THis weekend was Thanksgiving weekend, marking something most Americans are skeptical about, but it is a good excuse to have a 4 day weekend.

Aoife and I were invited to our next door neighbour, Kate's house. So on Wednesday a friend of hers gave us a lift from O'Hare Airport to Madison Wisconsin. The train ride to o'Hare was dreadful as half the city began to leave to travel to visit family. When we found the car at the airport the traffic was unbelievable and about half way there the snow started - the equivalent of a Northern irish b;lizzard. The weather channel was predicting 6-12 inches but in the end we had about 3 inches, which fell in the 3 hours we were driving.

We stopped along the way at a fast food place called Culvers which is famous for its frozen custard. Wisconsin is known as the Dairy state adn therefore it very proud of all its dairy products.The custard was surprisingly good - although not as good as Graham's!!

Kates family live in a really nice house in a town called Cross plains with a population of about 3000. She has a sister also called Sara who was kicked out for the weekend so Aoife and I could stay! Kate's Grandmother had cooked us a wonderful dinner - the first homecooked meal in a few weeks, which was a real treat!

Thursday was Thanksgiving. The snow was still lying, and it was icy cold outside. We took a drive to Kate's grandparents where Aoife and I could only resist the snow for so long before we just had to go out and play. Sadly our snowman building technique needed a little more work because he didnt grow above about 6 inches!! However it was great fun!

Back at the house the turkey was cooking. The traditional thanksgiving activity is watching the football, so for the first time I saw about half a football game - I still have no idea what went on but the Green Bay Packers (a Wisconsin team) won and so everyone was happy! There were about 20 relatives visiting for the day and so the house was packed. It is kind of like Christmas with lots of food and family, just no presents.

The turkey was delicious, as were the mashed potatoes and all the food. There were Yams(sweet potato caserole), green bean casserole, stuffing, turkey and more. After we had both Apple and Pumpkin pies which were both fabulous. It was then back to the football while clearing the kitchen and storing leftovers - which was easily done by leaving them outside because it was so cold.

The day after Thanksgiving is also known as Black Friday and is similar to boxing day sales, with every shop opening at 4/5 am and selling stuff at greatly reduced prices. We skipped the early morning shopping and instead went to the University of Wisconsin which is beautiful and enormous, and then Madison centre where they have the Capitol building. We took a self guided tour of the building which is incredibly ornate and has marble from 46 countries inside. We also stroked the Badger which is the animal of Wisconsin, and apparently gives us luck!!

We then headed to a few cute shops before lunch, where Aoife and I were treated to cheese curds, another Wisconsin delicacy, which were deep fried and very tasty! Next we headed to some of the shops which were in complete disarray and packed with people.

On Saturday we visited kate's other set of grandparents who were also lovely and had a great chat with them. Kate's parents drove us back to Chicago, which took only 3 hours this time, which was amazing in comparison to the journey up.

We had a fantastic weekend and everybody we met was so friendly and welcoming. It was a great way to relax and unwind before the big push for the exams in 2 weeks. I may not write much for the next month as I am going to have to get my head down and study, but I really enjoy getting emails from everyone keeping me up to date on what is going on at home.