Submitted by Melody Taylor on the 2013 fall semester program in London, England…
It is a strange feeling living in a country where they do not celebrate a holiday that is so entwined in your own culture. Walking around the streets, everyone is going about their day-to-day lives. Halloween is not a very British holiday, but it is slowly growing in popularity. I remember seeing little children dressed up, and a couple of young adults using the holiday as an excuse to dress up and go to the pub. There was a slight array of Halloween merchandise in select stores. However, Thanksgiving in London is completely different, because it is an American holiday. When you are used to having the day off, watching the Macy’s Day Parade in NYC, eating a giant meal of turkey, and being thankful for the friends and family in your life, it is odd when it does not happen and life continues as normal.
At CAPA, they do not cancel classes, but they do host a Thanksgiving meal for everyone to attend if they desire. This year it was located at the Holiday Inn at Regent’s Park. It was an amazing night filled with a three-course meal with only slight differences to the traditional Thanksgiving menu. There was also a pub quiz focusing on difference aspects of Britain to see how much we absorbed. Sadly, at my table, we must not have absorbed enough over the past three months, because we only came in 4th. I am so thankful CAPA gave us the opportunity to have a Thanksgiving meal, and to be surrounded by all the new people in my life I am so thankful for now, and to remind me of how thankful I am to be in London. Even though I missed my traditional Thanksgiving day in America, it was just as wonderful in England.
