The holiday season is upon us, lights are going up, stores are playing Christmas music and there is lots of excitement in the air. For most people, December means home. However, for exchange students like me, it means something else entirely.
I’m Joaquina, from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I am living in the United States for one semester, and while these past months have been some of the happiest of my life, I can already feel that the holidays will be hard.
Back home, Dec. 24 means gathering with my entire family around a long table, someone dressing up as Santa Claus, little cousins running around and laughter so loud that you can barely hear the music. At midnight, we open presents, eat dessert and celebrate until the early morning.
Come New Year’s, it becomes one of my favorite nights of the year. In Argentina, it’s summer, so everyone’s outside. We have dinner, fireworks, music and the streets are filled with people greeting their neighbors and wishing them a “feliz año nuevo” (happy new year).
In my mom’s hometown, we even have a car parade full of honking and celebrating together. Far past midnight, my friends and I go dancing and watch the sunrise. The holiday is loud, chaotic and full of life. In other words, it’s the perfect way to start a new year.
But this year will be different. My host family is Jewish, so instead of Christmas or New Year’s, we’ll be celebrating Hanukkah.
While it’s worth savoring the new experience, I’ll still miss my favorite holidays. The noise, the food and the warmth of home. For me, these days have never been about the presents, but about the people. The familiar voices, the smell of food, the hugs that fill the night.
Here, in the U.S., December will be quieter. And yet, maybe in that silence, I’ll find another kind of meaning to hold onto.
Being an exchange student during the holidays is strange. You live between two worlds, the one that you come from and the one you’re slowly learning to call home. You scroll through photos of your friends back home celebrating together, and a part of you aches. But then, you look around and realize that even far away, you’re creating new memories too.
I’m not alone in this mix of emotions. Coralie Proksch, from Oberkotzau, Bavaria, Germany, will also celebrate Hanukkah with her host family. Proksch says, “I’m excited to experience something completely new,” seeing it as a chance to learn how other cultures celebrate togetherness.
Mirja Mari Vahi, from Torva, Estonia, has a different kind of excitement. “I really want to experience an American Christmas like in the movies,” she said. Back home, her celebrations are quieter, filled with dinner, family, Estonian foods and traditions.
Ukko Eho, from Riihimäki, Finland, mentions his sadness in being away during Christmas, because it’s his first time spending the holidays without his family. However, he’s looking forward to experiencing something new, such as a skiing trip to Idaho with his host family and making the most of this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Juliette Paulet, from Vichy, France, said she’ll “miss her big family dinners,” but she keeps a positive perspective. “It’s okay,” Paulet said. “This is one dream, just one year in my life. I’ll feel sad for a moment, but then I’ll enjoy it.”
“Even if it’s hard, we chose this. It’s scary, but we want to live it,” said Naya Delobel, from Lyon, France, who had similar thoughts to Paulet.
Agustin Romano, another exchange student from Argentina, more specifically Concordia, Entre Ríos, said, “The reason I made this exchange was to experience all these cultural differences. I want to see what Christmas is like here.”
That sentence really stuck with me. This is because he captured what we all feel, that mix of longing and curiosity that defines life abroad. We come from different corners of the world, France, Finland, Estonia, Germany, Argentina, but we share the same heartbeat beneath our stories. We’re all learning that home is not just a place, it’s a feeling that travels with you, even across oceans.
Being far from home during the holidays teaches you more than you expect. It makes you appreciate the noise, music, laughter you once took for granted, the food that only tastes right when your family cooks it and the hugs that are now miles away.
But it also teaches you to find warmth in unexpected places, in laughter around a different table, in the kindness of people who open their homes to you and in the quiet strength of realizing that you are growing, that you are changing and opening yourself to new possibilities.
Maybe that’s what the holiday season is truly about. Not the lights, not the gifts, but gratitude: for new places, new families and the courage it takes to find joy, even when you’re far from home.
