Ça Arrive Enfin....

Rachel Jewett

Jul 27, 2021

2 min read

Let me take you back to life as a second semester super senior, the countdown to the real world had begun and I did NOT have a plan. The world was mine to take and there were so many different options. A process and decisions to be made upon returning from spring break I decided. But when the idea of being an au pair got thrown into the mix I had to explore that option too. I have always dreamed of going to France and I spend all my "spare" time nannying and babysitting so the combination just made sense.

I was curious so I created a profile on aupairworld (a great and free way to find a family!) way back in January 2020 and started the process of matching with a family. I chatted back and forth with a few parents but it never fully clicked. I still wasn't even sure this was what I was going to do after graduation, I remember driving to San Francisco for spring break, sitting in the back of the car talking to a good friend about it who basically said "why not". Then I met the B family. After some texting back and forth, a chat with their previous au pair, and two facetime calls we both knew this was right. So on spring break, sitting on the floor in my now boyfriend's house hiding upstairs, I said yes to going to France for a year to be the B family's au pair. I ran downstairs so excited to have made a decision about the next year of my life. I was finally able to let myself relax and enjoy and push through the last few months of college. We had a blast the rest of spring break....we got back to school so excited to finish out college....and then this scary virus started shutting everything down. We got sent home and everything was put on pause.

This lead to months of "oh it will be good by June you can still come", but June passed. "The virus will die in the summer I can come in September", but the virus did not die (it got worse). "Things should change when the new year hits!", but things did not change enough. Slowly but surely with the vaccine things got better and FINALLY I am soooo happy to say France is now issuing au pair visas, vaccinated and tested Americans are allowed in the country, and the B family still wants me to come be apart of their family for a year.