As I write, the first Christmas tree in Shepherds bush is twinkling on the street outside and a never-ending conga line of shoppers stream in and out of the Westfield shopping centre. As late november drifts into December there will be a mounting sense of excitement as the big day approaches. there will be more parties, people on the street in silly Santa suits and a general air of goodwill which we like to call The Christmas Spirit…

However, if you’re spending your first Christmas away from your family in a foreign country, Yuletide  can be a terribly lonely time and you may feel desperately homesick… There are, howewver, one or two things that you can do to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative this holiday season.

Number one: whatever you do , don’t go shopping on Oxford Street! don’t get me wrong; while a lot of people claim that London’s central shopping thoroughfare has gone downmarket in recent years, it is still one of the finest streets in Europe for anyone who is gifthunting. The only problem is that it is ridiculously crowded and it literally is a battle to go from one end to the other, with people’s heavy shopping bags bashing against you and their umbrellas poking you in the eye. Personally, I always do my shopping on High Street kensington, which also has a great variety of shops but is far less congested with frantic shoppers.

Secondly, and most importantly,  whether Christmas Day or New Year’s Eve is the day most traditionally celebrated in your country,start making arrangements for the big day now. Put a post on the English Studio Forum and start getting people together, because if you leave it to the last minute you could end up spending the day alone and that would be terrible.

so go and get organising and may I be the first person this year to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

Mike

This entry was posted on Friday, November 28th, 2008 at 9:40 am and is filed under The English Studio news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.