J'arrive!

My first day back in Paris in 10 years!   Mom and I arrived around 1145 am here.  Our flight was so smooth and comfortable.  It sort of "flew by".  We watched movies and ate meals and tried to sleep. We had extended leg room and the plane was massive.  After a couple glasses of wine I tried to sleep but probably only got an hour of sleep.  
We had a driver pick us up airport.  Customs was smooth and our driver was very friendly and professional.  He took us to the hotel - Albert 1er near Gare du Nord.  We leave from that station tomorrow for Belgium.  Today was just a relaxed day. Rainy. We walked around and then took a nap before venturing out to a restaurant I found in a book Megan gave me.  It was perfect. "La Rotunda"   The owner was sweet and I've used my French successfully today!   A bientot.    Karen and Laura.   #Elle&KayInParis #SacToSeine

Here we go again!

La Dernier Blog dans Paris

Salut everyone. It is Tuesday, May 6th at 9:18 a.m. This will be my last blog writing as a resident in Bougival, France!

I just woke up and the sun is shining, blue clouds and warm outside. I am upstairs in Ashley's house and Beatrice is on the phone next to me, and I get to hear a nice French conversation :) It is a really strange feeling knowing this is my last day here, and that tomorrow I am going to be flying home to the States. I'm not sure how to feel at the moment. I'm just going to go on with my day and not "think" too much about it. My plan is to get ready and go to the Bougival Boulangerie and Tabac one last time to order a pastry and cafe creme, and then say goodbye to the nice people that work there. They've known who I am all year so I want to tell them I'm leaving and goodbye. Then I will be getting on the train to Paris for a last time where I will go to Willi's Wine Bar one last time. There is a small gift I need to pick up, and I'd like to take a photo of the outside as a souvenir. Then I will probably get directly back to St. Lazare for the my last train ride back into Bougival. I'm then going to ride with Ashley to St. Germain and go to the Vatin's new house to meet Jessica, the new au pair. I will go with her to pick up the kids from school and then spend the rest of the afternoon and evening playing with them and having dinner with the family. I think it will be really nice and we'll do a small gift exchange. I will do my best to keep my cool and not cry too much! I am going to try to just let it all hit me tomorrow morning on the way to the airport or something. Virginie and the kids will take me to the airport to see me off, where I know I will probably break down...BUT thats just how I am...I always cry at goodbyes.

Paris has been the greatest experience of my life so far. When the idea came up to find a job to move here, I never expected that it would all fall into place like it did and that I'd actually find a great family right outside Paris and spend 10 amazing months here. It's been a rollercoaster ride of emotions and lessons learned and excitement and adventure and loneliness and growing and culture shock and new stories to tell....

I am going to miss the Eiffel tower the most. I am going to miss the sounds of the train and the woman's automated voice announcements: " ce train est a destination de St. Nom la Breteche" and "prochaine arrette: Bougival"...haha. I'm going to miss the cafes and St. Michel. I will miss walking along the Seine and taking photos, and going to the Louvre. I will REALLY MISS the beautiful architecture all around me, not just in Paris but everywhere I've been so far in Europe. I will miss my few good friends I've made here, especially Ashley and Ashleigh, my au pair friends. Most of all I will miss the children, Ines, Tiphaine and Matthieu. I will miss the sounds of their voices and their smiles when they get excited. "Regarde, Laura, gaarrrdeee...." (I will give everyone back home an audio example of Matt's cute little voice)

Thank you to everyone for supporting me during my time in Paris. Thanks for all the cards and letters and gifts and care packages and phone calls and emails and messages online. I will never forget all the great details of my life I had here in Paris. Paris will forever be a part of me until the day I die. I will think of it every day. I'm sure it may be hard for me for the first couple months to get used to the idea that I can't just go into the city to play. But I have every intention on returning to France every few years, or 5 years, whatever it will be. My French language skills have improved immensely, even though I cant say I'm 100 percent fluent, thats alright. I will find ways to use my French in the States. Each time I return to Paris I will feel like its a home away from home and I won't forget much at all about the city.

Well, this is it. So long from Paris. Wish me a safe flight home. I will see all of you very very soon.

A bientot. A la prochaine fois. Gros Bisous.

~ Laura

Beautiful Spring!

