Top Ten Ideas for New Holidays When Abroad

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Top Ten Ideas for New Holidays When Abroad

It can get lonely when you’re abroad, especially when you’re in a country that’s still unfamiliar to you and it’s the holiday time. But when you start to look for ways to make your new home, well, a home, you can start to see a new sort of joy in your new location.

Here are ten ways that you can start to make your holidays new and even more special than before:

1. Have family and friends out – While not everyone can afford this, it might make a wonderful holiday present to you and to them if you help to fly someone out to see you. Just a few days can make a lot of homesickness go away.
2. Try to call one family member a day – By taking the time to call everyone that you want to wish a happy holiday, you will find that you’re not feeling as lonesome as you were, and your family gets to hear all about your new life.
3. Find out what the local community is doing – When you start to immerse yourself in the local activities for the holiday, you will find out what’s special to everyone and what that might mean for your new traditions.
4. Learn about the local religion – And find out how they celebrate the holiday season. Even if you’re not that faith, there’s nothing wrong with learning about what others believe in. You might find that it resonates with you.
5. Go to a holiday mass – When you go to someone else’s place of worship, you can find out more about who they are as a people. And the sense of community might be just what you need to get in the spirit.
6. Celebrate your regular holidays – Try to find out the times of services or gatherings that you would be attending and then celebrate at the same time in your new home. It builds a sense of connection and continuity.
7. Learn one new tradition – For every holiday, you should try to learn and practice one new tradition. Even if it doesn’t work out for you, you can always learn a new one the following year.
8. Explore your home – Too often you can shutter yourself in during the holidays when you’re not feeling especially joyous. Instead, get out and move around during the holiday to remember why you moved and what about the move makes you happy.
9. Take pictures – When you start to document your new holidays, you will see things in them that you didn’t realize. After looking back on the pictures or even a video, you can see what made that time special.
10. Realize that things will be different – You moved because you wanted a change, right? The holidays will be challenging at first, but once you start to realize all that you have gained, you won’t focus so much on what you feel that you have lost.