As October comes to an end, I am marking another Luxembourgish month off my calendar. While it is sad that I have merely a month an a half left in this unique little country, it is also a bit of a relief. Not that I am aching to go home, by any means, but I have grown weary from the jet-setter lifestyle that my program has encouraged. I think that, while this is partly due to the fact that it is exhausting to travel by various modes of transportation to stay in different countries for no more than 48 hours each weekend, it is also because being in Luxembourg during the week is not a break. It is a hard effort to exist here, simply because I do not belong.
I that the language barrier in Luxembourg is this phenomenon's biggest contributing factor. I know that I have spoken on it before, but the implications of it keep unraveling as time goes on. As my trusty sidekick, Professor John Mauk, recently pointed out to me, there is something to be said about my attraction to London, England and the shared language there. While British English is definitely not the same as American English, it is related much more closely than French, German, or Luxembourgish. I felt more at home in England because the shared language put everything else - restaurants, bars, public transportation - in a warm glow of familiarity, even though they were no more American than anything here in Luxembourg.
While I was in London, I pictured myself living there as a college graduate. This is something that I have never done in Luxembourg. I decided to prod my brain in an attempt to deduce why this was so. I have come up with some interesting notions and observations (at least, I think they're interesting).
London is not America. It is far from it. I was drawn to London precisely because of the differences it has when compared to America. To me, it seemed cleaner, healthier, more charming, and slower paced. However, it was the first country over the entirety of my stay here that has made me feel such a strong pull. I think that the strength in it lies in the similarities to America. The society is advanced and post-industrialist, there are a lot of the same establishments (or at least similar establishments with different names), the landscape is similar to that of Midwestern America, and people speak English.
One thing that I have found to be true over the course of my stay thus far in Luxembourg is the fact that, no matter how hard I try, I will never be able to pass as a "real Luxemburger". This idea is made clear in Gee's Essay on Social Linguistics, where he dissects what it means to be a "real Indian". Gee explains that "being a 'real Indian' is something that someone cannot simply be. Rather, it is something that one becomes or is in the "doing" of it, that is, in the performance". What he is saying here, essentially, is that I cannot just become a Luxemburger because I am living here. The only way to assimilate would be to act out being a Luxemburger every day, performing as one until I become one. I think that I felt that I would likely be able to become a "real Brit" over time, but not become a "real Luxemburger". I think that this is largely due to the shared language, culture, and general lifestyle that parallels England and the United States.
I that the language barrier in Luxembourg is this phenomenon's biggest contributing factor. I know that I have spoken on it before, but the implications of it keep unraveling as time goes on. As my trusty sidekick, Professor John Mauk, recently pointed out to me, there is something to be said about my attraction to London, England and the shared language there. While British English is definitely not the same as American English, it is related much more closely than French, German, or Luxembourgish. I felt more at home in England because the shared language put everything else - restaurants, bars, public transportation - in a warm glow of familiarity, even though they were no more American than anything here in Luxembourg.
While I was in London, I pictured myself living there as a college graduate. This is something that I have never done in Luxembourg. I decided to prod my brain in an attempt to deduce why this was so. I have come up with some interesting notions and observations (at least, I think they're interesting).
London is not America. It is far from it. I was drawn to London precisely because of the differences it has when compared to America. To me, it seemed cleaner, healthier, more charming, and slower paced. However, it was the first country over the entirety of my stay here that has made me feel such a strong pull. I think that the strength in it lies in the similarities to America. The society is advanced and post-industrialist, there are a lot of the same establishments (or at least similar establishments with different names), the landscape is similar to that of Midwestern America, and people speak English.
One thing that I have found to be true over the course of my stay thus far in Luxembourg is the fact that, no matter how hard I try, I will never be able to pass as a "real Luxemburger". This idea is made clear in Gee's Essay on Social Linguistics, where he dissects what it means to be a "real Indian". Gee explains that "being a 'real Indian' is something that someone cannot simply be. Rather, it is something that one becomes or is in the "doing" of it, that is, in the performance". What he is saying here, essentially, is that I cannot just become a Luxemburger because I am living here. The only way to assimilate would be to act out being a Luxemburger every day, performing as one until I become one. I think that I felt that I would likely be able to become a "real Brit" over time, but not become a "real Luxemburger". I think that this is largely due to the shared language, culture, and general lifestyle that parallels England and the United States.