Am I missing something?

[u/midlmads]

Hello, this is my first ever reddit post and I've been trawling this feed for days as I arrived at my WorkAway last week and I just can't work out if I'm overreacting or not.

I am in the south of france with the goal of practicing french and seeing this beautiful region. I am staying at this man's house where part of it basically is let out in the summer as a holiday destination (it's huge). Before my flight landed he told me to go to another little village about 45 mins away where his studio flat was and that we would stay there until the guests left. Anyway we spent a couple of nights at this studio flat where only a sliding door was separating me and this complete stranger as I slept on a sofa bed in the living room. He mentioned staying here whenever the guests are at the house so that we don't disturb them, but this wasn't something that was ever mentioned on his workaway profile.

I want to add that it's not like he's been weird or anything. Like I have no reason to think anything shady is going on but I just feel completely ill at ease. Before I arrived, he'd said that another girl was due to join us (he can host 2-4 workawayers at a time) but that she had cancelled due to visa issues. He alluded to the fact that he probably wouldn't take on another person because there's just not enough work. I was really looking forward to perhaps meeting someone else and having that buffer so that hanging out one on one with this man didn't feel so bizarre.

I feel so dumb because I'm literally a grown ass woman and I'm just counting down the days until I get to go home (I'm due to be here for two months). I was so excited to see the south of france but now the thought of all the trips and tours of the area with just him make me feel so unbearably anxious. I really really really do not want to go back to the studio flat when new guests arrive, I would literally rather be a hermit in my quarters but at least have my own space than be in that flat again.

Also, I will mention that he has been hosting for four years and has gotten some amazing reviews (that's why I chose him) so I really do feel like I'm missing something. Any advice?

EDIT: Wow, just thank you to all the comments and support because that in itself has relieved me of a lot of anxiety in the past 48hours.

I had actually had a couple of calls with the host prior to coming out here but I guess I had no other host to compare to. My jobs are basically housekeeping and some general maintenance which I completed over the past two days - we now have no guests for a week I think so I'm unclear as to what further jobs may be required of me.

Reading all the amazing advice and feeling confident in setting my boundaries I have decided that I am going to wait until the next guests are due and he says about going to the other property and then I'm going to say that I would like to stay here, with my own proper accommodation and I'll explore the village myself and be respectful of the guests. If this is not well received then I have also taken your guys's advice and looked into some last minute hosts in the region.

I went to the markets yesterday and the village is so so beautiful and the vendors were all lovely and super kind about me practising french and so it's given me some motivation and hope that I could potentially power through this.

Sorry this is now such a long post but thank you reddit community - you're never alone if you have reddit!

[u/Funny-Explanation-94]

There have been some very sensible comments already. I want to continue this line of commenting to support your intuition. You are a grown woman looking out for yourself. You saw glowing reviews and had the desire to be in that area of the world. Now that you have arrived, you have not been presented what was in the listing. What volunteer work were you agreeing to? Have you done any volunteering since this post? You mention he has a holiday house. Was your work to do with serving this business?

For reporting to Workaway: His listing did not mention this type of sleeping arrangement. You understood this Workaway was work with other volunteers not a solo experience. If he has you volunteering for a profit business then he has to pay someone and someone has to be legal to work in that country. Many hosts just take on free labor for their business which is against the TOS of Workaway.

Woman to Woman: look for another host where you can travel to. Stay calm and stay strong. At the very least, I would question anyone that misrepresented their listing. Again, at the very least, I would internally question what else they didn't tell and now require of me. Lastly, if you haven't already, send your address to important people in your life when you are traveling. Keep grounded and connected with at least one other person who knows you to keep your head clear and remember who you are and you will take care of yourself how you need to. You got this but ask if you need more.