As the festive season is approaching, International Student Ambassador Lucille shares some of the traditions she brought to the UK with her and some of the British traditions she has adopted.
The first advent calendar doors have opened, hot chocolate cravings ensued and the hats and gloves have been pulled out from underneath the bed. It is evident that it is the holiday season once again.
This time of year, as many international students may agree, comes with its own muddle of emotions. Comparable to the current weather, every day is different and I go from missing home, and reminiscing my childhood to exploring the UK and falling in love with ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú over and over again.
To let my nostalgia flow and to look forward to the Christmas holidays, let’s take a look at my third December in ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú and what I am looking forward to do this Christmas season!
Trees
I will never cease to be surprised at how early British people will put up their Christmas trees. In Germany, you will usually only find them in households close to Christmas. And I mean close! My family will put it up only on the 23rd of December, no earlier. The trees usually remain up until January.
Another apparent difference is the Christmas tree itself! Germans will collect a real Christmas tree from tree farms or stalls around town whereas in the UK, many Christmas trees are plastic and will be re-used every year.
British people also love their tree decorations to be loud and full of artificial lights, such as multi-coloured fairy lights. In Germany, the tree will be decorated with few ornaments and real wax-candles. Some households will swap these out for electrical candles for safety, but in my family, they have always been real (trust me, I remember trying to balance them on the branches!).
There is nothing I enjoy more about December in the UK than how beautiful everything looks!
Decorations
It really gets you excited for the holidays and brings light into a month of early nightfall. London, especially, will have lots of beautiful decorations all across the city, contesting for the best Christmas decorations each year!
ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú too will have a Christmas tree in the City Centre and Gunwharf, as well as a little Christmas Market. The spirit is all around and even private households will do their best to bring colour to their houses, putting up lights and blow-up Santa’s!
This is usually not the case where I am from, as Christmas is only celebrated once the holidays begin. Most commercial stores will also decorate over here, which really shows that Christmas is all around us (did you get the British Classic Christmas Movie reference?).
Food
What I probably miss most is my beloved German Christmas foods, like Lebkuchen or Baumkuchen. Luckily, stores like Aldi or Lidl will often have international foods which allows me to get a taste of home even when I am not there.
However, nothing beats a home-cooked Christmas dinner! In Germany, this may traditionally be Goose, although traditional households might have just a plain dinner on Christmas Eve, before feasting the following days.
Another common meal may be the Raclette. This is an experience more so than a dinner. A grill will be put on the table and everyone gets a little paddle to melt their own cheese in. This is served with potatoes and all kinds of sides. My family usually makes this for New Year's. In our home, this looks like bread and sausages.
In my first British Christmas however, it was the traditional Christmas Dinner that was eaten on Christmas Eve. This consists of potatoes and roasted vegetables, such as parsnips, and brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce, pigs in blankets (sausages wrapped in bacon), turkey and gravy and mince pies for dessert. Don’t let yourself be fooled; this is not a meat pie but a pie with dried fruit filling. This dinner isn’t for the small stomach but not to be missed!
One of my favourite activities in ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú is going ice skating!
Activities
While in Frankfurt, the ice-skating rink is open throughout the year, here it really is something to look forward to and particularly Christmas-coded. Also, many societies or sports clubs will go out for Christmas Dinner together before everyone goes home for the holidays, which I find particularly endearing.
Celebration
This leads me to my last point, which is how different the focus of the actual celebrations is between the two countries.
While German Christmas seems especially family-focused and a time to be thankful, as well as for introspection, reflection, and preparation for the New Year, the UK makes the most of the month by celebrating it at every turn!
The Christmas dinners and winter wonderlands (activity-based Christmas markets) are a great example of how the focus in the UK is on friendships and communities too.
People will come together even on Christmas days to see their friends and share the love of the season with them. Sometimes they will do Secret Santa to exchange gifts among friends.
I love this definition of Christmas a lot, as it gives you a chance to spend a lot of time with everyone you are close to and show them how grateful you are to have them in your life. I love that Christmas here is open to everyone and I will always look back fondly on the December time I get to spend in ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú and I know you will too.
Happy Holidays!