I just had a very cool experience! I was worried that I wouldn't get to have much of a Thanksgiving experience today, but BOY was I wrong!!! :)

Tonight ended up being one of the most interesting Thanksgivings yet! I went to the kitchen and joined a mad cooking spree for several hours. Some of my friends had bought a mountain of food at Billa today. I helped bake rolls, make mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey, ham with pineapple glaze, homemade applesauce, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, peas and carrots, salads, gravy, apple strudel, and soooo much more! Me, Christine, Gabby, Amber, Julian, Andy, Judah, and several other people cooked up a storm, and by the time 6 o'clock rolled around.... we had a FEAST that my Meem would be proud of!

Christine had already invited a lot of our Erasmus friends to dinner, and we all just chipped in to pay for the food. In total, we had 28 people of 12 different nationalities around our Thanksgiving table! It was so incredible. We even got to say a little prayer before we ate. :) I just kept thinking, now THIS is what the melting pot that I like to call America is really about! The pilgrims would be proud!!!

The dinner ended up being absolutely wonderful. We explained what the tradition of Thanksgiving actually was all about, and even got to show all of the foreigners a true breaking of a wishbone!!! It was so funny! -- One of the best parts was all of the Non-Americans' reactions to Stove Top Stuffing. Our friend Gabby from Australia just leaned over the stove while Amber was mixing it and said in her Aussie accent, ''So it just.... comes out like that? That is amazing!'' The stove top was probably the biggest hit of the night.

I am very thankful for my first (and very successful) international Thanksgiving meal! I will never forget it.