You're going where?

It's T- one week until I leave for Luxembourg! This post will (hopefully) answer all your essential questions about where I'm going to be studying for the next four months.

Hi, everyone. Ashley here. I know you must be insanely curious about what I am going to do while I'm abroad for the upcoming semester, so I put together this website and blog. I'll do my best to post weekly updates here so that you can keep up with both my exciting adventures and daily life in Luxembourg and the rest of Europe.

"Your 20s are your selfish years. It's a decade to immerse yourself in every single thing possible. Be selfish with your time, and all the aspects of you. Tinker with it, travel, explore, love a lot, love a little, and never touch the ground." — Kyoko Escamilla

Everyone says your 20s are the best years of your life, and I don't intend to prove them wrong.... at least, until I turn 30. Traveling has always been a huge part of my life, but this is the first time I'll be abroad for longer than 3 weeks. I hope you will stick around to laugh at my misguided adventures and sympathize with my inevitable setbacks.

But for now, let's get to answering your questions. These are a couple of FAQs I've gotten about what I will be doing while in Luxembourg, aka "Europe Fancytown" as my boss calls it.

Where is Luxembourg?

Luxembourg is a small landlocked country in Europe that borders France, Belgium and Germany. Home to about 600,000 people, Luxembourg is slightly smaller than Rhode Island in area. Despite its small size, Luxembourg has one of the highest GDPs (per capita) in Europe, making it the fifth-wealthiest country in the world. If you want to know more, I encourage you to take a look at the World Factbook Page on Luxembourg.

What are you studying while there?

For the most part, I'll be taking humanities classes like anthropology, French, Luxembourg History and international studies. I will also be working on an independent study for processing and writing up my research from over the summer. All of my classes will be held at the Chateau in Differdange (a town about 12 miles from the capital), but there is also an experiential component as well. Several times throughout the semester, the classes take field trips to other parts of Luxembourg in order to immerse us in the culture.

Who are you staying with?

I am staying with a host family who lives in Differdange, and their house is just a 2 minute walk from the Chateau. They speak French, so I will get the chance to practice my French with them. My goal is to become relatively fluent in French while I'm there, or at least gain adequate conversation skills.

Are you staying in Luxembourg the whole time?

Nope! The program leads several weekend tours to other countries throughout the semester. As of right now, I plan to join the Paris, France and Brussels, Belgium tour. However, I also plan on taking several solo trips to countries like Portugal, Spain, Germany and more. Europe has a great transportation network as well as an array of cheap hostels that make continental travel relatively easy. Stay tuned for updates!

What's the best way to stay in touch with you?

You already found it! This is the site I will be monitoring and updating the most while I am abroad. Any comments and questions are welcome, and I will do my best to respond to them within a few days. Of course, while I'm traveling, I might be off the grid, so please keep that in mind. Other than this site, I will be on basic social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, or on messaging apps like GroupMe or WhatsApp.

Still have more questions? Let me know in the comments! Otherwise, my next post will be a few days after I arrive in Luxembourg!

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Until next time, I'll keep wandering.