Hello! Today I wanted to blog about going home to Canada for Christmas break. I thought I would separate this blog into two parts: the first about how I happy I am with my decision to have gone home, and the second, about some of the difficulties I faced from having gone home. So without further ado here is the first part.
Going home for Christmas was something I knew I would do from very early when deciding to come to the University of Surrey. It is one of my favorite celebrations that brings together all of my family and friends, and I knew I could not miss it. Furthermore, I love myself a good white Christmas! I was so excited to go home the few days prior to departure and I am so fortunate to have had my two cousins, Victoria and Gabrielle, here with me to get excited about the trip home. We had collectively decided at the beginning of the year that we would leave on the Monday following the Friday that we finished classes in order to have a better deal on flights and not miss any lectures/tutorials. This allowed us to take a little adventure to Goldaming, which I have previously blogged about, and finish our Christmas shopping.
We took the taxi out to Heathrow airport and flew out around mid-day. What is fun about flying back home is that you land only a couple of hours later in local time! It was so amazing to have my friends and family at the airport to greet us with a box of Timbits!! Despite the freezing cold it was so nice to be home.
The rest of my trip consisted of a lot of relaxation and catching up. I was able to partake in all of our traditional Christmas and New Year festivities and enjoy the Canadian weather. I was really happy to be able to play a game called Tuck with my parents and my boyfriend Fred, which had become an evening tradition before I left which I was really missing about being home. I was able to go skiing with some of my girlfriends and was also able to catch several movies at the theater which is something I had also missed given that the movies here are quite expensive. The cherry on top of an already great trip was getting to go skating on the canal with Fred which opened the day before I was set to leave. I wore my Canada gloves with pride and enjoyed an excellent Canadian delicacy… you guessed it a Beaver Tail!
In all, deciding to go home was a big decision as it is quite expensive and it is right before final exams. However, knowing what Christmas means to me and my family, I could not see myself staying in Guildford for that time – especially given that we got a month off between the end of the term and our exams (more on that in part 2). This decision is a very personal one and therefore I recommend that you budget out a plan and discuss with your family and friends about your options of going home for the break. Several of my friends decided to stay in Guildford for Christmas and ended up having a wonderful time. Some decided to do some travelling, and others had friends and family join them here in England. The University organizes events for the students that remain on campus which I think is a great service. In the end I was very happy with my decision!
Cheers!
