Plans for My Final Projects

In the video portraying my cultural experience abroad, I am going to focus on the Parisian culture rather than the greater French culture. Of course the two will overlap, but after visiting other towns in France, I’ve found that there is something distinctively different about Paris. I think the urban atmosphere plays a large role in this. Just as Manhattan is different from the rest of New York. Of course its beauty and its history are not to be discounted either. I will try my best to capture the Parisian atmosphere as I have experienced it. I already have a shot list of about 40 different buildings/monuments to include in the video. This is going to be my hardest one to condense into five minutes because there is just so much to cover!

Since I have been working as an au pair for the past six months, I am planning on focusing on this in my professional video. You may not think this seems like a very "professional" job, but I actually have met people that are doing for a living (at least until they reach the legal age limit) and a cheap way to travel. There is a lot more to it than I ever imagined (going about getting our visas and social security, french laws protecting our rights, and so on) so I certainly would have enough to say. I also think it could be a good resource for students who are looking to take a gap year abroad. I’ve already asked some of my fellow au pair friends for some interviews and I think it could turn out very interesting and provide good insights for people contemplating the job.


For my third and final project, I have been toying with two ideas: immigration and the absurdly large amount of strikes they have in France. I haven’t decided yet because I am probably going to get into some immigration policies in my au pair video so I may have to see how that pans out first. But France has a big problem with its immigrants not assimilating into the population and the government changes its policy on this every time a new leader is elected to office. Quite confusing. The strikes, or greves as they call them here, are another big issue. I’m pretty sure if I looked for statistics I would find that France has more than any in the world. It’s most obvious on Paris’ public transportation system because it affects SO many people, so this could also be another interesting route to take.