Jennifer in Luxembourg

*disclaimer: I'm sure I have plenty of thoughts on the other countries' train systems, but I'm currently most familiar and up-to-date with the German ones. Come back in April for my thoughts on the French* Whatever you thought about the punctual Germans, you will rethink everything once you deal with the DeutschBahn (DB).  Sometimes you'll see someone rapidly break from their friend group and shout a farewell greeting as they then backwards jog and sprint towards the underground station. They have suddenly realized their train is imminently arriving.  If you hear thundering steps behind you, step to the side. Someone is desperately trying to catch the train they need.  9/10 times you should also begin running with them, as you also want to be on that train.  Careful when you are running though, or you may step in actual human feces.  There are a ton of homeless in Germany, which is both heartbreaking and unnerving.  If everyone suddenly gets off a stopped t...

My previous post was written on the train to Cologne (or Koln as the natives write/say). As they say about the best laid plans... my connecting train sat on the tracks over an hour with a technical issue, and then there was a police incident on the local trains stopping most of them. Added to this, was the fact that none of the trains had the promised outlets, so I was running on two phones both under 20% battery. Bless the random German girl who let me travel with her to get to the main station at least... but I didn't make the 8pm reservation, and showed up at 9PM instead. Samy, his wife, and their friends were most gracious and kind. After a bit of food, we all walked to the train station and parted ways. Luckily I was only staying one stop past Samy and Evie and made my way to a beautiful Marriott hotel. While I've stayed at piles of Marriott's over the years, the hosts here were exceptionally kind and helpful. And later thoroughly confused when I requested two giant ...

This week reality has hit. The honeymoon of moving to Europe is fast fading, and the reality of life on my own in a new country has set in. It started this weekend with immobilizing back pain. I slept for almost 2.5 days nonstop, only waking for a few scant meals and the bathroom (and church and Bretzelsonndeg briefly). I remember two instances from Boston. Once I fell down the attic stairs, and possibly blacked out. I never moved around the apartment without my phone handy again. Second, I slipped on the ice leaving the apartment, severely bruising my tailbone. I made it back to my apartment, but I was in too much pain to move to even get food for a few days. I remember feeling so absolutely alone. This was well before I knew people in Boston, and I seriously could think of no one to call. This weekend was different. Same situation of excruciating pain. And no one within 30 minutes I could call. But I made a mental list. A coworker in Luxembourg who shared her personal number. For...

Re: back pain. It finally came to a head, and I decided to be a grown up and see a doctor. I choose one that online said she spoke English. A bus and new area of town later, I made my way to a building that seemed to be a doctor and dentist office, but also a house. I found an elevator, and saw enough doctor things to direct me to the 4 th  floor. After finally getting in, I met the doctor, a lovely French woman. While English was listed on her profile, she was not prepared for American English, and had a bit of a tricky time understanding my accent. We managed to stumble through together, with me attempting my French and she (pleasantly surprisingly) understanding me and encouraging me! She gave me a list of medications for the pharmacy (ibuprofen, antacid, and basically French IcyHot). She was a one-stop shop: took my vitals, consulted with me, and also billed me herself, leading me to wonder what the gruff man sitting at the desk was for.  I found my way to the pharmacy nex...

This past week I was in Aachen for work. Luckily for me, one of my good friends and colleagues is from Aachen, and kindly took us on a tour of the city. While I didn’t get to see it this trip, not far from it is a 3-country point with the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium meeting together. Aachen was an important city as it was the home of Charlemagne (if you forgot who he was, he  united/ruled Western Europe, so he’s called the “Father of Europe” and many royal  families in Europe  trace their ancestry back to him). All along walking, we saw the signet seal of Charlemagne on the ground. If you look closely, there is a discreet "y" in the middle- this was to be able to detect forgeries! It was also an important political city, where many Holy Roman Emperors were crowned wayyyyy back in the day. Aachen was heavily bombed during World War 2, as is evidenced by a lot of newer architecture.  There are two main buildings in the city center: one is the town hall, an absolu...

 Today is Bretzelsonndeg, or Pretzel Sunday! Celebrated today (4th Sunday of Lent), it's a romantic tradition combined with amazing pastry. On Bretzelsonndeg, a guy can give one of these beautiful almond pretzels to a girl he likes. If the feelings are mutual, she will give him an egg on Easter Sunday. if she rejects him, he gets an empty basket. The pretzel shape is supposed to represent a couple arm in arm.  BUT on leap year- the girl gives the pretzels and the tradition is reversed!  Someone had mentioned the pretzels last week, and I saw it on my Instagram feeds. It was on my list to get this Sunday, and when I got off the bus to church, it was directly in front of a bakery with a longgggg line! After the service, as the line was shorter, I stood and got one.  I had the option of the traditional almond or one looking more like a cheese danish, and I took the regular. After carefully carrying it 30 minutes of a bus ride later, we finally arrived home and dug in....