Merry Christmas!! 圣诞快乐

Being so far away from the norm at home around Christmas time, I thought it just wouldn't be the same. However, that was so far from the truth. Christmas has never felt so special for many reasons. Firstly, it really brought all the scholars together as we all spent a day decorating our rooms and the hall. Secondly, we all had so much fun!

Of course, as soon as December 1st hit us we all started hanging decorations, watching Christmas films and dealing with the most expensive time of year. This just wasn't because it was Christmas, but because many people had their birthday this month - including me. For example, to celebrate we all went to KTV. This is a karaoke place with 2 microphones, a dark room and an endless playlist. We all had so much fun celebrating amongst the scholars and all our foreign friends. We even tried a few Chinese songs to impress our Chinese friends.

Christmas day itself couldn't have worked out better. For breakfast we all sat in one room and ate McDonald's (麦当劳). Then we gathered in the hall to open all our secret santa presents.

We then cleaned up, got ready and went for dinner. It was definitely one of the highlights of my time here, however nobody enjoyed how we had to go to university the next day. Celebrations seemed short lived but they continued a few days later for my birthday and new year!

Even though I'm over 5000 miles away from my family, they still managed to make my day special. Here are a few gifts send over by my family, and one friend from my Chinese friend 丽柯.

2017 was undoubtedly one of the best years I've had, but to end it a group of students from TSFU （天津外国语大学）went to celebrate the New Year at a ski festival next to the Great Wall of China （长城）.

Although I've never been so cold before, I had the best night with all my friends （朋友）.

The start of 2018 may have been us sleeping outside Beijing train station ( 北京站）for a few hours, waiting for it to open .....

But, I'm still positive that this year will be another extraordinary year, full of many adventures.

新年快乐！Happy new year, 柯丹!