About

Who is sweetmaddy?

I am a 24-year-old sweet-toothed American girl living in Paris, France. My given name is Madeleine.

I went to the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA and majored in Music Business. After graduating in 2010 and spending one year working for the West Edge Opera in Berkeley, CA, I moved to Paris, France and taught English at a high school for seven months with TAPIF (Teaching Assistant Program in France). Now I am a student in the Cours de Civilisation at the Sorbonne.

I am from Oakland, CA and proud of it!

Au Pair Information

I often receive questions about how I found my au pair family. I have worked with 3 families so far. The first I found on aupairworld.net, a website that matches families who pay to have an account with prospective au pairs who have a free account. The second I found through a TAPIF Facebook group. The third I found on the FUSAC online edition. All are options I recommend – keep in touch with people because you never know where you’ll find your next work opportunity!

TAPIF Information

I did TAPIF for the 2011-2012 school year. I applied to teach for a second year but was denied, perhaps due to the fact that the TAPIF administrators prefer to hire more new assistants than old ones (an unconfirmed rumor about the program). If you’ve been accepted to TAPIF and have even a small percentage of desire to live in France, I highly recommend accepting. If you don’t like living here you can always leave right after your contract ends and it won’t have been that long: the program is only 7 months long. If you like it, it’s a great way to ease your way into France. The pay is high relative to the hours worked and the effort required, and if you supplement your income with babysitting, tutoring, or other work, you can live a comfortable student life.

Questions/Comments

sweetmaddy510 at gmail dot com

Please feel free to send to the above email address any questions or feedback about anything – although I am by no means an expert. If you have questions about TAPIF or au pairing I’d be happy to answer them but please first refer to the general info above. Also, I’m obsessed with my alma mater so if you are a prospective student – PICK UPS! I love discussing these things with people so don’t be shy!

Follow my adventures here, on Twitter @sweetmaddy510, Pinterest sweetmaddy.

Welcome! Thanks for reading!