Hi,

Buon Ringraziamente! (that means Happy Thanksgiving...if I remember right.)

Today is a good day. They started to put up the Christmas lights that hang all over the streets here. Word on the street is that there's going to be a giant Christmas tree going up in Piazza XXIV Novembre, our main square, too. I love, love, love Christmas decorations. Also, there is this woodsmoke hanging in the air, which is most likely due to some natural disaster, but feels pretty festive to me.

I'm a little bummed about missing Thanksgiving. I like Thanksgiving. Obviously.

But we are making our own dinner. Right now, my roommate Kirsten's friend Helen is in our kitchen doing god-knows-what. When I walked in around 3pm, she was banging on a bag of crackers with a rock. I asked her what she was doing, and she said, "Pie." Kirsten was hiding in her room doing homework covering her ears. When I heard Helen break out something that sounded like a jackhammer, I decided to take to the streets. I ended up on the internet, obviously. But the great thing is this: we have someone who is living in Italy all year, someone from Peru, and someone from the south, which means...THREE REALLY GOOD COOKS. YESSS.

So I think there will be five or six of us at our little chicken Thanksgiving dinner. I was put in charge of appetizers. I eat a lot of crackers; somehow this makes me qualified. I found Ritz crackers/cheese AND those little hot dogs. YEAH AMERICA. Apparently there are Bagel Bites somewhere in this town, but I haven't seen them anywhere. And I've LOOKED. I also found these balls of marshmallow covered in coconut, which are somehow going to work themselves into our dinner plans, if I have anything to do with it.

So, while we may be lacking the Turkey, and the cranberry sauce (exists here, but is literally $10 a can...haha), at least we have the spirit. Having Thanksgiving abroad is a funny thing - we take nothing for granted now. One guy in our program somehow got his hands on the movie "American Gangster," and like every guy in like the whole program is going over to watch it on someone's tiny computer screen, and they have been talking about it for so long and saving it up for the holiday and even considering buying speakers they are so excited. I have been DREAMING of mashed potatoes I'm so excited. Instead of 3pm, like at home, we are eating dinner at 9pm; instead of apple cider, we have wine: we are obviously having a little bit of trouble leaving Italy completely out of these dinner plans. But, even though I wish I was at home today, I'm not as bummed as some people. Thanksgiving, to me, is pretty much the equivalent of a big sign that says IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS. IT'S ALMOST THE BEST DAY OF THE YEAR.

So, I'm going to go back to my apartment and see what is going on in Helen's territory, which is most likely covered in flour and crazy by now. I'm just hanging around this weekend - hopefully, I'll get to go to Assisi, but who knows. I've been going running at the track a lot lately, which is fun...I love the Italian track. So hopefully I'll get to do that too; I've been feeling a little sick-ish, so I haven't gone in a couple of days. A girl I know just left for Bratislava...haha. Anyway, I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving. Miss you!