Celebrating Christmas together part 2

Celebrating Christmas together part 2

Let's get this party started!

Christmas day is finally here! In the morning we have breakfast and already start partying for my friend’s birthday as well with a first round of homemade sweet and delicious nut liqueur shoots.

The bottom of the Christmas tree is full packed with lots of colorful presents, but we have to wait for my parents to arrive so we can then open everything together. Is that a sign that all of us had been kind this year, isn’t it?

Spending the Christmas morning without electricity

Outside the wind is blowing and because of that we spend the Christmas morning without having electricity which means that things such as the internet or the water are not working anymore. All we can hear is the sound of the wind which during the entire last night was blowing powerfully creating very strange and almost scary noises. With nothing else to do, we start playing board games and just chilling out. Soon, the electricity is back and my parents are also arriving to the hut bringing again lots of tasty traditional preparations. Yam!

Having the Christmas lunch together with my family and friends: how much can we eat? 

We have lunch all together on the terrace and eat the Romanian traditional dishes including “sarmale” – vegan or not vegan meat or rice and vegetables rolls – grilled and smoked meat or sausages, a specific cheese called in Romania “branza de burduf” which is always served with mamaliga, a cornbread meal.

Happy birthday, lovely friend!

Since is one of my friends birthday, when dessert time comes, another friend and I disappear from the table and go to bring her the cake that she doesn’t know about. We surprise her with a nice cake baked by my mother and sign "La multi ani" translated as happy birthday to her. Of course, she is very happy with the little surprise we have prepared for her, but more presents are just about to come!

Wishing thanks in the Romanian language

Because my friends from South Korea have been learning same words and sayings in the Romanian language during our road trip, after the abundant meal, they thank my mother for all of the food and beautiful kindness in our language. It is a very sweet gesture coming from them.

Unfolding the Christmas presents: too many gifts!

The long awaited moment to open the numerous presents sitting for us at the bottom of the Christmas tree has finally arrived! The living room is filled with people unfolding the gifts. There is wrapping paper everywhere and lots of stuff that each of us gets among which are counted the all time present colorful and funny christmasy socks, plenty of chocolates, clothes, books and sketchbooks, fluffy blankets, cute mugs, jewellery and so many more.

For my two foreign friends I have screen printed on t-shirts an illustration representing “the hiker” or “the traveler”. They knew about the t-shirts which I am creating for my little shop and during our Erasmus mobility in Saarbrucken, they were always telling me that they want such t-shirts and now the time has come for them to have it. Besides these, I also give them other tiny and cute bookmarks created handmade by one of my good Romanian friends.

The thing is that I wanted to offer them only things that had been made – or partially – in Romania so that they can remember their entire journey even more beautifully also through the things they leave with from here.

On the other side, I get not a few presents, among which I find a cute sketchbook made in South Korea, wooden chop sticks, a painted tote bag, two pairs of earrings – which I was looking at and admiring in the Christmas markets we have been through during our road trip – lots of funny socks, a soft cozy blanket, a beautiful blouse and an emotional and sweet Christmas card.

One beautiful moment, one group photo together 

There are presents all of the living room. We share what we get with each other while giving appreciation for all of the little or big stuff we received. Because we are all together, we have to take a group photo to capture and remember this wonderful and special Christmas.

The third photo comes lucky and looks perfect. Here we are: my new foreign friends, my old good friends and my amazing members of the family. Oh, and, of course, the Christmas tree filled with lovely polaroid photographs of each of us.

Who can withstand a full round of Twister?

The energy coming from all of the food and sweet drinks has to go somewhere, so we start the Christmas party with dance and continue with the game Twister.

And now, imagine: how can 10 people play Twister together? In a crowded and funny way indeed and with lots of rules not being followed. Twister is definitely a game to have at parties because it gets the people moving and laughing a lot, so if a party is getting boring, bring the Twister in and the atmosphere would be saved and improved for sure.

