By Annie Wong
For Utahns, the Christmas season means piling on extra layers of clothes to keep warm. But for students who live in milder climates, December is a time to hit the waves and get a tan.
Stanford Webster, a business management major from New Zealand, said Australians and New Zealanders like to surf or barbeque on the beach for Christmas.
?Christmas is hot and stuffy there,? Webster said. ?You would find Santa sweating in his red and white clothes.?
Members of the Maori tribe in New Zealand also have a special Christmas tradition for barbequing pork called Hangi, Webster said. Hangi is a cooking method where baskets of pork are placed into a big hole underground and heated with hot rocks.
Spending warms nights barbequing for Christmas is commonplace for these students, so surprises came to them when they saw snow in December at BYU.
?I grew up hearing what white Christmas is, but had no idea how that really feels,? said Robert Le, a chemical engineering major from Sydney. ?It?s strange to me.?
While students from the southern hemisphere start to experience a seasonal flip-flop and feel the chill in this holiday season, Markus Gronlund, a freshman from Finland, said Utah?s Christmas is like fall to him.
?In Finland, snow doesn?t melt until summertime,? he said. ?Our white Christmas lasts for half a year.?
Since their winter is so long, Gronlund said the Finnish people devised unique ways to keep themselves warm.
?We go to the sauna for Christmas,? he said. ?That is very common in our country. Almost every household has one.?
Besides enjoying the sauna, the Finnish also experience emotional warmth from Santa. Unlike other parts of the world, Finland?s Santa doesn?t go down the chimney. He visits each family directly instead of filling their stockings and sneaking away before the children wake up.
?Santa always comes to each door and greets every one in person,? Gronlund said. ?Parents usually meet the Santa in advance and tell him what their children want for Christmas so he can address the children by name and seem to know them well.?
Gronlund said Santa Clause traditionally comes to visit them on Dec. 24 because his legendary ride begins in Finland. It takes him a day to travel around the world, explaining why other countries celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25.
However, sometimes celebrating Christmas is hard for some international students because home is too far away.
Alejandra Guerra, a junior from Chile, said her family tradition is to let the oldest child put the star on top of the Christmas tree. As the oldest child in her family, she said the Christmas tree is starless without her presence.
?Since my first Christmas I was the one in charge of putting the star on top of the tree,? Guerra said. ?My family hasn?t had the star on the tree for three years since I left home for college.?
Although Guerra can?t travel home for Christmas this year, she will spend the holiday with her cousin who is living with her. She said even though each culture celebrates Christmas differently, an American Christmas isn?t too foreign to her because essentially it is still about getting together with friends and family.