Need advice...

Hey Edsters!

Hope everyone’s been having a fun and productive summer :-) So, with graduation just around the corner for me (9 months!), I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately. I have always loved magazines and known that pursuing a career in them would be an imminent part of my future. And so far I think I’ve gotten off to pretty good start; I’ve had several internships, including two national ones. And after graduation, I plan on making the big move to the city. However, with the state of the economy (and my first experience in the city being poor and broke all the time) I really feel like I should be versed in other things.

One of my more chimerical ambitions growing up was to have my own event planning business. I have an interview for an internship at a local event planning company, so I thought if anything, I could learn more about the business and see where that takes me. I’m trying to start freelancing more, too. I also really want to learn French. I used to be pretty good at it in high school; I even spent some time in Paris. But I haven’t taken it in about two years, so I’ve all but lost it, and that makes me really sad! I’ve been seriously thinking about going to France for a year after graduation, as an au pair. Is this a stupid idea? I really want to learn the language and I’ve always wanted to go back, and I figure the only time that I’ll really get to travel or do anything like this is now, while I’m young and have no responsibility or real job yet. I don’t know if anyone’s had experience or has any knowledge about being an au pair, but I guess I’m just really worried that if I leave and do something completely unrelated for a year, that isn’t grad school, I won’t be as desirable a candidate when job-hunting time comes around. And I don’t want the fresh-faced, recent grads to have a leg up on me!

Does anyone have any advice? Or any experience with either event planning or being an au pair? I know this is post is sort of random and all over the place, but I’m just writing in hopes that someone else is feeling this way. I love magazines, but I love money too. I feel like I need a backup. I just don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket. But I also feel like I’m losing direction.

Thanks guys :-)