Something to talk about

Today was my first day on the job and, for the most part, things went rather smoothly. The ITS group secretaries are fantastic and they helped me get set up with my computer, blackberry, access card, office, etc. My particular secretary told me that I needed to talk slower at first so she could understand me and she also said that I needed to learn French (and that she would help me). She was very kind on both points and I actually do plan to take her up on her offer to help with my French.

The first real snag didn't come until the end of the day (a little after 8pm - mostly because I was trying to take care of some administrative issues that required calls to the U.S.). My secretary had brought me the keys to my car (an Audi A6) in the afternoon and told me the car should be parked on level -1 in the garage, but she admittedly didn't know exactly where it would be. Seemed easy enough until I went down to the garage and looked around for the car. I didn't initially see it on level -1, but thought it must just be on level -2. Nope. I walked around level -2 again, then -1 again, and still could not find the car. At this point I was trying to figure out who I could call (not that I know anyone's work phone numbers, much less their cell/home phone numbers) and thinking how ridiculous it would be (and how pissed off I would be) to ride the bus home tonight and back to work in the morning when I had keys to a car that was somewhere in or around the office. So I walked outside and starting searching in the surface lots in front of the building. Still nothing. More frustration. Then I realized there was another small lot on the side of the building, and of course, the car was right there.

But that turned out to easiest issue to solve. I jumped in the car and started it up. I've never even been in an Audi, much less driven one, but I wasn't concerned. I know how to drive. I know how to drive a stick shift. Nothing to it. I decided not to worry about learning the radio functions right off the bat, but knew it would be wise to learn how to reverse before it was needed (the car was backed in to the parking space, so I didn't need it at first). This turned out to be harder than I expected. The gear shift indicated it was all the way to the left and up, but I just couldn't find it. My Nissan had a collar that had to be lifted to shift into reverse, but this car didn't have that. I looked everywhere and thought I tried everything, but still couldn't find it. I pulled out the owner's manual. I searched and searched, but it didn't talk about manual transmissions at all - only automatic gearboxes. I even tried to google it on my blackberry to no avail. Again, I had no idea who I could call in Luxembourg and thought it would be even more ridiculous to take the bus just because I didn't know how to put the car in reverse. Finally, I called Dad and asked him to search online and see if he could find anything. When he had no success, I finally had the brilliant idea to call an Audi dealership in the U.S. (obviously, all the dealerships and the leasing company in Lux would be closed). Dad gave me the number of a dealership in Plano and I'm sure I made a salesman's day when I told him that I was stuck in Europe and didn't know how to shift my Audi into reverse. The solution? Push down on the stick shift before trying to put in reverse. Easy. I thanked my new savior and took off for home.

Moral of the story...if you're in the market for an Audi, I recommend Boardwalk Audi of Plano.

Hanging out

Things have been going pretty smoothly so far, which is not terribly fun to write about...

I am going to be working with some great people. A few of them took me out on the town Thursday and Friday nights, and one of them also put me in contact with another American (from Kansas City), who invited me over for dinner Saturday and took me out to see a British/American cover band. I took the "hop on, hop off" Luxembourg bus tour Saturday and Sunday and met up a Boston-native (also just starting with PwC-Lux, but on the audit side) to watch the Patriots game that was played in London Sunday night. Otherwise, I have either slept or wandered around the city during my down time.

A "peachy" apartment

I spent the last two afternoons searching for available apartments and narrowed the list down to three, all of which have their warts and none of which are perfect. But since I have exhausted my PwC-provided time with the relocation company, and since I understand that good apartments go quickly, I think I should probably take what is available. The best of the bunch - given price, location, and other factors - seems to be a relatively new construction building in Fentange, which is a bit South of town but has a direct route to the office. The biggest knock on this place is the wall color - every wall in the apartment is covered in peach paint. Definitely not ideal, but, as I said, there were no "perfect" apartments and, for the price, location, size and layout, this seemed to be the best option. We'll see if I think the same tomorrow and whether I decide to pull the trigger, but it seems very likely that I will call it home (and either paint it or live with the peachiness).

After having dinner/drinks with some co-workers tonight (Thursday), I feel that I should probably confirm whether I am allowed to have a grill at my chosen apartment. I also question whether I should continue to look on my own and see if I can find a better/cheaper place. But, as I start work Monday, I will probably just make a decision and run with it so I don't have the stress of finding an apartment hanging over my head as I go to work.

Other than apartment-hunting, I haven't done a whole lot while I've been in town. I have made two trips to the U.S. Embassy in an attempt to register myself in Luxembourg. On Wednesday, I found that they are only open on Thursdays for Consular appointments. When I went back on Thursday, I found that the only way to register was online and there was really nothing else to do at the Embassy itself. I guess the two trips were a bit of a waste of time, but at least I now know exactly where the Embassy is as well as the best way to get there by bus. I also opened a bank account this morning (Thursday) and spent some time wandering around the City Centre yesterday (Wednesday) before we went house hunting.

Admin seems to rule the day right now. Hopefully more exciting ventures await.

Flying "home" from...home

Made it safely to Luxembourg on Tuesday and, despite flying economy class, was able to sleep for the majority of the 9+ hour flight to Frankfurt. I suppose that could have something to do with the fact that I had only about 16 combined hours of sleep in the four days leading up to the flight. It also didn't hurt that I could stretch out my legs in an emergency row seat and had no one sitting next to me.

My flight consisted of 1) a mediocre/bad "chicken" evening meal; 2) a long nap; 3) watching The Hangover; and 4) a bad/terrible breakfast. After all that, and a few minutes of reading, it was time to land in Frankfurt.

I had a three hour layover in Frankfurt and, except that I almost slept through all of the announcements for my flight, there were no issues with the quick (25 minute) flight to Luxembourg. My relocation assistant, Beverley, was waiting for me at the airport and since the customs agent decided he didn't want to search through all of my luggage, we were soon off to my temporary accommodations at the Hotel A to Z (or the ALZ Inn, depending on which sign you read).

Beverley and I quickly planned out Wednesday's house-hunt by sorting through the potential apartments she had identified. As she was unsure of what I was looking for with respect to size, price, etc., we were forced to eliminate many of the candidates and decided it would be best to spread our time out over two days rather than one so she could do a bit more focused research on Wednesday morning. Once that was settled, she took me to the local grocery store to buy a few provisions for my kitchenette and left me to spend the rest of the afternoon/evening as I pleased - which turned out to be cooking dinner, reading "to do" lists and searching for apartments online.

Most of my worldly goods are currently in crates - headed for either Luxembourg or storage. The movers packed me up yesterday (all day - seriously - from 9:30am to 6:15pm) and my flight leaves around 4pm on Monday. Why do I feel like I have more than 2 days worth of things to do between now and then?