Another Thanksgiving abroad
A nice quote from Sarah Vowell from episode 174 of the charming radio programme, This American Life.
It is curious that we Americans have a holiday—Thanksgiving—that’s all about people who left their homes for a life of their own choosing, a life that was different from their parents lives. And how do we celebrate it? By hanging out with our parents.
It’s as if on theh 4th of July we honored our independence from the British by playing cricket and nibbling on crumpets.
Last year I spent Thanksgiving with friends at a reception in Cambridge (pt 1, pt 2). This year I’ll be on a research trip during the `last uncommercialised American holiday,’ so Thanksgiving will be rather low-key.
On the other hand, I learned Fortran 95 over the weekend and have been frantically trying to finish up a program before my adviser returns. At least I’ll be spending the holiday doing something productive — which is definitely something to be thankful for!
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
A special warm Thanksgiving wish to those American students abroad and to international students experiencing Thanksgiving in the US.
A second special warm Thanksgiving wish to all those graduate students who are spending the Thanksgiving break on-campus and close to research. I know many of you will be going back to lab to check on experiments after Thanksgiving dinner, to do the research that you’re underpaid for but that you love so much that you would still do even you were unpaid. And to all of you, I offer extra warm wishes.
Filed under: Expatriate Life, Just for Fun | 1 Comment
Flip Tomato
I'm a postgraduate, expatriate physics student. RSS Feed.
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An American Physics Student in England 
Here’s a picture of my delicious thanksgiving dinner!