One thing I especially appreciate about living in Luxembourg is the opportunity to attend lots of concerts. (And these two last week made the fifth and sixth concerts I've attended in Luxembourg this year!)

This past week marked the tenth anniversary of my move to Luxembourg. Crazy to think it's been that long already... and also crazier to think I took the final step for this project I've wanted to do for just about as long (if not longer).

Any time Deutsche Bahn is involved for a trip, it's always a bit of a game of "how much of a refund after the trip will I get".

Now for the long wait for language test results. (Well, no idea how long it'll be, but it'll feel quite long... especially since I'm not super-confident with how I did on the one section.)

Possibly poor life decisions: signing up to do the language test I need for naturalization in... about five weeks. Maybe I'm in better shape than I thought, but I don't think I'm anywhere near as ready as I need to be...

Seeing Guns N' Roses live was also not on my bingo card for the year, but it was totally worth it. (Three hours, not counting the opener and including some very long songs!) 10/10 would go again.

Advantages to living in Luxembourg include big-name musical acts with tickets that aren't super-pricey. Like, for example, Judas Priest, which I saw yesterday. (10/10, would go again.)

After a few days of baking temperatures, this storm that feels like it's coming feels so nice...

Even after living in northern Europe now for 10-ish years, it still always throws me off how late sunsets are here (and how late we have full darkness).

The trip to Vienna (and Bratislava) was quite fun, full of beautiful things to see and visit. Now back to science and pretty things inside the lab...

Just when you think that you're going to have an uneventful trip with Deutsche Bahn... your last train gets canceled. Yay for possible partial delay compensation.

While the architecture in Prague is a delight, sometimes there are somewhat more unusual things worth capturing.

I like Prague.

Frankfurt's a pretty cool city. (En route to Prague by train, so why not have a short sightseeing stopover...)

Felt great being back in Wageningen, even if for but a few days.

After long train/plane/car trips, it always feels a bit like I'm still on the train/plane/car for quite a bit afterwards.

Springtime means lots of pretty colors. Nice thing is that mine are both in and out of the lab.

I got interviewed for a Luxembourgish news outlet about my thoughts on... the situation in the US. Almost makes me wish I would've tried to do the interview in French, but, hey, it got translated quite well. www.woxx.lu/offensive-co...

Three years ago today, I was traveling in Southeastern Germany and ended up being greeted by lots of snow in the town I was visiting, Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Very memorable day, also partly because it coincided with the anniversary of my family moving to Germany long ago...

Another friend I brought with to Brussels two weeks ago. Perhaps less striking than the butterfly, but still with some interesting optical behavior...

Yay for Science. (And especially for electrocuting things.) doi.org/10.1039/D4SM...

This new thing I got for an upcoming science exhibition in Brussels seems fitting for this website.

A 30-minute public science talk in French about optics and pretty colors? Sure, why not.

Looks like I'm going to a conference in Prague in June. Coincidentally timed right around my birthday!

More acquisitions for the coin and banknote collection. (It seems like my main acquisitions as of late are a lot of the pre-euro stuff from when I lived in Europe long ago.)

Yay MTG prerelease. (Went 2-2; format is surprisingly fun!)

A good thing about trips back to the US is stocking up on things that are tricky to get from here, such as cat pictures for various purposes.

Three weeks in the US always seems to go by so quickly, but now it's time to head back to Luxembourg and to Science.

Achievements: winning a table at an EDH night (and ending up with a prize!).

Not sure how it's already been nine years since I went to India for a friend's wedding, but...

[insert assorted wishes for a Merry Christmas]

Ten hours in the air and a layover through Charles de Gaulle airport later and I'm back in NC. Vacation time.

Normally I don't like quote-posting, but this is an exception. My last stamp actually was French (Roissy–CDG), en route back to the Netherlands. However, I spent quite a bit of time in France this summer, such as here near Clermont-Ferrand.

A rotating observation deck in Metz gave me some nice views of the city.

Düsseldorf visit from earlier this month. (I like Düsseldorf; too bad it's so far away.)

Yesterday in Luxembourg. (It all had melted by this morning, though.)

Something that spun off of my hobby of collecting coins and banknotes is making designs for fantasy coins and banknotes. (And sometimes getting commissioned to make banknotes for people.)

While my Dutch abilities are far from good, they're certainly starting to "interfere" with learning German and Luxembourgish...

Apparently, I've been a doctor for a bit over five years now. Not sure where the time's gone.

Yay for pretty colors. ilcsoc.org/art-contest/...

Yay, south of France. Despite it being the end of September, the weather hasn't gotten the memo.

Prereleases: fun, but exhausting, especially when you finish one at 2 in the morning and leave for another one at 10:30.

Trying to pick up a language that's quite close to two other languages I have some familiarity with is... an interesting challenge. (Mainly to try to not mix them up!)

Went to the local card store and ended up with something for my other expensive hobby (coin/banknote collecting).

Being back in Luxembourg is awesome, but it's been quite "fun" that the start of my stay coincided with a quite hot period. Doesn't make assembling furniture very fun.

Back in Luxembourg! About 10 days to the start of the new job...

And now packing everything up. It feels a bit surreal, though maybe less so than my last two moves between countries...

Just declared my departure to the municipality. Things are getting very real...

Feels a bit strange that yesterday was likely my last visit to Utrecht before moving. At least the weather was glorious for the occasion.

Apparently, my trip to South Korea was 11 years ago. Have no idea how it's already been that long ago. (Fun fact: JFK–ICN was my longest single plane flight to date, at 13 hours. And that wasn't the originally planned route!)