Hi new friend, I’m Debbie, an American expat currently living in Luxembourg. Along with 2 of my 3 (now adult) kids, I accompanied my husband to Luxembourg when he accepted a transfer in 2011, just 7 months after my diagnosis of Celiac disease – not to mention existing peanut and almond allergies.

We were thrilled at the opportunity to live in Europe, though in all honesty, we had to look at a map to see exactly where it was that we were so thrilled to move to. A lovely Scottish lady referenced it this way: “it’s the wee little country whose name, when on a map, doesn’t fit,” and she wasn’t kidding.

We did our research, completed all the paperwork, purged the house, packed boxes, waited for all the approvals and voila, here we are today and still loving Luxembourg. This introduction, of course, is the extremely condensed version of our transition and doesn’t begin to address how I have navigated these years around Luxembourg and the EU while dealing with the challenges of food allergies and not just my own: Europe is indeed a land overflowing with nut covered pastries, pasta, pizza and of course baguettes and breads everywhere.

For my complete story, click here.