Thanksgiving!

I have the most awesome set of friends on my basketball team ever! I am one of only two Americans on the team and they all agreed to help create and participate in a Thanksgiving dinner for us lone Americans! It wasn't exactly like mom's Turkey day feast but we had roast chicken, veggies, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, apple pie, crumble, and custard! I will admit I've never really participated in the creation of a Thanksgiving feast-- its always been left up to my mom and aunts, so it was a bit of an adventure, but it turned out fabulously. We chose to have chicken instead of turkey because a big turkey wouldn't fit into the ovens they put in student residences, and you can see from the pictures that we served the meal and ate it like proper college students.. on the floor around a living room table, but it served its purpose and if nothing else, made me feel loved. The other American and I shared with the team what we knew about the history of Thanksgiving and what our "traditional Thanksgiving" at home would look like. One of my traditions I shared was that my family goes around before we eat and says what we're each individually thankful for, so of course the girls agreed that it would only be appropriate for us to each share something. I shared with the group that I felt exceptionally thankful this year for the opportunity to study in Swansea, and that being away from home on a more family-oriented holiday was hard, but that I felt exceptionally thankful to have met and made friends with this group of girls. I will admit that our basketball team is not the best basketball team on the planet, we have a long way to go, but most of my closest friends I am making here are from the team. We hang out outside of basketball-- classes, studying, eating, social events, movies, just hanging out, and now we've even shared a holiday!

I hope everyone at home had a great Thanksgiving! Thank you to everyone who has contributed to helping me be in Swansea this year-- I really appreciate it!