I left Ohio on August 22nd and arrived in Differdange the next day. It seems to be fact of life that you will spend almost as much time in airports as in the air, at least if you cannot do better than two stops.

There were a couple of surprises on my first day. My apartment was so clean that I wish housekeeping was included. Alas, it’s not. A better surprise was that I have my own office! I was expecting to share a common office with the other faculty members, but instead I have my own. I’ll need to move things around and clear off at least one of the desks, but here’s what it looked like today:

My apartment is called the President Suite because this is where the President of Miami University stays when he visits. The suite was renovated last year, so everything still looks new. Except the staircase I use to go from the courtyard to my apartment.

That’s a genuine 15th century staircase. The Dean tells me that my apartment is in the oldest part of the Château. I’m lucky to have this wonderful combination of the old and the new.

I had my first coffee and pastry today from the local Fischer boulangerie.

 

I also went to both of the local supermarkets. This one is closer and seems to have a greater variety. One happy find was Schweppes Bitter Lemon, which is difficult to find in the States.