By Maria Sanchez, Contributing Writer
Thanksgiving is an exciting weekend of the year in which you eat until you have to unbutton your pants and share lovely memories with your loved ones, but that might not be the case for everyone that is not American.
Even though Thanksgiving gives us all a well-deserved break we have all been craving, it may not be special at all to some, particularly international students.
While you might be going to visit your family and enjoying the Thanksgiving break, many international students will stay on campus. While many international students might not celebrate thanksgiving, there are some that do. Some students might have adopted a mixture of traditions in their family, so it would be likely that they celebrate Thanksgiving.
Rene Serrano, a sophomore majoring in International Hospitality Management from Honduras, will spend his first Thanksgiving in the United States.
“For this Thanksgiving we are going to meet up with all my friends from Honduras and go on a trip together to Miami, and spend time together and probably have a dinner,” Serrano said.
Serrano also mentioned that in Honduras he tends to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family every year.
“We share some traditions they have in America. We cook turkey, have decorations, and invite family and friends. It is a big reunion at my house,” Serrano reflected.
However, Serrano emphasized that Thanksgiving is not a national holiday in Honduras.
“The country as a whole does not celebrate Thanksgiving, but some families do celebrate on their own. My family tends to celebrate it because it is a tradition to remind ourselves yearly that we have to give thanks for everything in our lives, even the small things, and giving thanks to family and friends,” Serrano mentioned.
Christina Billis, a sophomore majoring in Business Management from Greece, said that she does not usually celebrate Thanksgiving.
“We don’t celebrate thanksgiving from where I am from, but I will celebrate it with my family this year. I will visit my brother in New York. My parents are coming from Greece and we are all going to visit him and spend family time together. We don’t really have that back home; we just celebrate Christmas in December,” Billis said.
Another international student from Kyrgyzstan, Niyazbek Islamov, who is a freshman majoring in software engineering also said he does not celebrate Thanksgiving.
“We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in my country because my country used to be a part of the Soviet Union and we used to be a communist country. Now my country is a predominantly Muslim country, so we don’t have holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas,” Islamov mentioned.
This Thanksgiving Islamov is just going to stay on campus, do homework and prepare for finals. Although, he mentioned, “since I came here to the U.S. thanksgiving does have some meaning to me. I was part of a student exchange program in 2018 in Michigan for one year. We celebrated Thanksgiving there with my host family, and we just gathered together with all the family. Christmas and Thanksgiving have become special to me because are the only holidays where you can meet with your whole family.”
Thanksgiving might be only a national holiday in a few countries, but it is a very special tradition for many. It gives you the opportunity to gather with your loved ones, and simply give thanks and enjoy a delicious meal together.
If you are an international student new to this holiday, I encourage you to give it a try and celebrate it. Even if you are staying on campus as many international students are, you can still have a nice small dinner with your friends. Thanksgiving is not only about reuniting with family, but friends as well, and looking back at the past year and find things to be grateful for.
