Hi there!
I am so happy to see you here on my brand new blog. It has been a dream of mine for years to write about my experiences and share them with others like you. After quitting my full time job (and other two part-time jobs) in New York City, I moved to Paris to start fresh. I was overworked, depressed, and lost. It took me some time to connect with myself and uncover my dreams at their core, but here I am. I’m no longer overworked and depressed. I’m genuinely happier even with the stressful uncertainties at times and wearing of many hats to make ends meet. The difference is that I am doing these things for me.
Starting a new foreign life as a nanny
I kicked off my new life in Paris by working as a nanny for a French family that I found online. My dream for years had been to move back to Paris after I spent months here studying abroad in college. This was how I was going to take the first steps into making a life in France. I’d figure the rest out later. We can’t have everything figured out at once because our plans evolve as we go along.
The first few months I was elated. Having gone from 80 hour work-weeks to 20, I became a giddy adventurer. I was addicted to walking around the different neighbourhoods and noting down places. I had gotten incredibly lucky to have worked for that host family, two years just blew past me in the blink of an eye. Working as a nanny in Paris has a ton of benefits and is a great way to explore Paris as a foreigner, and I have also seen the very ugly side of it too, when I changed families in my third year. (I’ll get into more details about being an au pair in Paris in other posts.) In France, you are only allowed to have a visa as an au pair for two years, so at the end of mine, I had to assess my dreams and take the plunge into something else if I wanted to continue to stay in France.
Becoming an auto-entrepreneur in France
After a total by chance opportunity to decorate an apartment used as an Airbnb rental, and the realisation that finding a job and sponsored visa would be harder than I originally thought, I pushed forward with the opportunity of asking for a visa as a “micro-entrepreneur”. I won’t get into all of the details in this post, but I ended up with my own small business, Budrow Designs. Starting a business is something I hadn’t even had on my radar until I moved here. It is one of the things that I am grateful to France for. Living here as a foreigner pushes you to try different things and on so many levels. I am just at the beginning of a plethora of lessons. I plan to share as much helpful information as I can and be an open book about the challenges and rewards that come with this new venture.
A love for discovery
A big part of my love for Paris came from how much I had discovered while studying here. Not just about the city and its history, culture, and people, but about myself. Moving back here hasn’t changed a thing in that regard. To keep things interesting, this city changes on a regular basis. It’s a great reminder that its required of me too! I love this city for its variety and its ability to be so many different things. It makes it an endless discovery and I can’t imagine living anywhere else. My dream of blogging about the things I’ve uncovered here, and the opportunity to get out there and uncover more is where this adventure begins. I hope you’ll stick around and see me as your favorite tour guide, mentor, and adventure buddy. I can’t wait to see where this road takes us!
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xo
♥ Tamara