The weather has been fantastic the last 3 days! It's been really nice to wear spring dresses and sandals and frolick through the city. Hehe. :)

I saw new things this weekend: Jardin des Plantes and Giverny! Both were fabulously full of flowers :) Monet's garden and water lillies were just spactacular and I'm so glad I decided to spend the 28 Euro and do it! I'll never forget how perfect the weather was and everything was in bloom! I took lots of photos!

I'm nervous at how much it will cost me later to print off A LOT of photos from my computer so that I can document my year here. But I really want to do it right and have albums and scrapbooks of this time here.

Today I'm packing up my things from the apartment in Paris and I'll be spending my last 2 nights in Bougival at Ashley's apartment. I will come back into the city once or twice to pick up some last minute items, but otherwise my time here is pretty much over. :( It's surreal and I think I'm still not realizing the reality.....my emotions come and go. Tomorrow when I have my real last day and see the kids, then it'll hit hard I think. Yesterday I went by Nico's apartment to leave a letter and my contact information...I hope he gets it soon or that someone in his family checks his mail. I just don't know what's going on so that's hard......I need to be patient and think positively.

Parisian-ing it up for my last few days

Hi everyone. It's Friday afternoon and I'm hanging out in the apartment near St. Sulpice (not far from St. Germain des Pres) in the heart of Paris. Mom left this morning to go back to Sacramento. We had a really nice week together. I got to see Chatearoux and Brassioux, where she lived for 4 years as a teenager on an American Base and attended high school. It was really fun to be the "1st child" to go there! I drove her and her friends around the town and base and tagged along for tours and yummy lunches and dinners!

Yesterday mom and I tried to get some "business" done in Paris but EVERYTHING was closed for the French holiday similar to Labor Day....so instead we went to Bougival and she helped me finalize my packing to come home. That was a huge help and a big relief to just get it done.

I'm going to go to Giverny tomorrow with some of my au-pair friends and see where Monet painted the water lillies and Japanese gardens, bridges, etc. The weather is supposed to get to the 70s and be sunny!

It's feeling really strange and surreal that these are my last few days in Paris (for awhile). But I'm also feeling excitement about going home. Monday and Tuesday are my last days and they'll be kind of hard I imagine....just bittersweet. It'll be nice to spend my last night with the family for dinner and playing with the kids.

Okay, off for now........going out with the girls tonight later.

p.s. no news on my friend, Nico...... I'm trying to get info, but not having luck. I hope that no news is good news for now....it's frustrating because I don't have other people's contact information, such as his family or a friend.....so I'm just praying they'll check his cell phone and get back to me with news. Thinking positive!!!

Sunny in Paris!

Hi everyone. I'm here in Paris, staying at an apartment near St. Sulpice, with my mom's high school friends that are here on vacation. The apartment is really great! It's big and has fun paint and furniture and great character. Today it is probably 70 degrees and clear sunny skies! It is fabulous.

Today I did the cruise along the Seine for one hour. It was perfect weather and I am so happy I did it because it's great to see all the major sites from the water!
I went on my own because mom's 4 friends went off to see things I've already done...so I ventured out in the sun on my own and took lots of pictures from the boat!

Everyone is officially moved out of the house in Bougival, as of yesterday. So all my belongings are in Ashley's apartment in Bougival...so for the next 12 days I'll be going back and forth a lot between there and Paris.

Mom arrives on Sunday afternoon.....we go to Chatearoux for 2 nights.
I'll have one last family dinner with the Vatins in their new house and play with the kids...then they'll take me to the airport to say goodbye the next morning :(

ok off for a nap!

and the tears begin......

Today was my last day of work with the 3 little French munchkins......... I wasn't too emotional at all during the day and didn't think about it much, until the end of their school day......when we left the school for the last time together, and then went to poney lessons for the last time........and giving them their last bath and making their last dinner was when it all hit me.I have grown so attached to them, as a big sister and also like a mother.....I've done everything for these children that a mother does, day in and day out for 10 months.so, tonight in Paris, I'm a little sad and melancholy........I love them with a big piece of my heart.Luckily I didn't have to say goodbye........yet.I'll see them in 2 weeks...surprise them at school to play one last time, and then I'll be having one more family dinner with them and the parents the night before my flight, and they'll take me to the airport as well........anyways, just filling in those who care to know........being an au pair has really meant making new family members that I'll always be grateful for, no matter how crazy the rollercoaster is....