{"id":121365,"date":"2020-12-18T11:54:57","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T10:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=121365"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:25:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:25:19","slug":"svenja-celebrates-christmas-in-germany-without-gluhwein-and-candied-almonds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2020\/12\/18\/svenja-celebrates-christmas-in-germany-without-gluhwein-and-candied-almonds\/","title":{"rendered":"Svenja celebrates Christmas in Germany without gl\u00fchwein and candied almonds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe take Christmas very seriously in Germany. Christmas markets play a huge role for us,\u201d says Svenja Hessberg, emphasising the word \u2018huge\u2019. Christmas markets have been cancelled, so she will have to do without the stalls selling gl\u00fchwein and candied almonds. So far, she hasn\u2019t had much success making them herself.<\/p>\n

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Svenja Hessberg in her Rotterdam room.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAysha Gasanova<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

\u201cYeah, this place is such a shipwreck. But this shipwreck, it is mine\u201d, Svenja quotes from a song Neck Deep<\/em><\/a> when she discusses her home town of Meinerzhagen, an hour\u2019s drive from Cologne. She was so keen to leave and now that she\u2019s back, she feels as if she has never left. \u201cBut if does feel different. Not like I\u2019ll be going back to secondary school. Not having to cook everyday also feels like a holiday.\u201d Germany is in lockdown too, but Svenja had gone back already for a dentist\u2019s appointment. She is concerned about local business owners who are suffering. \u201cIf all those lovely small businesses go bankrupt, there\u2019ll be nothing left in this village for young people. They will then be even more eager to leave than I was.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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