Thanksgiving Here. Thanksgiving There.

Last year at this time I was in England. Experiencing Thanksgiving (or the lack thereof) in another country is very interesting. For the entire week I explained the significance of the holiday to my friends from different countries

The week of Thanksgiving a girl from the church I attended asked me to help with a Thanksgiving party for some of the exchange students mostly from Asia. Some Exeter students and exchange students gathered at the church and an English student who had studied abroad in Texas led a presentation on his experiences and what Thanksgiving in America was like. The night also included games and trivia about different Thanksgiving facts and traditions. It was funny seeing how things as simple as “What is a cornucopia?” could be puzzling.

On Thanksgiving Day the university gave people the chance to buy tickets for an American Thanksgiving lunch. So during my break from classes, the other USM student Dan, I, and our two friends from Brazil ate the lunch, which was turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and cheesecake for dessert. It was surprisingly a very good effort for a Thanksgiving dinner meal. Later that day a restaurant on campus also offered its own version of Thanksgiving food, which was really just a grilled chicken sandwich with cranberry sauce. Though I didn’t get the official Thanksgiving meal I expected, it was great to sit with a close friend and listen to the live music.

Honestly, in the days leading to Thanksgiving I was extremely sad about missing out on celebrating with my family and having to go to class while everyone at home was on a break. But, once I began experiencing the day with people from all of the world it was a very special way to celebrate the day and I really enjoyed getting to share a piece of my culture with them.