For this article, I felt like telling you about my Christmas ! I usually give advice in my articles but for once I will be a bit egocentric and talk to you about my life.

Unlike most of my Erasmus friends I have chosen to stay in London for the whole break and not go back to my hometown at all. In fact I have not been there since I left, in August. Instead I decided to invite my family and friends to visit me in London to show them around and let them into my new life, at least to give them a glimpse of what it’s like !

Of course I had set a realistic and varied programme of activities to do each day, yet nothing went to plan. Instead of spending Christmas eve wandering the streets of Mayfair, discovering the work of arts at the Saatchi gallery and finishing off with a delicious dinner in a fancy restaurant, we spent most of the afternoon at the hospital. My mother who had an eye infection woke up that day unable to see with that eye, her vision went completely blurry ! This experience was not fun at the time because my mom only speaks a few words of English and so I had to be by her side the whole time to explain her symptoms to the various nurses and doctors, to translate their questions to her and the answers she gave. Eventually I was able to somehow tell her the diagnosis that the eye surgeon had established. It was very stressful and frustrating but this experience has shown and taught a lot. It is going to sound very cheesy I’m well aware of it but in the end, this little tale was a gentle reminder that Christmas is not so much about what you do but about who you spend it with ! As long as you are surrounded by the people you love, be it your close family or the one you created for yourself. On top of that, I was able to support my mother, which I am sure strengthened our bond. She was quite worried and not being able to understand what was going on around her only added to her stress. Seeing your parents after some time, especially when you’re living such a life-changing experience can be frustrating and a little bit saddening. You realise that you are drawing your own path, unavoidably drifting away from them to build your adult life. But overall this day proved to me that even if we have different lives, if we don’t see each other as often as before, we remain strongly united and we love each other to pieces. What more could you ask for Christmas?