First blog entry

I know, I know. Exciting title, huh? The purpose of this entry is to test out my new blog; thus, I couldn't think of a much better title for it than "first blog entry, " unless I wanted to call it "test blog entry." ANYWAY. I'm not sure yet when and if I'm going to tell other people that this site exists. I probably won't be posting on it much until I actually leave for France, although that could change.

Now. On to the purpose of the blog itself. I'm planning a lengthy séjour (in French, that means a visit or a stay) in France. I'm hoping to leave some time within the next three months. In fact, my friend Sarah just left three weeks ago for a year-long stay in Switzerland. She started her blog to keep friends and family updated while she is there. I thought that was an extremely good idea and planned to do it myself. Although I haven't left yet (and, in fact, don't know exactly when I'll be leaving or where I'll be going), I thought I would get the blog started now.

My reasons for wanting to go to France:

I studied French in college (and almost obtained a minor). I loved it. I became a proficient speaker/reader/writer, but aside from just learning new vocabulary (which I definitely need to do), I have become just about as good as I can here in the U.S. In order to become fluent in French, it will be necessary for me to spend an extended period of time immersed in the language. What better place to do it than in France? In addition, I want to travel and to experience a different culture and country. I'm young (22 right now) and unattached, so I can't think of a better time to go than right now. I've actually been wanting to go for about three years, but the timing has not been right. Three years later, the desire is still there, and I feel like the time is near. I've been praying that God would open the right doors and make it plain to me when I should walk through them. If the Lord doesn't lead me, I don't want to go. But I do feel that He is leading me to France!

My options as far as getting to France:

1. Register at a French language school and obtain an "internship" (read: full-time job that would pay like a full-time job but would technically be an "internship," since I would obtain a student visa [getting working papers in France is next to impossible for an American, especially for a short-term position and for someone without any real expertise]) at a law, public policy, or financial services firm. I currently have contacts that have attorney contacts in France contacting their contacts (whew!) to see if this might be possible.

2. Find an au-pair position.

Right now, I'm leaning toward option number two, which is definitely the easier of the two. If I were to get a job/internship, I would be required to find and pay for my own housing, as well as to find people with whom to speak French outside of my job (especially if I were using English in the workplace, which would be likely). As an au-pair, my room and board, schooling, and transportation is covered by the family. They also pay a small allowance (for instance, 90 euros per week) to cover other costs.

I have been corresponding with a family in Vertou (in the West of France, in the Loire-Atlantique region, very near to the city of Nantes). This family actually needs an au-pair to come right away, as their current au-pair just returned to her home country of Germany. I am not able to go until mid-October at the earliest, as I will be taking the LSAT on September 30 and then completing law school applications. The mother sent me an email yesterday to say that she had found a Czech au-pair that can come immediately and stay until the end of 2006, at which time I could come and stay until August 2007. As I was in the middle of writing her an email today to say that this might be possible but that I am going to continue searching for a family that would let me come around November 1, she called me from France! We had a nice conversation (in French), and she asked when I would prefer to come. I told her November 1, and she said that she is going to tell the Czech girl that she can come, but only for three months (meaning I could go in November). I'm waiting to hear back from her now, and I really hope that it works out. This family has four kids (a plus for me - the more kids, the more people there are with whom to practice my French), the parents are both doctors (thus, I know it will be a stable situation), and the family has been hosting au-pairs since 1995. Also, they would not require me to speak English in their home (a LOT of families looking for American au-pairs do; they want their children to learn English). Au contraire, I would be speaking French all day long. It seems like an ideal situation. If it doesn't work out, though, I know that there will be something better.

Well, this first entry has turned out to be pretty long, and I have a lot of studying to do before I take my LSAT next month. I will continue to post updates about my France endeavor, and maybe at some point, I'll give the URL out so that people can actually read it.