1. Two parents and a sister who completely accept me as I am, quirks and all.
2. The opportunity to spend a semester in FRANCE.
3. A french family and french siblings who are so much fun to interact with.
4. My new friends who are completely in sync with me.
5. Family who loves me enough to send a microwavable Thanksgiving meal all the way to Nantes!
I just spent my first Thanksgiving in France, and even though I missed out on stuffing my face with all of my family, I am surprisingly content with the celebration here. I did not remember how important Thanksgiving really was until tonight when I missed it. While I enjoyed my evening here, I also realized that it was just a fun evening and not actually Thanksgiving. The real Thanksgiving is more than just food and family; it is the feeling of being home, the feeling of eating two plates stacked high with turkey and then eating another serving of every side to make sure I am completely full, the feeling of sitting on the couch with my family watching the football game.
There was a celebration tonight where all the IES students and their host families ate a special dinner and enjoyed conversations together. The meal consisted of a very salty salmon salad, turkey, baby potato spheres, chestnuts, and about 20 individual cranberries. As a meal, it was very tasty and the portions were more generous than French meals in general, but it still was not thanksgiving. For dessert we ate a cube of chocolate layered cake and a slice of pumpkin pie which tasted good enough but had an almost neon orange color. I really missed mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green beans, stuffing, and frozen fruit salad. I also miss the feeling of being a few slices of pie too full and having thanksgiving food for every meal for days after the big feast. However, even if I had been served a heaping plate of stuffing and turkey, I do not think it would have completely felt like Thanksgiving. Minus the lack of real thanksgiving food, I was really happy to be spending Thanksgiving with all my new friends and my host dad (This gathering with both students and host families was a very good idea. Our host parents now know that we actually have personalities and a sense of humor! It is hard to show your real personality with such a limited vocabulary and even harder to understand subtle humor in another language, so tonight they saw our interactions with each other where a personality actually exists). It is nice to be in France and feel completely comfortable with everyone, that we all have this common desire to reproduce Thanksgiving in our new home.
The best part of the night was the talent show. The entertainment started off with a traditional hula dance (bare foot and in the middle of the restaurant) by three girls from Hawaii. It was rediculously perfect for our thanksgiving in France. After a few solo musical performances, a group of six students with two guitars and a mandolin started playing Wagon Wheel and I almost melted. I could hardly help myself from turning the performance into a sing-along. It felt so much like home and I could only imagine playing it and singing with my sister in our little music knook upsairs. It was the perfect song to evoke those familiar home-and-family feelings that I needed. They also played a popular french song which literally did become a sing-along with everyone in the restaurant.
So it was not a traditional Thanksgiving in Nantes, but I at least got to wear my fancy suit! The best news is that France completely celebrates Christmas, and Nantes is already almost completely decorated with lights in all the streets. Also, it is going to snow next week! I am going to make snow angels in FRANCE!
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