Moien, Luxembourg!!

Samschdeg, 12 September.

Moien ("hello") from Luxembourg! (Or, since we're being all international, from Lëtzebuerg ... that's Luxembourg in Luxembourgish. But I digress.) I am writing from my new home away from home, the Maison Koehlebierg in Esch-sur-Alzette. Although I have only been in Luxembourg for twenty four hours, there is already so much to say and so many stories to tell!

But let's start at the beginning...

Pre-departure photoshoot at Dulles Airport!

I flew to Luxembourg on KLM (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, or Royal Dutch Airlines), the Dutch counterpart of Air France, and spent a few hours on layover in Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. Although the airport was lovely (and featured free WiFi, a perk whose importance simply cannot be overstated), I quickly realized that -- despite a few years of German and a relatively positive attitude toward the Netherlands -- I by no means speak Dutch. Luckily, in addition to their understanding of the importance of Internet access, the Dutch also all seem to speak English.

After a lengthy but relatively smooth layover in Amsterdam, I finally made my way to Luxembourg! My first glimpse of the grand duchy was from the air and I couldn't resist snapping a quick photo through the plane windows. Did it feel like Princess Mia's arrival in Genovia at the end of The Princess Diaries? Why yes. Yes it did.

After arriving at Luxembourg's much smaller airport yesterday, I went straight to campus to get my student card and room key (more on the fun administrative side of things later) and finally arrived in the southern city of Esch-sur-Alzette around dinner time. Dinner, however, wasn't in the cards; after unpacking about half my suitcase and struggling to keep my eyes open long enough to figure out the WiFi password, I went straight to sleep!! (Let me tell you -- jet lag is real and it is terrible.)

Today -- my first full day in Luxembourg -- has been a fun, disorienting whirlwind, full of walking, grocery shopping, and meeting new people whose names and native languages I'm not sure I'll remember. The fact that I am finally here after months and months of waiting has yet to sink in, but I have a feeling that Luxembourg will very quickly start to feel like home.

I'll write again soon and share more photos and information about my new life in Luxembourg. But for now -- Äddi!!

Lessons in Luxembourgish

Thursday, August 27.

It's August 27, which means that I'm just fourteen days away from the big move to Luxembourg. Although I can't believe how quickly this summer has flown by, I'm excited for all the new adventures and challenges that my time in Luxembourg will bring. Among the adventures (although debatably more at home under "challenges") is the Luxembourgish language. Although Luxembourg counts French and German among its three official languages, the first choice of most native Luxembourgers is Lëtzebuergesch, or Luxembourgish.

Luxembourgish is what is known as a Moselle Franconian dialect, but it has long been considered a separate language and has been the official language of Luxembourg since the 1980s. Unlike French and German, Luxembourgish is limited in its global popularity.

So far, my favorite thing about Luxembourgish -- or Lëtzebuergesch -- is how much it reminds me of my own experience learning German over the past couple years. That is to say, the result sounds a bit like funky German with a few random French words thrown in!

As I understand it, Luxembourgish preserves much of the grammatical structure of German.

English: How are you?
German: Wie geht es dir? (informal)
Luxembourgish: Wéi geet et dir?

English: I do not understand.
German: Ich verstehe nicht.
Luxembourg: Ech verstinn net.

However, some words are totally French! For example...

English: Hi!
French: Salut!
Luxembourgish: Salut! or Moien!

English: Bye!
French: Adieu!
Luxembourgish: Äddi!

The tricky part, of course, is how on earth to pronounce it all! I have watched a few YouTube videos, but am no closer to understanding how to say these words than I was before.

Want to let everyone (who speaks Luxembourgish) know that you, too, are learning Luxembourgish? Check out Learn Luxembourgish for adorable tees, coffee mugs, and tote bags. (Everything reads "Schwätzt Lëtzebuergesch mat me, ech léieren" which means "Speak Luxembourgish to me, I'm learning!") No word yet on how to say "cheesy but cute" in Luxembourgish. ;)

Äddi!

Throwback Thursday: Monaco, 2001

Thursday, July 16.

As you may know, my little sister Madeleine is currently spending six weeks in Paris as part of a study abroad program through her university. (You can find out more about this program on the JMU Office of International Programs website.)

In honor of her upcoming weekend trip to Nice and Monaco, I thought I'd do a quick Throwback Thursday post to our family's Spring 2001 trip to the South of France.

Check out that pose -- here's to hoping for a similar level of sass in 2015! 

Has Monaco changed in the last fourteen years? (I'm guessing yes.) Head over to Madeleine's blog -- M is for Madeleine -- to see her photos from the trip.

Throwback Thursday: Giverny, 2000

Thursday, July 9.

Would you believe it's been almost a year since I last visited Giverny? It was such a magical day ... one of my favorite memories of my summer in France!

The gardens themselves haven't changed too much. In fact, when I visited last summer, I took a photo of the same lavender lining the main walkway in the photo below! And although the flowers don't seem to have been quite as bright in April 2000 as they were last summer, the tulips sure are gorgeous.

Can you spot my pink raincoat?!

Throwback Thursday: Champagne, 2000

Thursday, May 28.

Although my college graduation was over a week ago, I'm still in a pretty celebratory mood. In that festive spirit, here's a special Throwback Thursday to 2000 -- um, fifteen years ago?! -- when our family took a quick trip to France's beloved Champagne wine region.

Naturally, we had to visit the two biggest names in the business: Moët & Chandon.