18 Mar Ask an Au Pair: New Yorker Cailey has some fantastic advice for new or aspiring au pairs
This week, we asked Cailey, a 21-year old from New York. She is living in a studio in her host family’s building in the 1st arrondissement. Here are excerpts from her responses:
What inspires you about Paris?
The appreciation for art that is everywhere!
What do you dislike most about living in Paris?
Small sidewalks! I’m from New York. I walk fast. Paris’s small sidewalks make it impossible to pass…
What is the best way to meet Parisians?
I’ve had the best luck just striking up conversation at a bar. If you have some mastery over French, it should prove fairly easy to talk to people in bars. Most Parisians are eager to practice their English, too. I’ve made friends just striking up deals: I’ll help you with your English if you help me with my French. Works almost every time!
How do you improve or master your French language skills?
Like I said above, meeting French people and offering to help them with English if they help you with French. You learn so much more just talking with someone than you ever could in a classroom.
What is the best meal you’ve had in Paris?
I will let you in on the worst-kept secret in Paris: Chez Alain Miam Miam in the Marche des Enfants Rouges.The best, best, best galettes/crepes you can ever hope to digest. Ugh, I’m drooling just thinking about them. The ingredients are ridiculously fresh and well-selected. Crepes with tomatoes, basil, parmesan, olive oil, sea salt, and a million other ingredients I can’t remember at the moment. The catch is that Alain’s hours are tricky! Check on Facebook to see when he’s cooking up.
What is your favorite neighborhood?
I love the 11th/20th area (Oberkampf/Belleville). So much fun to explore, with amazing bars and cafes.
What is your favorite café?
Too many to name! Fondation Cafe in the 3rd for filtered coffee that tastes like home. Cafe Loustic in the 4th for a great, cozy work atmosphere. As far as bars, I love dive-y bars like Pili Pili and Le Kitch, both in the 11th. When I’m feeling fancier, I also love the speakeasy Moonshiner for artisanal cocktails or La Fine Mousse for craft beer. Ground Control on the Seine in the 13th is a fun, eclectic bar for dancing to remixes of oldies music. People’s Drugstore in Montmartre. I could go on and on….
What is your favorite shop?
& Other Stories on rue St Honore in the 1er. Owned by H&M, this is an amazing higher quality, reasonably priced clothing shop. Amazing, durable, interesting pieces.
What is your favorite museum?
Pompidou for its amazing exhibitions and Musee d’Orsay for the architecture
What is your favorite secret Paris spot?
One of my favorite spots in Paris is tucked away in the Jardins de Luxembourg. I would tell exactly where it is, but it’s so much more fun to discover it yourself and feel like you’re all alone in the city.
What advice would you give to incoming au pairs?
BE OPEN. Explore the city! You have the amazing opportunity to not only live in Paris, but to be able to see Paris through a child’s eyes. The French are different (which seems obvious, but is important to state) and you have to recognize and value these differences. You’ll grow so much as a person if you approach your au pair job/Paris/French culture with an open mind and expose yourself to change.
Also, just do it and commit to being an au pair. There’s always time for your career/grad school/whatever next year. Time to live abroad and change yourself/your world view is pretty limited to being young.