Want to study abroad on France for virtually nothing???

As hard as it seems it is completely possible!!, you'll see last year i took the decision of coming to Paris, France as an abroad student for a year, that sure sound nice but also not as expensive as it really is!!

When i first went to the French consulate they've told me that the minimum income required for a student was around 450-500e per month, and that for a person coming from latin america is slightly high but still reasonable; however, once i've started to search for an apartment (or some kind of accommodation) i've realized that the budget they've given me was not quite realistic considering that just the monthly lease of an apartment or studio can go as high as 2000 or 3000e and starts from 350e in very deplorable conditions.

It turned out that the city of wonders was not that wonderful after all!! or at least that's how i felt after 2 weeks of living in a 15m2 studio with a friend where we could barely breath and saw how the money just seemed to slip away.

So what i did was to follow the example of must immigrant students here in France, i've decided that i wanted a job as either baby sitter (7-8e per hour) or Spanish / english teacher (10-15e per hour) which could get me about 200e per month working 6 hours a week (still not enough).

Then it occurred to me that maybe I'll be able to work as a "fille au pair", that is, that i could get a family to live with and in exchange I'll take care of their kids. I should mention that I've tried that before coming to Paris without success but something told me it would be easier being in France and with my papers in order.

Previously i had open an account in a site called www.aupair-world.net and most of the families had turned me down due to my schedule and school hours, so when i decided to give it another shot, i updated my profile and by the next day i had 4 families asking me to become their new aupair; 1 week later i was already living with my current host family.

But you might inquire how does this works? and why is it free?

By working as an au pair the host family gives you accommodation, meals, transportation (not mandatory but is the usual), plus what is known as "argent de poche" that is some money for your personal expenses (about 260-320 per month)

Obviously it will require some kind of sacrifice from your part like having to give up some Saturdays, or Friday nights; but on the bright side you get to REALLY know the culture of the country you're staying in, and you will improve your language skills in a way that you can't imagine (in one month I’ve made more progress with my french skills than in 3 and a half years of studies that seemed useless when I’ve just arrived)

This has worked wonderfully for me, unfortunately that doesn't mean that that's how it will go for everyone else, however if you really want to have the experience of studying abroad but your short on cash, this i an excellent option (in my case I only paid the plane ticket and the first month here!!)

It’s also important for you to know that there are agencies that can help you get a family you can use them if you wish but that will require you to pay a good amount of money that you can possibly allocate in other things for your trip, so don’t be afraid of doing it on your own most of the times even the agencies can’t assure you a family.

For more information about studying abroad of France keep on track.

Next post ----> CROUS and government aids to abroad students.