Celebrating Thanksgiving Abroad

Thanksgiving is just a few days away and for most college students that means it is time for us to make the trip home. Not all students will be making the journey home though, especially those studying abroad this semester. That doesn’t mean those students will not be celebrating Thanksgiving in their current country of residence. Many students are excited to get to share their Thanksgiving traditions with their foreign friends. Learn how they are planning on celebrating this year’s Thanksgiving while overseas:

“This semester I am studying in the Netherlands at Maastricht University. I'm actually really looking forward to showing all my European friends how important of a holiday it is for us. My friend Sarah is here with me from the states, and we're going over to our friends' apartment. We don't have an oven in our dorm, so we're going to their apartment and inviting a bunch of their Dutch friends. We'll be doing the whole turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, string beans, pumpkin soup, sweet potatoes [thing], with whatever desert pies we can bake also. Trying to make it as authentic as we can.”

– Peter Lyons, Fairfield University

“I study in Florence, Italy and I go to NYU. On Thanksgiving day I will be headed to Milan, a city in northern Italy with my sister! She will be visiting for a week instead of eating turkey with the family back home. NYU is offering a free dinner, but I’d rather travel.”

– Veronica Enriquez, NYU

“I'm in Leeds in the UK and I'm making Thanksgiving dinner for my flatmates (one from France, one from Australia, one from Liverpool and one from Birmingham). None of them have ever had pumpkin pie or stuffing before! The biggest struggle is going to be trying to find the ingredients here and convert all the recipes into their measuring units.”

– Mallory Meiser, Towson University

“This semester I am studying in Argentina. The university is offering a Thanksgiving dinner for all the students here, they are going to get a few turkeys I think but I'm not sure. You can’t really get turkey here so I’m not sure we are getting that. But I might just be going to Montevideo with a few of my friends because we get that Thursday off of school and it is a good day to travel.”

– Sean Heidelbach, NYU

“I'm studying in Rome and I'm taking advantage of not having Italian classes on Thursday by going to Barcelona, Spain. Hopefully being in the sun drinking sangria with a gorgeous view of the Mediterranean will make up for not being with my family and friends! Even though I will miss the stuffing and green bean casserole. “

– Janie Welsh, Indiana University

Photo: Kyle Taylor, Dream It. Do It. World Tour