitcase on the floor, not yet knowing a single soul and a million butterflies of excitement for the stories ahead.

What Daily Life as an Au Pair in Paris Actually Looked Like

The nitty-gritty of au pair life looked like working around 20–25 hours per week. I’d pick up the youngest from school around the corner from where we lived at 3pm, baguette tucked under my arm ready for le goûter ~ the little after-school snack ritual the French do so well.

The daughter made her own way back from school and I’d take care of them, practising English, helping with homework, piano practice, making dinner (as best as I could back then!) and getting them ready for bed before the parents arrived home. 

The only day that looked slightly different was Wednesdays, when French students traditionally finish school at lunchtime. Did you know that this midweek break ~ often referred to as le mercredi des enfants (Wednesday for children) ~ has long been part of the French education system?

So on these days, I’d collect the son and his best friend around midday, spend the afternoon looking after them and, later on, we’d hop on the metro together and head off to football practice.

Enjoying free time

The role itself only occupied part of my day, leaving plenty of space for Paris to work its magic in all the other hours. And so while my late afternoons and early evenings were spent in a secondary mother slash big sister role, the rest of the free time was spent in French classes, meeting other au pair friends, dating, having good friends come to visit, falling in love and having mini heart breaks. Naturally, all the things you imagine a 24-year-old in the most romantic city in the world would be doing (more stories coming on this). 

And even whilst needing to be very savvy about exploring Paris on a budget and finding things to do that didn’t break that little bank of mine, it also made me realise that some of the most enjoyable moments in the city really are free. This ten-month chapter became everything I had hoped it would be, and so much more.

A Long and lasting love

My heart was tickled writing this. Perhaps it really does have a memory, as people say. And if that’s true, then this is proof that my Paris chapter still lives safely within its chambers.

If you’re currently feeling a pull to live abroad, whether in Paris or somewhere entirely different, trust me when I say there is almost always a way. And I really encourage you to find yours.

More Paris Posts

If you’re planning a trip to Paris, you might also enjoy reading:

• Best Areas to Stay in Paris
• Paris on a Budget: Affordable Ways to Experience the City Beautifully