Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for many things.  I'm thankful for the position in life I was born into, I'm thankful for the schools I've had the opportunity to attend, I'm thankful for my family and friends (as cliched as that is), and I'm thankful for the amazing city I live in.  I'm also thankful for Star Wars, but that's not quite the point.

Celebrating Thanksgiving in a country other than the US is a singular experience.  For one thing, I don't get any sort of break or days off, meaning it feels almost like every other day.  For another, no one around you is paying any sort of attention to it unless they're also from the US, making it seem like it's this secret thing that only a few people know about-- which, in a way, it is.

NYU organized a Thanksgiving dinner for all the students, scheduled to start at 8 PM, a truly French mealtime.  I actually didn't end up going, so I can't speak for how the food was, but it was promised to be "Thanksgiving a la Francaise," and though I'm sure it was delicious, it seemed like something was going to be missing.

One of my friends' family lives here in Paris, working for the US Embassy.  They invited me over for Thanksgiving dinner, American-style, and I am so grateful to them for everything.  The food was delicious, and they even sent me home with extra pie, but the real thing they offered me was hospitality and a home to go to on a day marked by spending time with family.  We sat around a table and talked with their neighbors and friends, and I felt just as welcome there as I do at every Thanksgiving at home with my own family.

I FaceTimed with my family and all their various guests when I got home from dinner, stuffed to bursting, though still missing being home.  When they talk about studying abroad, no one ever says how you'll miss home when all your friends are on break and your family is celebrating holidays and you're stuck across the ocean.  Technology helps enormously-- being able to talk to people in real time and see their faces even though they're halfway across the world is an amazing thing that I am so thankful for.

I'm also so grateful I was able to spend yesterday with a group of wonderful people who made me feel at home in a country where I am very much a foreigner.  It was a strange Thanksgiving, but a good one-- still filled with family and love and thanks.  And isn't that all that really matters?

Katrina