- it took some effort but I made it to the orientation day for new trainees. there's a direct bus from where I live which is nice BUT as my apartment is a bit outside of the city, the bus only stops on request at random stops among the fields and makes it a bit difficult to figure out where I need to get off. thank god for google maps and internet data working EU-wide.

- ok so Luxembourg is a very international and diverse city and as I said the use of languages is a big mess. to be polite and use the country's language, I was trying to use German at first, but it turns out even people selling train tickets or croissants speak fluent English and so it seems less painful for everyone involved to just use English (I am not sure yet but it feels like even more people speak English than German). however, the one place where it is 100% sure that there are definitely people working from all over Europe, at the European Commission.... the canteen has everything ONLY in French. thanks man, I didn't want to know what I'm eating anyway.

- instantly started hanging out with a super nice and down-to-earth Slovak girl K. who likes sarcasm, feminism and Lidl, and, most importantly, speaks Norwegian (and Danish and bazillion other languages) and a super funny laid-back Greek girl M. who says things as they are and has me and K. laughing all the time.

- Saturday: a walk through the city center which looks like from a fairytale with other trainees and a visit to a gigantic migration festival with K. and M.

- Sunday: Nazi propaganda exhibition

- tomorrow: first real working day

My life in Bochum in Luxembourg~

- survived the 13 hour bus ride with a 2,5 hour transit in Leipzig in the middle of the night and made it safely to Luxembourg!
- the landlord seems really nice and intelligent. he picked me up at the bus center, showed me around the apartment, and -as if he knew how bad I am with directions- drew me a map of the neighbourhood.

storing for future use

- the apartment is really nice but there is this one slightly creepy tiny thing.

- the administrative office where people need to register is in a castle (and is, in fact, called "castle")
- looking up when they're open, I found out the web page is only in Luxembourgish. there was a brief confusion whether "biergerzenter" means the administration office (as I thought) or "beer centrum" (as google translate suggested), but I figured if accidentally ending up in a beer centrum is the worst case scenario than I'm good to go.
- despite having the map, I left the apartment confidentaly heading exactly in the opposite direction of the castle. which is how I found the bus and train stop.
- I made it to the castle eventually and successfully registered. in German! I learnt how to say birth certificate (Geburtsschein) and somehow convinced the lady that I don't need it for the registration.

- using languages feels so random here. the three official languages of Lux are French, German and Luxembourgish (a language similar to German). I thought that would mean most signs, official websites etc would be in all of these languages. that is not the case.
- when searching for apartments, everything was in French (very soon I got good at recognizing words like "dryer" and "visits not/allowed" in French). when looking up the administrative office in Luxembourg city, all was in French only; for the one in Bettembourg (where I live), everything only in Luxembourgish. opening hours on bakeries are in Lux., elevator warnings in French, descriptions on a small library in the park in French and German.
- Not that I have talked to that many people yet but it feels like they just start speaking a language and eventually you get to a language that both parties participating in the conversation understand.
- anyway, French seems to be omnipresent and I should really start learning it, like, now.