Freezing mornings with only seven degrees, falling leaves and today’s blogpost beginning with a weather-description. It is undeniable: we are going to reflect on the changing of the seasons today — and everything that comes with them. The Pumpkin Spiced Lattes are soon gonna be replaced by some obnoxious and utterly sweet other coffee-variation at Starbucks and that one friend starts tagging you in Christmas-song-season-memes on Facebook. Obviously, I’m head over heels in love with it. Mainly, because I am one of those people craving for Peanut-Candy-Cane-Toffee-Fudge Latte (or however Starbucks calls its new winter-season drink) and tagging people on Christmas-song-memes. But yet, evolving from autumn- to winter season can be tough, even for a very basic Christmas fan like me.

Because my skin-type could be best described as ‘almost melanin-free’, I am a huge fan of both autumn and winter, where going out does not involve using half a bottle of sunscreen every single day. And both seasons have their very own beauty (besides not getting burned). There is Halloween fun on one side and Christmas enthusiasm on another. I could go on for hours weighing pumpkins against Christmas lights. Or falling leaves and rainy weekends spent in lovely cafés against walks in the snow with a hot cocoa waiting at home.

As November goes on, it is definitely time to admit that the Christmas season is slowly approaching. A thing I am generally fond of. Mainly, because it involves the socially acceptable playing of Christmas songs and previously mentioned obnoxious Starbucks-drinks following the Pumpkin Spice Latte. But it also means wrapping your head around another thing: The Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack, a clear Halloween classic, is not going to dominate my playlist anymore. Mariah Carey is taking over. And a part of me is not ready.

After obsessing for years about the music, I finally watched the movie for the first time this Halloween. Since then, the iconic songs have been constantly playing and I still relate to the lines ‘Whatever happened to Saturday night, when you dressed up sharp and you felt alright‘ from Hot Patootie – Bless My Soul on a spiritual level (exam-season). But we are getting into a transaction mode and soon enough, Santa Clause Is Coming To Town. Life is about moving on — and that can be dramatic, but sometimes it just means rolling out the Spotify Christmas playlist, until it is again time for Science Fiction/Double Feature, because Dammit Janet, we are going to do the Time Warp again next year.

Every two weeks, Antonia will add the songs she writes about to the Spotify playlist below. This way, she creates a soundtrack to her time in Nijmegen. Click left and right for more songs.