Christmas Madness

Today, January 6th, marks the end of this year's Christmas Time. That's too bad because it means college starts again tomorrow and I'm not thrilled by the prospect of getting up at 7:30 a.m. partly because the holidays haven't been that relaxing for me.

The Christmas Madness started the week before the big day, when I discovered thad I had less than a week to buy all the presents. I spent hours in downtown Graz and in several malls trying to find nice and somewhat suitable gifts for my friends and family. Whenever I thought I was done, somebody I had forgotten came to my mind and the next day I was off again on the present-hunt. Needless to say that the stores were crowded as hell, since the whole town seemed to be doing some last-minute Christmas shopping.

On Sunday, December 23rd, I went home to Upper-Austria. I arrived in the late afternoon and spent the rest of the day wrapping all the presents I had gathered the week before.
The next day I went to my parents' house right in the morning. It took us most of the day to decorate the tree and the house until we finally gathered under the tree at around 6 p.m. Afterwards some relatives came by to visit us, which is usually exhausting rather than delighting.

December 25th is my birthday. My boyfriend's gift for me was a two-day skiing-trip to Schladming. It was the best gift I got and I was really excited about it, because skiing is the only sport I do voluntarily, except for swimming maybe.

Thursday and Friday were two of my far-too-few relax days. On Saturday I celebrated my birthday with my friends from high-school. Hours of celebrating (and drinking of course) with my best friends and encounters with my very favorite colleagues left me completely and utterly wasted and therefore I spent the whole Sunday in bed with a headache to give me company.

New Year's Eve we spent in a little hut, that belongs to my boyfriend's relatives, together with some friends. No internet up there and hardly a phone signal. But I had a few quiet hours there, because all the others hiked up to a bigger hut which of course I wasn't interested in taking part in. I'm far too lazy for something like that.

On January first we decided to have lunch together which effectively ended at 5 p.m. The next day we went to a spa in order to relax from the hardships of constant celebration - much to my liking!

On Thursday I didn't really do anything either. I was busy enjoying not having to go anywhere or engage in any activities, so I basically spent the day with a book and the TV remote control.
Friday evening my godmother was due to visit me and therefore I had to spend the afternoon in search of a late Christmas-present for her.
Saturday was more pleasant by far, because I was with my best friend for most of the day.
Sunday on the other hand turned out to be less pleasant, since I finally remembered that I had actually planned to get some work for the university done and to start studying for my upcoming exams. But as you can plainly see from above there was absolutely no time for that.

I'll pack up my stuff now, because my train back to Graz leaves in less than an hour. My first course tomorrow starts at 8:15 a.m. so I don't want to arrive home too late. Although a part of me is glad that the Christmas (and Birthday) madness is over now, I feel mostly sorry that the holidays have passed so quickly.