First proper update from Luxembourg
My my, all the recent activity on my Friends page has persuaded me to actually update this rather than reading any more news stories on the BBC (there are some interesting ones, like this one about the US newspaper industry, this one about a changed attitude by the UK government to acknowledging its involvement in torture [though obviously still being far short from saying they admit to having helped the Bush rendition programme], and this one about the shocking rate of loan repayment evasion amongst the EU students who had studied in the UK, which could unfortunately generate even more bad press for the EU in Britain...).
Anyway, since I've not updated in a while, being busy packing and getting to see people before I leave, I thought I'd write a few words about what I've been up to.
Wednesday night was the grand finale of my "send-offs", with a wonderful evening out with what_is_hesh, sebastiality, lostcontent, my friend Paul G and guest appearances by Luke T and Katie & Rich - thanks to all for a great sendoff: there's nothing quite as "Oxford" for me as a meal at Noodlebar (now Noodlenation), followed by a drink or two at the Old Tom (Oxford's first non-smoking pub, and a favourite hangout spot for some of the 'old guard' of Mertonians), followed by "Oxford Blue" icecream at GnD's!
Admittedly, I've had several great send-offs, not least the after-work drinks last Friday (when two of my lovely [now ex-]colleagues from the Tutorial office made me a chocolate cake, with maltesers and smarties on top!), or the Ash Wednesday service in Chapel on Wednesday afternoon, where Merton's amazing choir sang Allegri's Miserere - one of the most beautiful, but also most difficult, pieces in the choral repertoire, I think. Of course, the pancakes following the Shrove Tuesday Eucharist were also a highlight - not least because I managed to make some rather tasty ones by concocting a version of the old family favourite, оладьи с яблоками - or "Russian-style mini-pancakes" with apple - which seemed to go down rather well (they're simple to make, too, if anyone's interested!). And I suppose my mid-February-day outing in London (which I keep meaning to post about!) should also count as a send-off, being the last time I saw shiny_and_new and Michelle and all (I may post a retrospective entry and link it here...).
All this meant that I couldn't really bail out on the actual trip, which (because it was such a scary prospect) was a tempting option on several occasions. But - so far - I'm glad I made it here.
And here's a quick summary of my trip over:
Having spent the night from Wednesday to Thursday packing (realising in the process that a) I didn't have a "medical certificate stating I'm fit to work", which the Court is going to want on Monday and I'm going to have to try to get sorted out today, if I can; and b) Luke T had the second biggest bag, which I'd wanted to take with me - which he then proceeded to drop off at 9 am), I was done packing only a few minutes before my taxi got to the house, just before 10am GMT
From then on in it was all pretty smooth going - got on the Espress on time, got to Baker St on time, and got a taxi to St Pancras (with a friendly enough taxi driver, who proceeded to tell me a couple of 'not bad' jokes), then boarded the Eurostar (buying lunch at Caffe Nero on the way) with no problems (I know, one_to_tango, you will be disappointed, but I don't like to give people reason to frisk me! ;) ), got to Brussels, changed platforms (this bit was a little bit problematic, since the policeman I asked wasn't quite sure which platform I was meant to be at!) and got to Arlon, where I had to change trains (I think because of engineering works - the train was right across the platform, and left pretty much the moment everyone who needed to had changed).
Got to Luxembourg itself just before 8pm (local time), had a bit of a fight with the cashpoint (it refused to give me large amounts of Euros - understandable, given that my normal withdrawal limit is £250, - which I wanted to withdraw to pay the rent, but I guess I'll just have to withdraw more today), then got a taxi to the house. Spent more in taxi costs in a day than I probably would normally spend in a year, but given I had two huge bags, and lugging them even from the taxi to the bus/train has left my no-longer-used-to-rowing hands pretty sore, I figure it was worth it.
