Last September 14th, we had our annual Fresher’s Dinner. Two first year bachelor students (Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry) and one beginning MBA student shared an Italian meal with two current students, and seven alumni, some of whom helped with practice interviews.
Stories, advice and directions were exchanged. In fact it was such an engaging evening that we once more forgot to make pictures! So here’s one from the restaurant.
On Saturday July 3rd we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon at the Schuman farm sipping pimm’s while catching up after a long time not seeing each other face-to-face.
After a lengthy picnic – barbecue we decided to have crocquet game on the lawn, rather than the traditional cricket, among others due to the lack of cricketers.
The crocquet game was a huge success, and we ended up playing with three teams simultaneously, each consisting of a changing number of members, the youngest being 3 years old.
We discovered crocquet to be a game of skill, strategy and teamwork.
The three teams battled for at least two hours, passing their balls through the hoops until finally, Gérard Schockmel scored the winning shot by placing his team’s final ball against the peg.
We thank Adrian for his hospitality, Fanny for her professional Croquet Set, and the organisers for the pimm’s and other drinks.
On April 7th, during the last days of confinement, our member Jos van Bommel gave an online seminar on the different approaches of investing in stocks, with an emphasis on Value Investing, a time-tested approach practiced by successful investors such as Warren Buffett. From our homes, we had an interactive evening, with plenty of discussion
After two Covid postponements, last October 14 we finally had the opportunity to host the dinner talk with guest speaker Professor Dr. Hardy Bouillon, former student of Jesus College and currently Extracurricular Professor of Philosophy at Trier University.
Prof. Dr. Bouillon enlightened us on the Austrian School of Economics, which in the early 20th century laid the foundations of Economic Thinking. We learned about the different subschools, of von Mises and Hayek, and the philosophical nature of work and their disciples.
The dinner talk led to lively debates at the different tables, easily overcoming the (Covid-) regulatory safe distancing of approximately OUSL 30 members and guests, which included the ambassador of Germany, and the consul of Austria.
On 28th September in association with the British Luxembourg Society, the Cambridge and LSE Alumni societies in Luxembourg, we arranged a lecture at the British Ambassador’s Residence by Prof Catherine Léglu Vice-Rector of the University of Luxembourg about the University and its future plans. A film of the lecture can be found on the BLS website in the newsletter archive on the web-address https://b-l-s.lu/membership/members-resources#newsletter-archive
On 15 September we had our annual fresher’s dinner, where we invite Luxembourg-based starting Oxford students for an introduction to our Society and to each other. In the refugee run restaurant “Chiche” freshers, practice interviewers, current students, and committee members enjoyed a wonderful evening over a Syrian Mezze meal.
This year’s fresher’s will start different degrees (Ba, MSt, MSc, MPhil) in different studies (Mathematics, Creative Writing, Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, and European Politics and Society), at different colleges (Brasenose, Keble, St. Cross, and St. Anthony’s).
We wish them every success with their studies and hope to see them at our invents in Luxembourg, after graduation.
Our first post-Covid event was a wine tasting at the Dominikaner Weingut in Kasel near Trier.
Carmen v. Nell-Breuning, owner of the family´s winery and wine-maker in the 11thgeneration, gave us guided tour through the wine cellar, going from the fermentation vats, to the “Treasury” closet of old wines. Carmen explained us the history and reputation of the Mosel wines, and gave us an overview of the production from harvesting to bottling, for sparkling and non-sparkling wines.
After visiting the cellar, we proceeded to the Weinzimmer, where we were treated on a “Sekt”, named Ludovic, after Ludwig van Beethoven, whom the Breuning family looked after when he grew up in Bonn. In the Weinzimmer we admired the many story-telling paintings of famous and less famous members of the wine dynasty.
After the bubbly apéritif we walked over to Pauliner Hof, the adjacent restaurant of the winery, where we enjoyed lunch with an accompanying wine tasting.
After an excellent meal, we had a stroll to the the vineyards, where we enjoyed the view over the Ruwer Valley, and the village of Kasel.
Joint event with Conférence St. Yves and the Cambridge Society of Luxembourg, we had an interesting talk and discussion on the Luxembourg Practice of International Public Law with Maitre Patrick Kinsch and M Georges Friden as guest speakers. A “compte rendu” of the event can be found here
Our AGM was kindly hosted by OUSL member Francis Carpenter.
Following the reports of the chairman, treasurer and honorary auditor, the discharge of the old and election of the new committee, we enjoyed an engaging presentation of our host, entitled “Silk Roads and Spider Webs”, on the influence of China in the world economy. The discussion that followed was lively and continued during the drinks and hors d’oeuvres that followed.
We very much thank Francis and Sylvie Carpenter for their hospitality and the committee for closing another successful year of the OUSL.
At our yearly rentrée event more than 20 Oxonians and friends gathered at Cercle Munster for the traditional rentrée event of the OUSL after the summer break. Séline Delcourt (ChristChurch) who graduated this year, sang jazz songs of Edith Piaf, Amy Winehouse, etc., accompanied on the piano by Isaac Troughton (in his last year at Queen‘s). One of the many highlights of the evening was their performance of the chanson „Comme d‘habitude“ by Claude François, the French inspiration to Frank Sinatra‘s world-famous „My way“.
Over a walking dinner former and current students of Oxford University and their guests used the opportunity to meet and catch up with other Oxonians. The lively discussions were continued after the concert at the bar in smaller groups which ended an entertaining evening.
