…And I’m looking to change my host family. It’s just not working out, and I can’t discipline the kids. They threw rocks at me and the 8 month old baby the other day, and I wasn’t allowed to punish them, and the parents did NOTHING. Also, the schedule isn’t working out and I’m not getting the most out of my experience. I have to stay home all day everyday and it’s incredibly boring. (Yes I kind of talked to them about it, no they won’t change, no they won’t make anything better for me. At this point, I just want to change. I don’t want to work it out with them.)

There’s a family in Montmartre that wants to hire me, but it’s iffy because I don’t know how to go through all of the paperwork, and they want me to speak french with the kids, and my french isn’t that great at all. I’d also have to find a language school (I think?), and they’re close to 600 dollars (400 euros!) I also don’t know how to tell my current family that I’m leaving. I’m thinking about just lying and saying I’m returning to the US because of family problems. They’re really nice people, this just isn’t what I want. I don’t want to offend them. I rushed into coming to Bourg la Reine because the first family (the one in Montmartre!) I was supposed to go to had problems with the paperwork. They just fired their old au pair, and now they want me. I interviewed with them today, they live like 50 feet from Sacre Coeur! And they vacation a lot, so I’ll have the place to myself often. I’ve been talking to the mom for months. It’s a really beautiful place, and talking about it here is helping to make up my mind. I’m not happy with these people, I want to change my family. I worked so hard to get here, so why should I suffer?

Any suggestions on how to give my notice?

This is behind the apartment! Seriously only a few steps away.

This is the road next to the apartment. I can just imagine myself here, exploring until 16:30, and picking up the kids. It’s a beautiful place. It felt right.