The landlady is lovely and speaks sligthtly funny French, which is probably a combination of the Luxembourg accent and her being Portuguese (though she told me she's lived in Lux for the past 40 years) - but she was wonderfully kind to me and even gave me a couple of frozen pizzas when I discovered I couldn't just pop to the shops and get something to eat (it being by then about 9 pm, and all the shops closing at around 6.30, apparently... :S). Also met Marthe, who is the one that I was originally in email contact with about the house, earlier this morning - she's a wonderfully stunning Flemish girl(/woman) who is originally from Antwerp and wanted to speak Dutch to me (but understood when I explained that my Dutch actually got worse after my year abroad) - and of course speaks wonderful English anyway. She offered me to make use of her food and gave me directions to the lunch appointment I have with necaris's friend Cath at the Court; after that, she should be back as she has a short day, so we are supposed to meet up back at the house and go explore the neighbourhood etc. Should be fun! :)
The house itself is at the end of a long road (I'll post more about its whereabouts later, when I figure out where things are etc) on the top of a hill, with a wonderful view of a bit of the valley below. I'm currently staying in my landlady's daughter's room (she's in Lisbon doing some work for a Portuguese TV station while she does a Master's in Journalism, according to what I got from the conversation with my landlady last night) as the previous tenant still has stuff in the room that will be mine - but I'll hopefully be able to move in later on today. The room is on the top (3rd) floor of the house, the same floor as the kitchen and the TV "room" (it's on the landing bit), as well as the bathroom - and another intern's room. I've yet to figure out where the fourth intern is (Marthe is on the 2nd floor, and indeed one has to go through her room to get to the daughter's room where I'm staying). The ground floor is where the landlady lives. I believe there's also a basement, where we are to dry our clothes.
The whole space is pretty spacious, if a little "olde worlde" - it's completely charming. The floorboards creak a bit, especially on the stairs (which are polished wood, and quite well-worn in places, it seems), there's plenty of pictures and things and it's very "home-y". There are wind-down shutters on all the windows and other quintissentially European characteristics which I'm sure I'll spot more of later. But hope this helps those (e.g. peu_de_larme) who wonder what the place is like! :)
So here it is. This entry has taken about 2 1/2 hours (interrupted by meeting Marthe, finding out where I'm meant to be going for lunch etc) to write, so don't expect things to be quite as lengthy in the future... But then again, all indications are that there's not a lot happening in Luxembourg, so I may well have time for more long entries.
Stay tuned for more, in any case! All the best,
N x
"...I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly
I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky
And I'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change
And breakaway.
Out of the darkness and into the sun
But I won't forget all the ones that I love
I'll take a risk, take a chance, make a change
And breakaway ..."
Kelly Clarkson, Breakaway (Breakaway, 2004)
Anyway, since I've not updated in a while, being busy packing and getting to see people before I leave, I thought I'd write a few words about what I've been up to.
Wednesday night was the grand finale of my "send-offs", with a wonderful evening out with what_is_hesh, sebastiality, lostcontent, my friend Paul G and guest appearances by Luke T and Katie & Rich - thanks to all for a great sendoff: there's nothing quite as "Oxford" for me as a meal at Noodlebar (now Noodlenation), followed by a drink or two at the Old Tom (Oxford's first non-smoking pub, and a favourite hangout spot for some of the 'old guard' of Mertonians), followed by "Oxford Blue" icecream at GnD's!
Admittedly, I've had several great send-offs, not least the after-work drinks last Friday (when two of my lovely [now ex-]colleagues from the Tutorial office made me a chocolate cake, with maltesers and smarties on top!), or the Ash Wednesday service in Chapel on Wednesday afternoon, where Merton's amazing choir sang Allegri's Miserere - one of the most beautiful, but also most difficult, pieces in the choral repertoire, I think. Of course, the pancakes following the Shrove Tuesday Eucharist were also a highlight - not least because I managed to make some rather tasty ones by concocting a version of the old family favourite, оладьи с яблоками - or "Russian-style mini-pancakes" with apple - which seemed to go down rather well (they're simple to make, too, if anyone's interested!). And I suppose my mid-February-day outing in London (which I keep meaning to post about!) should also count as a send-off, being the last time I saw shiny_and_new and Michelle and all (I may post a retrospective entry and link it here...).
All this meant that I couldn't really bail out on the actual trip, which (because it was such a scary prospect) was a tempting option on several occasions. But - so far - I'm glad I made it here.
