Such is the state of the Irish property/letting market, it seems that people are advertising their floors, sitting rooms and other obsceure places at reduced rent for the very desperate.... and even more shockingly it seems that people are taking them up on these offers!?!

Am I that desperate? Well currently no but maybe soon...very soon I will have to consider it a serious option!

As everyone (or at least most people!) knows, my last minute plan for the summer was to go to Paris and Corsica to act as au pair/ nanny for a French family with 2 year old triplets. Madness I hear you say? Well yes, most of you did say that and while I accepted your sensible points I still believed that the experience of living in France and the possibility of improving my now rapidly disappearing French, plus what I considered considerable pay which was badly needed, was worth the long hours and nearly any problems that were thrown my way.

Then I arrived.

It seems that some French people have a rather warped idea of "work". The triplets were, I admit, a handful but there were also adorable and sweet and fairly well behaved, and after getting the hang of the schedule of the day I was soon able to handle them pretty well. The parents on the other hand were another story! These people exemplified the couples that are not going to let a child (or three!) change their lavish lifestyle and so expected me to do everything from getting the children up in the morning to putting them to bed at night, all feeding, tidying, cleaning, ironing etc as well as baby sit them as they slept at night while the parents went of for dinner and god knows what. Although all this was tough and tiring, I could have coped. That is till I realised that I was expected to do this all day, every day, 24/7 for 2 months. No rests, no breaks, no days off, nothing. No speaking French as they wanted the children to hear as much english as possible, as well as practice their own english with me when giving instructions. From the window of the penthouse apartment I could see the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomph but couldnt get to either, it was maddening! In my four day in Paris I got to go outside once with the children and the parents to visit the children’s grandmother. Cabin fever started to set in. As I thought about it, I could see my whole summer, my patience, my energy and my sanity disappearing before my eyes as I thought of 2 solid months of nothing but childcare, silence and being ignored as the "nanny". Even the money wasn’t an incentive to stay as the previously considered generous wages were revealed as exploitive in the face of 18 hour work days 7 days a week.

So I quit. And very happy I am too!

Just shoot me now!! It will save me the humiliation of failing my tests, not turning in my essay, and flunking out of college (which up untill now ive loved!) What the hell was I doing picking this course...I must have been temporally insane due to the boredom of LC no.2....someone help!!!!