Living in a city right out of a Christmas movie.

In the past 3 years, Zagreb has become a famous for advent, by being named “Best-Christmas-Market” 2016, 2017 and 2018. That makes the whole city drastically change once December is nearing. It literally becomes a Christmas movie set. Apparently, advent quite a huge deal here- as if it isn’t everywhere in the world.

Just like that, during December, whether you like it or not, you’ll be surrounded by endless food and decorations. Which brings me to my main point. On the one hand, you have a huge variety of street food that you normally don’t have access to. On the other hand, you want to live your life normally and not have to spend all of your money on it. Sure, I don’t mind trying a few things. Furthermore, I really want to try everything! The problem is, that this activity shouldn’t be something daily. Otherwise, I’ll be broke in no time!

Another great plus to living here during this period, is the overall mood of the city. You can always hear some sort of music playing in the back, christmas lights are lighting up even the darkest streets, everyone seems happier in general. And of course, everyone goes out more. I understand them, I’m also out of the house more than average. During this period there’s an infinite amount of manifestations and events plus, you have to buy gifts for everyone which takes a lot of time and effort! Also, there’s more tourists than usual. As a resident here, you’re constantly stuck in crowds. Which to be honest, kind of sucks- no one wants to be in a tram for 50 minutes but it’s inevitable!

So what can we do if we’re stuck in such a situation? First of all, comes understanding. We all keep getting pissed off and grumpy about the tiniest things during this time of the year however, what we fail to understand is that everyone is like this. We’re all a bit more stressed than usual and at the end of the day, we all just want to have a good time!

Therefore, what you can do this Christmas, is try to be understanding and patient. The more you respect others and their time, the more they will respect yours. Just try to have as much fun as you can (while staying on budget)!