A colleague from the states came over to give a lecture. He asked me about the cost of living, and what I did not like about living here. I don’t think I have anything surprising or interesting to say about what I don’t like. Like most people from the States, I do not like that people do not pick up after their dogs even when the dogs defecate on the sidewalk. This is nothing unique to Luxembourg. I have seen it in Italy and in France as\u00a0well. More people smoke here, and you frequently have to walk through a cloud of smoke to get into a cafe and invariably the people walking in\u00a0front of you in the city will be smoking.<\/p>\n
My life has been rather isolated so far, so I can’t give a very accurate picture of the cost of things. Rent seems higher than it would be in the states. Here in the Chateau, we are charged\u00a0350\u20ac-1,650\u20ac<\/a> for utilities every month (in addition to water, trash, electric, and heat, this includes wifi and basic cable). Coffee makers seem to cost substantially more here. For example, I considered purchasing a red\u00a0Nespresso Inissia Espresso Maker<\/a>. In the US, I could order one from Amazon for US$90.85 with\u00a0free\u00a0shipping. Google tells me that right now, that’s\u00a070.24\u20ac. The price direct from Nespresso is 98.90\u20ac, which includes tax. I’m not sure if that includes shipping, but since there’s a Nespresso store in Luxembourg City, I could just pick it up next time I’m down there. In contrast, the German Amazon sells them for\u00a0109\u20ac with free shipping, while the French Amazon lists them for\u00a0127.95\u20ac + 7.00\u20ac\u00a0shipping.<\/p>\n In the supermarket, most of the prices strike me as reasonable if I forget that the price is in euros and imagine that it’s in US dollars. It’s easy to forget that European prices include taxes, unlike in the US. Somethings cost about the same but are much better. For example, I paid 1.50\u20ac for a marzipan croissant yesterday at the bakery. That’s about US$2.00, which is what you’d pay at Starbucks for a croissant of inferior quality. Cheese is another item where the prices may be about the same, but the quality here is far superior.<\/p>\n Some items are remarkably cheaper here. For example, one local supermarket is advertising a liter of\u00a0Campari for 12.70\u20ac (=US$16.35 today) and that includes all taxes. Depending on where you bought it, you could easily spend twice that in the states when you include tax.<\/p>\n The train is another huge savings. A\u00a0monthly pass would cost me\u00a0$2.20 per day for unlimited travel. My car insurance alone is more than $1\/day. Add in gas, maintenance, and of course the cost of the car itself, and, well, I really wish we had trains at home (I know that some cities in the US have trains; I just don’t live in any of them).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A colleague from the states came over to give a lecture. He asked me about the cost of living, and what I did not like about living here. I don’t think I have anything surprising or interesting to say about what I don’t like. Like most people from the States, I do not like that … Continue reading 9 September<\/span>