Creating 'a very multinational and diverse' network of friends

Join us for 'Making Luxembourg home' as expat families chat with Maeve Ryan of RTL Today about making Luxembourg their home, how they have navigated life in the Grand Duchy, and any valuable advice they'd like to share with newer arrivals starting on their expat journey.

When did you move to Luxembourg and what brought you here? What’s your experience of integrating as an expat family? Was it easy to settle in?

We moved to Luxembourg in October 2020 as my husband was starting a job in one of the EU institutions. We found it fairly difficult settling in as it was peak Covid times. It was the following Spring when we started going to local playgrounds and meeting neighbours that we began to feel more settled. It was great when the kids started to make friends in the neighbourhood and we became friends with their parents.

I also joined the Luxembourg Expats group on Facebook and I found that helped. After a couple of months, I put up a post saying that I wanted to start a walking group in my neighbourhood, which resulted in three neighbours and I going for a walk on a weekly basis. I found it a nice little support group and a nice way to integrate. Two of them have left Luxembourg since but I still meet with one neighbour nearly every week which is great.

In terms of schooling, why did you choose the European school system and was it easy to find a suitable school ie were there a range of options open to you? How have you found the European system in general? 

There were two obvious options - either the Luxembourgish or the European School system to choose from. When we arrived here the kids were starting school the following September so at that point, we really didn't know how long we were going to be staying in Luxembourg. So, we just said that we would stick with the European system as it would allow for a smoother transition back to Ireland in case we returned.

We feel like we made the right choice for our twins. This is our children's third year there and they have been learning Irish since they started, which is great. Also, this is their first year learning French so they will be quite fluent in French in the coming years, which is important to us too.

Overall, we are very pleased with the European School system. Their teachers have been fantastic, which is the most important thing for us and our children have always been very happy going to school in the mornings. The school also has very good facilities and has a wide variety of extra-curricular activities that you can sign your child up to. It introduces you to a very interesting, diverse and international community and it's a great way to meet people from different countries around the world.

Any advice for parents wondering whether to send their child to a European school? 

In term of advice, I would recommend doing your research. Talk to anyone you know who has kids going to that specific school and ask the questions you want answers to. Also, read through the information on the school website and if you have any further questions just contact the school directly. I did this just before my kids started and I found that the school was very helpful with the queries I had.

Do you feel that Luxembourg is a good place for families to live? Do you find it supportive for parents? 

I would say it is a great place for families and a very safe place to raise children. There are a lot of families living here so there is a nice family-friendly atmosphere. Even when you walk around the city you can see families shopping, going to restaurants and to museums. I also find that places are very open and accepting of children at their facilities.

There are also excellent playgrounds in Luxembourg, with at least one in every neighbourhood. Our personal favourites are Bambesch and the Pirate Playground (Avenue Monterey). I can't think of any playground as good in Ireland. Thankfully, the kids still enjoy going to playgrounds, so as long as they do, we are going to maximise our use of them.

There are also super swimming facilities in Luxembourg, which is another family favourite activity for us. We also find the price very reasonable given the quality of them. We have tried a lot of different swimming pools in Luxembourg and we now have a firm list of favourites.

I also think there are a lot of activities for the kids to get involved in, whether its fencing, ice-skating or joining the local football team you can find something for all children here.

What was your experience of navigating the housing sector in Luxembourg? 

Thankfully, we found it quite easy to find accommodation to rent here. As we moved during Covid we basically viewed seven properties over the course of two days, picked our favourite and moved in a month later. We were very happy with the whole process. Although I would say that it is unfortunate that property prices are so high because I think we will have to continue renting indefinitely. We really like the neighbourhood we live in and we are not prepared to move and prices where we live are just too expensive.

Is there anything that has surprised or disappointed you about Luxembourg?

I was surprised by the network of friends that we have made over here, which is very multinational and diverse. When our children started in the English section of the European school, I presumed it would be at least 50 percent cent Irish and English, but as it turned out there were very few of those nationalities. My children are in class with Estonians, Latvians, Bulgarians, Indians and many other nationalities, which is great. They have really had the opportunity to mix with a wide variety of children from different backgrounds. My husband and I in turn have got to meet a lot of their parents and form good friendships which has been a very nice experience.

In terms of disappointment I would say like many people, the weather in the winter is particularly harsh – the grey skies and the coldness took me by surprise and made me long for an Irish winter.

Although, in general I would say that the other seasons are better than in Ireland and I do try and keep that in mind when I’m about to complain about the weather.

Have you any advice that would be valuable to newer arrivals starting out on their expat journey? 

I would just say to try to make the most of living here. A lot of people come here and they may not even stay for that long so just see it as a good opportunity to explore a new region and to learn about a new country and a new city.

I’d recommend exploring as much as you can, whether that is going for hikes, visiting museums or going to different restaurants. I would also say that Luxembourg is a great location for travelling around and visiting other countries given that we border France, Belgium and Germany. We have visited a lot of neighbouring cities and places of interest and we have really enjoyed that.

If you are looking to make more friends, there are a lot of groups in Luxembourg for you to join, such as the Irish Club of Luxembourg or the British Ladies Club of Luxembourg. There are many groups and societies out there so it's all about getting involved. I would also say the Luxembourg Expats group on Facebook is also a nice way to meet people.