Thanksgivin' Missin'
TTMOAIUS
As this season of fall in France begins to near the end, several events are evidently missing—particularly the holidays Halloween and Thanksgiving. After thinking about the matter at hand, the realization dawned on me that Thanksgiving is strictly an American holiday.
Right about this time, another event displaced the thoughts of the holidays from my mind. Midterms, which had seemed so far away, appeared as if exploding from a pumpkin. As students began measuring their progress, two thoughts dominated everybody's minds.
“How far have I come and how far do I need to go?” Student life contains constant stress. This doesn’t change if you choose to study abroad, it’s just a different type of stress. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’m just going to reminisce on some things in America that made life a little bit less stressful that I would be very thankful for right now.
Speaking in a native language is a blessing. Though learning a new language is a fun and educational memory-making experience, this doesn’t mean that sometimes you just miss speaking to everybody in English. Easy communication with professors and fellow students can easily be taken for granted.
American food. French cuisine rates among the best food in the world-- for good reason. Chefs from all over the world go to Paris in order to master the style that has been famous for years, but high-quality European food does not feed the craving for a Waffle House at two in the morning nor does it feel the craving for other unhealthy but delicious American fast foods. It never really occurred to me how much I would miss being unhealthy.
It’s really easy to take a lot of things for granted. Speaking English and food are just the top two that I’ve been thinking about recently. However, when it comes down to it, there are so many things about France that I will miss when I come back to the United States. I’ll miss the language that I learned, the food they have and the friends that I’ve made. There are things to be thankful for everywhere both at home and abroad.
Alexander Nesmith is a shomore studying communication.