My nonna makes fun of how I never go to school, and it is quite true. I skipped two days of school earlier this month to go to Abu Dhabi. Now I am skipping three days of school (+ weekend) to go to Luxembourg. Few of my classmates and I were selected to represent SYA Italy at an annual high school conference called Global Issues Network that was held in Luxembourg this year.
So today I woke up early to go to the train station, but our teacher was so late that we almost missed the train to Fiumicino airport because of him!! Once we checked in and got to the gate, we were a little bit scared because our plane was actually a propeller plane! Definitely loud and unsafe (at least we felt that way haha), but the customer service was fantastic.
As soon as we arrived, we tried to take a taxi to go to our assigned hotel but alas, we only had budget for two taxis (because our teacher miscalculated the number of students)!! So some of us pitched in for the cab ride (and later got reimbursed) but it was hilarious.
After settling down, we walked around the city (Luxembourg City is definitely walkable) with SYA France kids, and I noticed the city's architecture. How different from Italian architecture! As a giant group of SYA students, we went to a nearby Italian restaurant (yes, we left Italy and still ate Italian food). I was surprised (but somewhat expected) that the waiters could understand English, French, and Italian. This is one of the reasons why I love Europe: people know and just have more opportunities to learn many languages.
When I came back to dorm, I realized that my roommates for the trip also flew in from Rome via the same propeller plane!! I actually remembered talking to them on the plane briefly, so I think we will spend some time together here in Luxembourg. What a coincidence!
Although I haven't done the official tour offered by GIN, I am already enchanted by this European city-state. Can't wait to explore more in the next few days!
