Luxemburg, Äddi!

Three months ago, I arrived in Luxembourg. In spite of the dark and cold, January was actually a great time to set up camp. What better way to start the New Year than in a new place, doing new work, meeting new people, gaining new experiences, and all in a country that had a new Prime Minister for the first time in 19 years.

 

Luxembourg's colours and beloved Red Lion

Since day one, work has been a healthy combination of challenging and interesting. With the Embassy being quite small, I have been able to gain an insight into what each member of the team does, and to help out with a large variety of tasks and projects. The working day has thus been wonderfully varied, which is always a bonus. Furthermore, I’ve been able to learn more about the UK’s engagement in foreign and EU affairs, and I feel better acquainted with how the FCO and its many missions operate. Until seeing it in action, such a complex machine is quite hard to visualise, but my understanding of it has certainly begun to solidify. It has also been fascinating to see how the small country of Luxembourg has been coping with the changes to its administration, and how it has been responding to regional problems, national developments, and international crises. You could perhaps say that the Embassy has been the lens of a microscope that is trained on a selection of slides exhibiting some Foreign Service cells, EU molecules, and Luxembourgish DNA.

Luxembourg doesn't quite have a green glow yet, but maybe when summer comes...

 Developing a deeper understanding of Luxembourg’s administrative skeleton has been great; discovering its flesh – that is to say the populace – has been equally charming. Luxembourg is a great place to go, regardless of how many people you expect to know there: there is little anonymity and people are extraordinarily welcoming. Someone I met here said that everybody is nice to everybody else because they never know when they are going to meet again! Ostensibly cynical though this may be, there is some truth in it. In a place like London, all odds would be against a second meeting, but here in Luxembourg it’s a veritable likelihood. Furthermore, the variety of people I have met is astounding. There are people from all over the world and all walks of life, and it has been wonderful to see how they all come together in this brimming melting pot. 

If this pot is Luxembourg, what's inside is the most varied meal anyone's ever had

A recent addition to the Luxembourg creuset was Father Michael Lapsley, a South African priest, in town to launch the German-language version of his autobiography. During his book launch, he spoke of his experiences campaigning against the apartheid regime, before and after receiving in 1990 a letter bomb that blew off his hands and caused him to lose one eye. His story was compelling, to say the least. He addressed issues such as disability, trauma, and healing, and said he was grateful that the letter bomb had taken only his hands, leaving his greatest weapon, his tongue, perfectly intact. He propounded the need for individual independence, but also for individuals to be interdependent, and explained his understanding of forgiveness and justice, and how the two can be reconciled, in his view. It was an exceedingly thought-provoking event.

Fr Michael's autobiography, in German:  Mit den Narben der Apartheid: Vom Kampf für die Freiheit zum Heilen traumatischer Erinnerungen

And that same sentence could be re-applied to so many of the experiences I’ve had here; my mind has been kept happily scurrying. Just this week, I had the pleasure of meeting and attending a talk given by British rower, Steve Williams, OBE, two-time Olympic Gold medallist, and four-time world champion in the men’s coxless four. He was not there to promote his sport (the many descriptions of excruciating and constant pain could entice no-one but an extreme masochist); his focus lay elsewhere. Lots of what he said was about self-motivation, but he spoke equally about how to be a good team player, and a significant proportion of his talk was centred on being a good leader. Really, it spoke to everyone in some way; even if it did nothing to convince anyone that it would be fun to get up at 6am for an icy row, this indomitable athlete used his personal sporting anecdotes well in order to transmit some universally applicable mantras.

Steve Williams and his two Olympic Gold medals

Now, three months on from all the newness, it’s time for me to leave. The time I’ve spent here in Luxembourg is one I won’t be forgetting. Firstly, because I feel the skills I’ve learnt will stick with me for a long time, and secondly, because it has been such an enjoyable experience. Not just because of events like those elaborated upon above, but because of the work itself, its varied nature and fascinating substance, and because of the environment in which that work has taken place. The Embassy staff have been as welcoming as the Luxembourgers themselves, and working with them has been a treat. I’m really very grateful to have had the opportunity to intern here.