Week in Review 1/22

Hi everybody! Ah, I am at my friend's house- she has internet so we have been hanging out here- and we have just been booking hostels! We have off for a week in February for carnivale break- and we booked a trip to Italy! We will be going to Rome, a beach town called Viareggio in Tuscany that has a huge carnivale celebration, Florence, and Venice. It is slightly overwhelming booking flights and hostels, but also extremely exciting!! We went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant to celebrate and plan and it was really nice.

But so this is supposed to be a week recap not a future review, so here is what I've got...

Monday- Classes started and I have 4 in a row and was still exhausted from Brussels so it was a little rough (or ruff if you are Natalie Booth) but not too bad. After classes, they were offering a free tickets to a classical music concert at the Philharmonic Symphony Hall in Luxembourg, and I just decided, what the heck I might as well take advantage of these opportunities so I went. The building itself was gorgeous, and although I am not a connoisseur of classical music, I really enjoyed it. The orchestra was conducted by a woman who also played violin, she sort of led with her body movements as she played the whole time. They did Motzart and Vivaldi and I recognized some of it, and then they did this really cool jazz sort of set, the songs were all named after different cities like Prague, Buenos Aires, etc. I was glad I went to the concert.

Tuesday- I had classes in the morning and then hung out at the Chateua in the afternoon, nothing too exciting. I went to the doctor, to get approval to stay in Luxembourg, and he literally took my heart beat (to make sure I was living I guess) and asked me if I had any chronic diseases before declaring that I was in perfect health. I then had a paper for witch hunts due on Wednesday, so I went home pretty early to write that. I still have to get an xray to make sure I don't have TB and can stay in Lux, hopefully I pass...

Wednesday- My friends and I started talking about travel plans, and during a break in the day, I went for a walk around Differdange, the town that the Chateau is in. It is pretty small, but I am trying to get to know it well. Each Wednesday we have a mandatory meeting/lecture in the evening, normally they bring in speakers or we have activities, and they started this week with a movie called "Shadow of a Vampire." It is about the filming of Dracula, and has John Malcovitch and that guy who is the green goblin in Spiderman in it. The key point though was it was filmed in LUX (perhaps the only movie ever filmed here haha) so that was neat. But the movie itself, especially the end, was extremely bizarre and I don't really recommend it.

Thursday- What a crazy day! We only have one class in the morning, so my friends and I planned on doing travel planning and errands in Lux city the afternoon. We were going to get xrays but didn't make it to the crazy hours they were open but that was no big deal. We booked our plane tickets to Italy and went to the celebratory dinner mentioned above. My friend Kelly and I are in a class about museums and we had to go to the Museum of the City of Luxembourg for an assignment. We kind of got lost finding it and were frustrated when we had to go, but in the end it was awesome. The museum was really nontraditional and interactive, it told the story of the city, but also challenged visitors to form their own interpretation of Lux's identity and story. If my parents and I come to Lux when they visit, I want to take them there.

Today/Friday- Today we had classes in the morning- in my museums class we talked about our visiting experience and that was cool, and Hitler lecture was really interesting as well- and then a free afternoon. A friend and I went running in Diff after school and that was great- I haven't had much time for exercise yet besides walking, but I really want to get back into running so I am glad I started today! After that, I came to my friend Kelly's neighborhood and we went to a big walmart type store as well as a outdoor sporting goods store (kind of like REI) that surprisingly also had really cute clothes as well. We are looking to buy backpacks for our longer trips, but we didn't end up buying anything yet, we need to look into it more and decide which are the best. Then we came back to her house, booked our hostels, and are now just hanging out!

This week, has been fun and busy, but homesickness has hit me a little more than the first week and a half. Sometimes I just get waves of missing people or sadness or frustration with the unfamiliar culture, but then they normally fade in a few minutes. It seems like everyone here is going through this, it is a lot to get used to and so much is new! I am trying to keep busy, and keep things in perspective and enjoy every minute. But I really miss you all!

Skiing tomorrow is in Lac Blanc, France! We leave at 6 am! Its not the Alps, but apparently still pretty great! I am exciting, I haven't skied in awhile and I have missed it.

Full update on skiing to come!

Care