Allons-y!

By the time you are reading this I will be boarding a plane from London Heathrow to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.

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Packing

This was going to be a joke about how little you can fit in a suitcase -
then I became REALLY worried

I hate packing. I've always been somewhat 'scatter-brained', and I can guarantee that I will forget something. This has led to me making lists upon lists of things to pack. The result is that I have lots of lists, and not much time left to actually do the packing, let alone go out and buy anything I've forgotten. If there's one talent that I possess above all others it is procrastination.

But that's just regular packing, the sort one does for a holiday or long weekend. If you are off as an au pair (or any long term stay) packing is a whole other ball game.

La Vie est Belle: My First Beauty post - La Roche-Posay

I have an admission to make. At twenty-five I am utterly clueless about beauty products and makeup. Not to mention totally useless. Yes, I am ashamed.

Why is this? Well I grew up in the countryside and I spent a good deal of my time on rain- and windswept hillsides in England and Wales, where anything short of tattooing my eyeliner on couldn't have held it in place. Second of all I went to a quite strict girls' school where even a hint of concealer was forcibly scrubbed off by the school nurse. Thirdly I've never really bothered. Don't get me wrong, I am by no means a natural beauty and I'm not vain enough to think that I 'don't need' makeup. What I AM is lazy and unwilling to sacrifice the extra five minutes in bed to put mascara on my bleary eyes. I never spent the hours as a looks-obsessed teen practicing my technique and now in my mid-twenties the thought of trying to perfect my eyeliner wings seems like a chore rather than a part of my morning ritual (which actually involves about nine cups of tea...).

But what better place to try and get to grips with all things beauty than in Paris? The origin of some of the world's great beauty brands and home of some of the most chic and beauty savvy people in the world. So I'm going to post a few reviews of some of the French brands I think you have to try. Most will be available in the UK, or at least over Amazon. Some may be a little more difficult to source, but they will be worth it!

So here we go - my first ever French beauty review of La Roche-Posay

Apologies for the rubbish photo quality - taken on my phone during a thunderstorm.

Au Pair Reads: Almost French: A New Life In Paris - Sarah Turnbull

I hope this will become a recurring feature. I want to review books that may be helpful or insightful for an au pair in Paris (or France more generally).

There are no shortage of books for people who have the desire to up sticks and make a home for themselves in France. Yet these books tend to focus on those who have both the means, and the luxury of time, to renovate quaint farm houses in the south of France. They know that they have years of warmth and sunshine in which to make their mistakes. This is not the case for au pairs. Au pairs have a maximum stay of 12 months on the stagiaire aide familial étranger and every minute not spent speaking French or trying to absorb chic by osmosis is a minute wasted. The easiest way to get around this is by reading the tales of those who have gone before you.

So I will be highlighting books which may be the most useful for you as an au pair on your placement. I am not looking at any particular genre - travel guides, travel writing, language books, poetry, and prose. If it will help you make sense of French life, I will read it and review it. So, let's start with:

Almost French: A New Life In Paris - Sarah Turnbull.

So you want to be an au pair?

Look. I am no expert on the matter. I have not yet been an au pair. I am, if you like, an au pair in waiting. That being said, I have already had several people reach out to me via twitter and tumblr with questions about how to go about finding your au pair placement, and I think I have a few insights which may be worthwhile considering. So let me take you through the stages I went through when selecting my au pair position, and how to avoid the pitfalls and problems that can crop up. Get ready for a long post...

Expectations

Reality

À quelle heure part le prochain vol pour Paris?

Ah! My first term at law school. I am going to get a Graduate diploma in Law (GDL) under my belt, where it will join my MA and BA. I am taking control of my life. I am ready for the real world. I have been offered an internship at the EU commission and am discussing it at a conference for students going to Brussels at my university...