Weddings, celebrations, conferences… and no scorching heat. Those are some of the reasons why many Pakistani students who are studying abroad choose to come home during the winter.

"There’s always so much going on in the winter. And it’s a much shorter time, so you interact with people more," says Kulsum Ebrahim, a student from Karachi who is in her third year at Pomona College in California.

There are always a lot of events in the winter, and the obvious explanation is that it’s simply too hot to have them in the summer. But maybe there are other reasons too. After all, cold brings people together. Nobody in his or her right mind huddles for warmth in the summer.

Noorzadeh Raja, who studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, agrees. "There are so many weddings and so much to do."

In most of the West, the weather is especially cold, dark, and dreary in the winter. I remember when I used to live in Massachussetts, how gloomy things would get in December. It seemed like the only thing that kept people going was the spirit of the holiday season, which in America lasts from Halloween in October to Thanksgiving in November through New Year in January. These are the times when families in America come together and meet each other to eat and socialise. In fact, people eat so much that there are special diets to control holiday weight gain, and you see articles in every tabloid about how to avoid the "holiday 15".

Pakistani students who study abroad bring some of that experience home during these months.

"I’ve been overdosing on food since I’ve been here," Kulsum says.

But eating a lot of food is not the only thing about the holiday season that we’re adopting. After all, we eat a lot as it is. These days, we also participate in some of the other aspects of this now global "season". People dress up in costumes for Halloween, and some even have Thanksgiving dinners. You see lights and sometimes Christmas trees. Decades of watching American movies has had an effect.

The Internet has accelerated this process of bringing foreign culture to Pakistan, but it helps students studying abroad stay in touch with their own country too. Students in any country can watch Pakistani movies and videos, and listen to Pakistani music. Most importantly, they can communicate with their friends and family in Pakistan even when they’re not here.

Says Shahmeen Imran, who studies at the University of Pennsylvania: "It’s much easier to keep in touch now, with Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook. You get to see the faces of your friends and family and have an update on what they’re doing, even if you don’t have a chance talk to them."

I don’t think it’s an accident that the western holiday season happens in the winter. Christmas is basically a European holiday, based on the Roman winter festival of Saturnalia. Winters are long and cold in most of Europe, so people have to come together.

The winter is not traditionally a big holiday season in Pakistan, but cold, short days and long nights facilitate sitting in front of the proverbial fireplace (or gas heater) and talking and reminiscing, no matter where you are. Whether one is drinking eggnog or eating dood jalebi, in many ways the experience of winter evenings is similar: they bring people together.