My Christmas break

I started the first weekend of my Christmas break with a big Christmas meal together with my housemates and a couple others, including our housemate from last year, who travelled down from London to see us. We decided to make it a vegetarian Christmas dinner since the majority of my housemates now eat a primarily vegetarian diet, and I’m really happy with how it turned out. It was a really nice evening and a great way to start the Christmas break off. I’ve known my housemates since my first year at University and it was a little sad to think that this is probably the last Christmas we’ll have all together (or at the very least while all living together). However, it is equally exciting and a little nerve-wrecking knowing that we will soon each be embarking on new paths with only half a year left until we graduate!

My housemates and I at our Christmas dinner.

I stayed in Southampton an additional week before flying home, with the intention of getting some work done before I left so that I could relax and spend more time with my family while I was home. During that week I still had time to meet up with a couple of my dance friends to catch up and go to the cinema. It was really fun, especially since I don’t get to see them as often now that I am no longer attending the dance classes or squad practices. It was good to hear how things were going, as their first competition is coming up after Christmas and I wish them the best of luck!

I’m now currently home in Sweden with my Mum and sister. My dad is still in Australia but we had a group Skype call around Christmas day and it was good to see that he is doing well down under. My sister decided that the programme she chose in Sweden wasn’t really for her and she now has her heart set on moving back to Australia at the end of February which means both my Mum and sister are making preparations for another big move. This has made me reconsider my plans, and I’m now thinking of doing a Masters in the UK once I graduate and then moving back to Australia to join them all. It’s actually been a number of years since we were all in the same country together, so it would be nice to all be together again (or at least in the same country or side of the globe!). In any case, I’ve sorted the last of my things in Sweden into one relatively small box which will be shipped to Australia in the new year.

As usual, when I go home I’ve been totally enjoying my mum’s home cooking and watching a load of movies with my sister. We’ve also been enjoying walks in the forest with all the snow we’ve been lucky enough to have this winter which our dog is really loving. The only downside is that we have such short hours of daylight!

The start of the forest behind our apartment.

This photo was taken at 2pm in the afternoon and by the time we were finished with our walk it was already dark!

I’ll be flying back to the UK in a few days and will have to face the reality of exams and deadlines once again. I have really enjoyed my modules this semester and, honestly, I'm really enjoying the work!

Wishing you all a Happy New Year. Lets make 2015 the best year yet!

Kristin