And here's a quick summary of my trip over:
Having spent the night from Wednesday to Thursday packing (realising in the process that a) I didn't have a "medical certificate stating I'm fit to work", which the Court is going to want on Monday and I'm going to have to try to get sorted out today, if I can; and b) Luke T had the second biggest bag, which I'd wanted to take with me - which he then proceeded to drop off at 9 am), I was done packing only a few minutes before my taxi got to the house, just before 10am GMT
From then on in it was all pretty smooth going - got on the Espress on time, got to Baker St on time, and got a taxi to St Pancras (with a friendly enough taxi driver, who proceeded to tell me a couple of 'not bad' jokes), then boarded the Eurostar (buying lunch at Caffe Nero on the way) with no problems (I know, one_to_tango, you will be disappointed, but I don't like to give people reason to frisk me! ;) ), got to Brussels, changed platforms (this bit was a little bit problematic, since the policeman I asked wasn't quite sure which platform I was meant to be at!) and got to Arlon, where I had to change trains (I think because of engineering works - the train was right across the platform, and left pretty much the moment everyone who needed to had changed).
Got to Luxembourg itself just before 8pm (local time), had a bit of a fight with the cashpoint (it refused to give me large amounts of Euros - understandable, given that my normal withdrawal limit is £250, - which I wanted to withdraw to pay the rent, but I guess I'll just have to withdraw more today), then got a taxi to the house. Spent more in taxi costs in a day than I probably would normally spend in a year, but given I had two huge bags, and lugging them even from the taxi to the bus/train has left my no-longer-used-to-rowing hands pretty sore, I figure it was worth it.
The landlady is lovely and speaks sligthtly funny French, which is probably a combination of the Luxembourg accent and her being Portuguese (though she told me she's lived in Lux for the past 40 years) - but she was wonderfully kind to me and even gave me a couple of frozen pizzas when I discovered I couldn't just pop to the shops and get something to eat (it being by then about 9 pm, and all the shops closing at around 6.30, apparently... :S). Also met Marthe, who is the one that I was originally in email contact with about the house, earlier this morning - she's a wonderfully stunning Flemish girl(/woman) who is originally from Antwerp and wanted to speak Dutch to me (but understood when I explained that my Dutch actually got worse after my year abroad) - and of course speaks wonderful English anyway. She offered me to make use of her food and gave me directions to the lunch appointment I have with necaris's friend Cath at the Court; after that, she should be back as she has a short day, so we are supposed to meet up back at the house and go explore the neighbourhood etc. Should be fun! :)
The house itself is at the end of a long road (I'll post more about its whereabouts later, when I figure out where things are etc) on the top of a hill, with a wonderful view of a bit of the valley below. I'm currently staying in my landlady's daughter's room (she's in Lisbon doing some work for a Portuguese TV station while she does a Master's in Journalism, according to what I got from the conversation with my landlady last night) as the previous tenant still has stuff in the room that will be mine - but I'll hopefully be able to move in later on today. The room is on the top (3rd) floor of the house, the same floor as the kitchen and the TV "room" (it's on the landing bit), as well as the bathroom - and another intern's room. I've yet to figure out where the fourth intern is (Marthe is on the 2nd floor, and indeed one has to go through her room to get to the daughter's room where I'm staying). The ground floor is where the landlady lives. I believe there's also a basement, where we are to dry our clothes.
The whole space is pretty spacious, if a little "olde worlde" - it's completely charming. The floorboards creak a bit, especially on the stairs (which are polished wood, and quite well-worn in places, it seems), there's plenty of pictures and things and it's very "home-y". There are wind-down shutters on all the windows and other quintissentially European characteristics which I'm sure I'll spot more of later. But hope this helps those (e.g. peu_de_larme) who wonder what the place is like! :)
So here it is. This entry has taken about 2 1/2 hours (interrupted by meeting Marthe, finding out where I'm meant to be going for lunch etc) to write, so don't expect things to be quite as lengthy in the future... But then again, all indications are that there's not a lot happening in Luxembourg, so I may well have time for more long entries.
Stay tuned for more, in any case! All the best,
N x
"...I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly
I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky
And I'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change
And breakaway.
Out of the darkness and into the sun
But I won't forget all the ones that I love
I'll take a risk, take a chance, make a change
And breakaway ..."
Kelly Clarkson, Breakaway (Breakaway, 2004)