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Up until the age of twenty-five, I had never been outside of Australia. I had never even seen snow. My knowledge of foreign countries was quite limited even up until a couple of years ago, however it all seemed to take a fairly rapid turn once I met my current partner. He was born in Australia, however his parents were both from Poland. As a young child, he lived in a home with just his mother and grandmother, after his parents seperated. The only language his grandmother knew was Polish, therefore even though he was almost as Australian as I am, his first language had not been English.

As a child, I always wanted to travel. Egypt had always been a country that held great fascination for me. I knew one day I would go there, but when, that still remains undecided. Up until the time I had met my partner, African countries appealed to me and I had given little consideration for other parts of the world. However, hearing his stories of his past trips to Europe, suddenly I was hooked. Europe was the place I wanted to go first. His descriptions of Italy soon had that on top of my must see list, followed closely by a place neither of us had any connection with. France.

A few years ago, my partner's family decided they wanted a white Christmas in Poland. They begun planning the holiday and although I was impatiant to experience the world by this time, we agreed to wait and go with them, to give him an opportunity for a big family reuninion in Poland and a white Christmas for us both.

In December 2008, after much planning and anticipation, my first foreign holiday finally became reality. We said our goodbyes to my family, as difficult as it was knowing I would not see them this Christmas. They wished us much love and adventure and we boarded our plane for France. Somehow along the way we had turned this white Polish Christmas into a snapshot of Europe, which I was very excited about.

We spent a week exploring Paris. My first few days were heavily affected by jet lag. Falling asleep in a Paris resturant and again on a boat trip down the Seine. But those first few days were also go, go, go. Paris was amazing. We did most of the clique tourist things. Climbed the Eiffel Tower, ate bagettes, and enjoyed fine wine and cheese. Then we boared a plane for Germany. Here we saw amazing country side and magestic castles. We enjoyed endless bratwurst and the boys all consumed their weight in beer. We saw real snow also, as Paris had not yet been touched with the winter white. Then finally, our time came to make our way to Poland.

Firstly we spent Christmas and New Years in Zakopane. It is known for it's ski facilities and winter sports. We tried snowboarding and failed miserably. Toboganing with more luck. And ate ourselves silly. Each day there was a feast for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There was drinking all the time, with vodka going like water. And most of all, it was a white Christmas. We spent Christmas afternoon playing in the snow, throwing snowballs and diving into piles of white. It was an experience never to be forgotten.

So here we are, back home for two months now and still I miss the amazing culture shock of being overseas. Our next trip is in planning, however when it happens I do not know. It may be years away, but I do know we will be seeing Italy and perhaps returning to some of the places we visited on our first trip together. Afterall, places are different without snow. Imagine Paris by night in summer. Might be a perfect honeymoon destination.

Learn more about this author, Holly Rogers.
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