12 Mar Ask an Au Pair: Sophie makes the most of her free time in Paris
This week, we asked Sophie, a 29-year old from Texas. She lives with her host family in the 17th arrondissement. Here are excerpts from her responses:
What inspires you about Paris?
The rich history of the city. Everyday, everywhere you do there is such cultural reminders of greats. Great architects, artists, writers and government figures.
What tools, information or tactics did you find helpful in supporting yourself and the children after the terrorist attacks in Paris?
I read the news everyday and talked with my host family a lot.
What is the best way to meet Parisians?
Go out, join a gym, talk to every single person you can in French.
How do you improve or master your French language skills?
Get a French boyfriend! No, seriously that helps. But if that’s not in the cards, just speak to everyone you interact with in French. Even when shop owners or waiters try to change to English, just keep speaking in French. You’ll make mistakes but that’s okay, people really appreciate your efforts.
What is your favorite neighborhood?
Marais and the Latin Quarter
What is your favorite café and/or the best meal you’ve had in Paris so far?
For coffee, I love Cafe Costume, Coutume Instituutti and Anticafe. Mmmozza for Italian sandwiches and Restaurant Zicatela for Mexican. Cantine California or PNY for hamburgers (you’ll miss home.)
What is your favorite shop?
Dagobear for guys, Citadium,
What is your favorite museum?
Musée D’Orsay. By far.
What is your favorite secret Paris spot?
There is this secret bar that looks like a laundromat, but is a door to this super chic cocktail bar. I’d tell you the name, but then it wouldn’t be secret.
What do you dislike most about living in Paris?
It’s so hard to make friends that are true Parisians. The French have very tight cliques of friends and it is very hard to break in.
What advice would you give to incoming au pairs?
Anticipate that you WILL be homesick, so how are you going to deal with that? What will your support system be? What are your goals for your year here? Honestly, you have a lot of free time and you have to be able to make the most of it while you’re here. I’d suggest making a list of everything you want to see, accomplish or do in your year and get to it!
ASK AN AU PAIR SERIES
Get to know Paris, from an au pair’s perspective. Our “Ask an Au Pair” series was so popular that we’ve decided to continue it with our next round of au pairs! We pose a dozen questions about the City of Light to those who are seeing it with fresh eyes and learning all of its wonderful intricacies. And, we decided to expand this series by adding a question about adapting to life in Paris after the 2015 terrorist attacks.