A Very Merry Expat Christmas

In all honesty I was expecting to spend the holidays wallowing in homesickness this year, but once again Bosnia blew any expectations I had out of the water, even my Christmas Eve was spectacular.

Christmas Eve started off terribly. Sarajevo has been blanketed in unprecedented amounts of smog for the past few day and on Christmas Eve the conditions were almost unbearable, which made going to school that day even harder. The school day wore on and I wasn't in the "holiday spirit", I had a paper due and biology lab and by the time I got to my last class of the day I was feeling less than cheerful. My last class was Geography, which is normally one of my favorites but I just wasn't feeling it that day. Due to a long biology lab I was running a little late to Geography, and I walked to class with the attitude that all I had to do was make it through one more period and then I could go home.

My smog selfie

Before opening the door I took a deep breathe and trudged in, but the sight I saw was not one of the average Geography class. There were cookies and Coca-Cola bottles everywhere, and Christmas carols were playing. I was awestruck. What was happening? Then I heard my geography classmates yell "MERRY CHRISTMAS EMMA!" and it hit me. MY GEOGRAPHY CLASS HAD THROWN THE AMERICANS A CHRISTMAS PARTY! OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD! My teacher welcomed me inside and steered me towards a plate of cookies. The cookies had been decorated so that they spelled out "Emma", I'm not ashamed to say that my eyes welled up with tears, it was one of the sweetest things anyone had ever done for me. Also, giving me food is the fastest way into my heart. My geography class is absolutely the best.

The plate of cookies my class made me!

Our wonderful class!

Later in the evening I headed back out into the smog to go to dinner with one of the other Americans, Sarah. We went to her host aunt's house and hung out there with her family until about 10 pm in the evening. After we walked to a big Cathedral in the center of Sarajevo to see it all lit up and decorated for the midnight mass with the other Americans and then Sarah and I went back to her house and called it a night.

The inside of the Cathedral

The next morning, Christmas Day, we woke up and exchanged gifts. Her host parents also got me a gift which I thought was very sweet of them! After some breakfast we took a walk up to Bijela Tabija (a large fortress overlooking Sarajevo) to see the view because the smog was all gone and the air was totally clear! Then Sarah and I parted ways and I went home to Skype my family. Merry Christmas everyone! Sretan božić svakome! I hope your holiday season was as wonderful as mine was.