Holiday Festivities for a Kenyan abroad!

Hi everyone!

Happy New Year to everyone reading this from all around the world.

Since my last blog post, a lot has happened in the country and in my personal life that I would love to share with you, especially with those following my journey as a placement student in the UK Finance sector. I would also like to share with you my plans and prospects for the new year and the future and, how the University of Surrey has really stepped in to make all these transitions much simpler.

This week I had some time off work for the Christmas period. As expected, I did not travel back to Kenya to celebrate Christmas with my family and instead celebrated with my UK family here. Celebrating holidays away from my family is now not as daunting as it used to be. A lot of international students go through the same experience, and soon, you get used to it and, discover a lot of fun ways to celebrate the holidays with your friends!

At the university, there are plenty of festive activities for you to get involved with, including the MySurrey Christmas giveaway, SantaMoves+ challenge or even designing your own sustainable Christmas tree! The link for this can be found here on the University of Surrey Student Union support page: hereovertheholidays (ussu.co.uk)

This year specifically, I have been on placement and due to this, moved out of campus. I discovered loads of fun activities to participate in safely during this season, including a Christmas trail at the Kew botanical garden.

My housemate and I also spoiled ourselves to some Christmas snacks and goodies.

Additionally, I also helped make a Christmas dinner with my close friends. We all did our part in ensuring the dinner came together very nicely with pictures shown here:

It has been a strange year but we are really thankful to be alive, to have seen it through and, to usher in a new year. Hoping and praying that everyone remains safe during this time.

That’s all for now folks,

Best,

Anne