More games and an amusing atmosphere

To take a rest after same difficult rounds of Twister, we move to another one, Jenga, a game where we don’t need to use our body that much, but rather our concentration and attention. Now, who will destroy the equilibrium of the wooden tower?

The Christmas evening ends up to be very funny and emotional as well. It has been a long time since I had so much fun during the Holidays. After more snacks, we are back in the games, but this time the girls are teaching us s few games they use to play in South Korea which are extremely entertaining to the point that our stomachs hurt of too many laughs.

Examples of games to play at students gatherings or parties 

One of it is called "The grandmas and the grandpas" in which we have to pretend that we are the grandmas and grandpas by curving our lips like we have no teeth. With our mouth like this we have to say from one to another, in a row, the body part that we like the most. The sounds and faces that we make during our attempt to say it right is tremendously funny and we literally can stop from laughing.

A different one is named "Bunny, bunny" and we have to make same repetitive fast gestures with our hands, but we completely failed at it, so we start playing "Towers". In this last game, each of receives the name of a tower, for exampe Tower 1, Tower 2, Tower 3 and so on according to the numbers of people joining the game.

Is very important that all of us need to remember the name of each person, the name of the tower. The first person says her name, for example Tower 1 and then "gives the connection" to another tower, let's say Tower 4, so the saying is something like this: "Tower 1 to Tower 4". The tower who gets the connection has to passes it forward away to the next tower and so on. If somebody mistakes the name of the tower which she gets the bundle from, than to her name is added another one representing a nickname such as "Tower 4 the bunny" from the person for which the connection was meant to be. The games goes on and on like this until everybody collects a vey funny and weird nickname with many words which are difficult to remember, but that's the amusing part of "Towers". 

The games I am writing about are worth trying during an Erasmus party or any student party because the atmosphere would get soothing and diverting for sure. 

The Christmas party is over and we have to say goodbye to each other soon

After the great and enjoyable Christmas party the chapter “Friends are visiting” comes sadly to an end. In the upcoming morning I have to give my two Erasmus friends a very huge hug because they need to return back in Germany. The time flies so fast when you are having fun especially in the company of same wonderful people.

Throughout their visit in Romania, we have been exploring in our road trip a plenty of beautiful locations, landmarks of the country, and then we had lots of fun during the evenings spend at my family’s hut.

"Friends are visiting" has to come to an end: the reasons behind this blog 

I choose to story tell all of the experience in the blog which I called “Friends are visiting” for two main reasons, one is to promote and share information about the worth or must visiting places in Romania and, one the other hand, my aim is maybe to give inspiration ( regarding the friendships and lovely relations that could result by being an Erasmus student) to the young students who are thinking about embarking on an Erasmus mobility but are not completely sure or motivated enough to do it.

Why my friends have visited me? How we have met?

Long story short, I met the two friends of mine from South Korea in Saarbrucken, Germany as I was attempting my exchange mobility. In August 2019 I returned in Romania, but my friends were supposed to remain in the german city for one more semester, thus, in autumn, I invited them to come in Romania to celebrate Christmas together and, of course, the invitation was nicely accepted, so after almost five months we got to see each other again but in a different surrounding.

Throughout their entire stay in my home country, I had a very strange feeling that I am in a dream and that my Erasmus mobility in Saarbrucken was either not over yet or it just continued. I lived with the sensation for about one week and, even if at times it was confusing for me to see them by my side in the streets of my country or in my parent’s house, the feeling didn’t bother me, but, instead, made me happy, hopeful and also thoughtful and melancholic.

Erasmus are about the people: will we ever meet again?

It was certainly not easy to say goodbye to my friends and even if we don’t know for sure when we will meet each other again, but the fact that we had this experience in Romania gives me a multitude of hope that such happening are possible and can exist in the future if we continue to communicate and care for the other.

Once I wrote an article titled “Erasmus are about the people” in which I describe more of these aspects in regards to the Erasmus mobility and my experience in the city of Saarbrucken. This is the end of the story “Friends are visiting” and I expect for a chapter two of it when I might be the friend who is visiting.

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