Home for the Holidays, while not being home…

I am sure that by now many of you have heard this and I cannot stress it enough, but winter

has arrived and brought the darkness along with it. Winter in Uppsala can be harsh, cold,

dark, and can take a mental toll on lots of people. However, winter here does not need to be all

bad, with winter comes, the holiday season, (hopefully soon) snow, hot chocolate, and of

course Advent!

My name is Umber, I am an international secretary for my nation here at Uppsala, but most

importantly I am an international student who is from southern California, a completely

different atmosphere, and after having survived 4 winters here in Uppsala, here is my guide

on how to beat the winter blues!

The first thing is the Student Nations!!! Do yourself a favor and make sure to check the

nations guide for all the different events that nations host during this time of year. If you are

not much of a clubber, no fear because there are other various activities that you can do! The

pubs, brunches, and lunches are a great way to get yourself out of the house. Try studying

there with your friends and then rewarding yourself with an after-work beer! There are also

nations that offer different sporting activities and of course gasques!

The second thing, and something that I find quite cozy, are dinner nights where you spend

time cooking different recipes with friends. As a student, going out to eat all the time is not

really the best way to budget and pub food can start to get a bit old, so something that I found

important was cooking with my friends. When living in Uppsala we have the unique

opportunity to be surrounded by tons of international students with different cultural

backgrounds, take advantage of that! My kitchen is always full of people from all around

Europe and together we try and cook or bake different dishes from each of their cultures. The

last Thursday of November is always Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday and you bet I will be

cooking all the traditional dishes with my friends, and its super exciting because for a lot of

them it will be their first thanksgiving!!

The third thing and something that helps me avoid the holiday blues, is Advent. Advent is

beginning here in Sweden on the 28 th of November. This means that there will be Christmas

markets that open and tons of cultural Christmas practices that one can enjoy! A holiday

tradition that I love here is the traditional Lucia Buns (lussekat). If you can’t already tell I am

quite the foodie! Baking them is quite fun and something I would really recommend everyone

to try because it is a super cozy activity for a winter evening. That paired with glogg, and you

will be making the best winter memories!

These are three simple ways to help make the winter blues go away! If you have time,

definitely check out my friend Sjoerd’s previous blog post, where he talks about the

impotence of taking care of one’s mental health during his time!