The shopping diet

Luxembourg is expensive. Even more expensive than I anticipated. This means that the shopaholic in me got massively toned down during the last two months. I feel like I have been forced into a shopping diet involuntarily by several factors. One, I can't afford half of the stuff that is out there on my student-without-student-job budget. Don't get me wrong, Gucci is probably a great place to shop if you are earning a zillion. But walking through the city center just makes me feel a bit depressed because of the total lack of budget stores, charity stores and student orientated stores. Luxembourg doesn't know such a thing as Boots, Oxfam, Etos or Primark. So instead of spending my small amounts of money there, I don't spend them.
Two, I am always in class when the stores here are open. My only after school shopping opportunity is the big supermarket. And really, a bottle of shampoo is the most exciting thing to buy there.
Three, I am not allowed to spend a lot of money. Until I find a paid internship I better keep my euros close to me so I can pay my rent and tuition fee.  

So when I went to Saarbrücken last weekend to shop in Primark, I went pretty crazy. So crazy that they had to give me three bags for all my purchases (which was only slightly embarrassing). After that it was time to buy cosmetics and kitchen things. Compared to the Luxembourgish prices it was as if they were giving things away for free! So I would like to take the opportunity to defend myself by saying that I got an internship wardrobe, many basics for the winter, a lot of cosmetics and some kitchen stuff for a price that I would probably pay for just the blazer in Luxembourg (these price ranges are open for interpretation). Technically I saved money. I am proud of myself. Now I can happily go back to the Luxembourgish shopping diet (in an upgraded outfit).

Btw, Saarbrücken is a wonderful city with lots of beautiful places. I've seen them all on the postcards in one of the stores. Perhaps next time I will take the time to go an see them in real life. But this time I was otherwise engaged.


XOXO

The Nancy student life

Last weekend I went to visit my friend Sophie in Nancy in France. I was luck, since the train ride was only 90 minutes so I could come after uni on Friday evening. Sophie has a crazy weekend planned for us. After dropping off my things at her house and having some food we went straight to a student party, which was great fun. Some attempts to speak English were truly hilarious. I think my French was even better than their English.
Next day we went for a walk through the city center and we visited one of the museums of Nancy. I ended up buying a year culture pass for students form Nancy (the woman behind the counter somehow still believed I was studying in Nancy although I clearly did not speak French) because this was the same price as the entrance fee. So now I have one more reason to go back.
After we had some lunch and we went to drink tea at the house of a friend of Sophie and I learned to make apple crumble (I'm so proud!).
In the late afternoon we went to the covered market and we found a place that sells bubble tea. Which was great, because when we were in Rotterdam we spent ages looking for one but we never found it.
Later in the evening we went to a French pub to watch the rugby game (which I don't understand at all). I met many nice French people, they have a great student life there in Nancy.
For Sunday, Sophie borrowed a car from a friend so me, her and two of her friends went on a road trip to Toul. The only problem was that Toul turned out to me the tiniest town on earth. Besides that it was a national holiday in France so even the 3 things that were there were closed. after walking around aimlessly for a while we decided it was better to go to Metz. It was a good choice. We had a drink in a cafe and after walked around and found a really nice museum. One of the galleries was pitch black. You were given a flashlight before you entered and you had to wind it up to use it to see the art. I lost everyone in the darkness, but I loved it. Such a great concept.
After the museum we tried to find the gardens of Metz (Sophie drove on the cycling path for part of the way and only noticed at the end of the road), but no such luck. All we found was lots of construction that was going on. So we drove back to the train station (which was also blocked by construction work) so I could take the train back from there.
It was an absolutely great weekend and I hope to do it again soon.



XOXO

 

You can stand under my umbrella... If it's not too windy

Today I  was visiting the rainy Luxembourgish village Echternach with my friend Magda. We spent about one hour in the bus, passing some of the most miniscule villages I have ever seen before getting there. But I guess that is normal if the capital of the country only has about 100.000 citizens.

Sadly we needed our umbrellas from the moments we left the bus. About ten minutes after we left the bus I was dealing with a severely injured umbrella already. This one managed to last me just over one month. I was forced to buy a new one on the spot, because there is much more rain to follow in my Luxembourg life. But what is the use? I can predict that it will be blown into pieces by a (not so severe) gust of wind sooner or later. Yet I keep buying umbrellas over and over again. Maybe I should just buy a rain coat next time and keep this in my bag for whenever it's gushing down again. But the thing is; I'm a bit vain. Not to mention lazy. It would be a lot of effort to put on a rain coat for a five minute walk from the bus stop to school. Using an umbrella is much easier. Plus you don't look like a 7 year old on a school trip. So I guess I'll stick with the umbrellas for a bit longer. Perhaps I should start a little emergency stock for the bad times. I will need it. Luxembourg is just as bad as England rain-wise, so no luck for me.

As far as Echternach goes; we saw a total of about five other tourists that had dared to go out with the rain as well and ended up having a long lunch in a cute tiny boulangerie to avoid being outside during a crazy rain pourdown. All in all it was a nice day. Time for more trips!


XOXO

My retired umbrella

We totally touched this holy water

Pastry time!

at smile bar you get mor

Food, glorious food

I love potlucks. You get to eat food from all over the world and you don't have to just choose one dish. It's as if you go to a super international buffet. I've been lucky enough to be part of two different potlucks in one month.
First we had a potluck with my housemates. Since are 35 people in our house, the was a LOT of food. It was way too much to finish in just one evening actually. So after trying all the great food we ended up dancing in the common room. After another little round of food and some more dancing it was time to clean up.

During the potluck with my classmates two weeks later we managed to have even more food. after we finished the buffet barely looked emptier than at the start. We were lucky to be allowed to have the potluck in school, so we had lots of space available. Some of us ended up staying till quite late, just because we could. You see, they gave us these 24-hour access cards for the building. They probably expect us to study all night though, rather than to eat all night. But hey, we're innovation students. It's our job to see opportunities and make use of them.

Hopefully there will be many more events like this, because I think it's amazing.


XOXO

Before

After

Dancing

Potluck at uni