The Beginning

I have always ALWAYS wanted to live in Paris. To know its laneways and intricacies the way I know Melbourne's.

But how to make it to Paris? How to survive French bureaucracy? How to fund this glamorous life in the city of light for 12 months?

I was prepared to arrive in Paris, sans job, sans apartment, avec nothing but my wits and pennies. For a non-EU citizen, however, that's a pretty difficult path to follow, so I started job hunting in earnest at the beginning of 2009.

I have since found the perfect job, for the perfect family, in the perfect location. I'm going to nanny a French family for 12months.

At first, I investigated nannying as a means to an end- smoothing a path to a life in Paris. Quickly, however, I became attached to the idea of nannying itself. Nannying offers a rare invitation into the intimate family life of another. It's a chance to share culture, to teach language, to inhabit the world of childhood fancy once more.

My blog title is a play on a popular French children's book series: Le Petit Nicolas. I know from my previous French travels that my name is considered a boy's name in France, and garners considerable consternation wherever I go. We shall see how well it copes this time around in France's most cosmopolitan city, Paris.

I look forward to sharing my Parisian life with you in both words and pictures. Please, suivez-moi as I become that icon of the French park: the au pair.