Меня зовут Рози, и мне 21 год и я из города Бристола на юго-западе Англии. Я студентка в университете Дарема в третом курсе и я изучаю русский язык и арабский язык. Я выбрала изучать эти языки потому, что я очень интересуюсь политикой и историей и Ближный Восток и Россия богаты в этими сферами. Мне особенно нравится изучать о советском эпохе потому, что образ жизни тогда был очень разный от Англии сейчас.
В свободном времени мне нравится заниматся спортом, и в Англии я играю в футбол, хоккей (с мячом) и ругби и теннис летом. Я из активной семьи, поэтому я часто гуляю в деревне или в горах когда я на каникулах. Также мне нравится читать, готовить (особенно торт и печение) и проводить время с друзми и семьей.
Christmas is one of my favourite times of the year because it is a chance to spend time with family and close friends, something which is increasingly difficult as I get older and am not at home. Every year about a week before Christmas day, my dad, brother and sister and I go to a forest where you are allowed to cut down your own Christmas tree. We normally choose one which is far too big for our living room, and have to cut the bottom off when we get back home. Then we spend the afternoon listening to Christmas music and decorating the tree with lights and decorations that we have collected or made over the years.
On the week running up to Christmas I always have a Christmas meal with my school friends, where we eat too much food and give each other presents. It is a great tradition and we each bring a different part of the meal so that one person does not have all the work to do. Also in this week, we make mince pies, gingerbread men and other Christmassy food and drink mulled wine. Sometimes my family will join up with family friends and we go carol singing around the local area to collect money for charity. It is also mandatory in my house to watch the film Love Actually in the week running up to Christmas!
On Christmas day itself we normally have family staying at our house, or we are staying at the house of one of our family members. If we are at home, we wake up early in the morning and go and see what presents are in our stockings, which lie next to the fireplace in the living room (we don’t have them in our rooms because I was afraid of Father Christmas when I was small!). After breakfast we go to church where we sing lots of carols and there is always a small nativity play. We normally have a long dog walk in the day with our family, so that we feel like we deserve the large Christmas dinner in the evening! When we come back we all help prepare the Christmas dinner, peeling potatoes, washing the Brussel sprouts ect. then get changed into our more smart clothes whilst it is all in the oven. Then we eat! There is a large turkey, roast potatoes, bread sauce, cranberry sauce, carrots, parsnips, stuffing, gravy and of course Brussel sprouts. My uncle hates eating Brussel sprouts but we always make him eat one. After the main meal we pull our crackers so we can wear our hats and read a joke before pudding. For pudding we have Christmas pudding, which my mum sets on fire just as she puts it on the table. I always hope that I get the 20p in my helping as it means good luck!
After the meal we play games together like charades, Pictionary and we have a Christmas quiz. Everyone is jolly and happy!