On Tuesday was the final performance for my Traditional Music and Dance module where we showcased all of the hard work we have been doing for the past eleven weeks. There were about five tin whistle groups, two singing groups, two bodhran classes, one guitar group, and four or so dance groups. I have a lot of friends that are in this module, so it was great seeing them performing and having a good time. Most of the performers are still new to the instruments and dance styles, so it certainly was not as professional as you might expect. However, I think this made the show all the more fun. We were able to laugh at ourselves and praise the moments that were spectacular. Some of my favorite highlights were the second group of singers, The final tin whistle group, the bodhrans in general, and all of the dance groups. The singers included my roommate Julia and my friend Monica, and they sang a song called "Oh Ro My Johnny," which is elegant and sad. They did a really great song with it. The final tin whistle group played the Hobbit song, which requires a bit of skill to be able to pull off. Hopefully someday I will be able to play like that. My favorite dance group performed to the song "Waka Waka" by Shakira. There were two burly guys in this group that absolutely rocked. It was a blast watching everyone perform. As for my own performance, I was a bit nervous. We were the first tin whistle to perform, and it was nerve wracking knowing that we were setting the expectations for all of the other groups. We performed the song "Britches Full of Stitches" and, thankfully, only made a few mistakes. After the performance I headed to my last social with the Anime and Manga society. I brought them some of the American candy that was included in my care package for them to try, and they all really appreciated it. We played a game called "Munchkin," which is a card game that is based on strategy and trying to best everyone else. It was great fun, but took me a bit to understand how to play.
Wednesday my house decided to hold our Thanksgiving dinner, because Thursday Stephanie was going to be gone. Unfortunately, we still were missing Wil who missed his flight in Germany the day before and was delayed. I offered to do the turkey, made a list of ingredients for the dishes, and arranged the shopping of ingredients the day before. I took the lead for all of the cooking in hopes to make everything as stress free as possible. Everyone pitched in with some part of the cooking process though, and we were all set to eat by five o'clock. We invited several of our friends over that had no other plans to celebrate including Monica, Kaitlyn, Derek, Chandler, and our Irish friend Paul. We had all decided to dress up nicely for the occasion as well, so everything was quite elegant. The table was decorated beautifully, and most of the dishes turned out perfectly including the turkey! Thank goodness for that one. Cooking a turkey without a meat thermometer is not exactly easy. The other part that was tricky was carving the darn thing. We did not have a serrated blade in our house, so we had to get creative with our regular knives. Also, no one had a clue as to how to properly cut a turkey, so we had a lot of shredded and oddly shaped pieces, but thankfully it is the taste that counts. We also do not have a microwave oven, so we were limited to two ovens and a stove top for all of the cooking. Our meal included turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, corn, rolls, fruit salad, cranberry sauce, apple pie, and cake left over from Vince's birthday the day before. Paul was kind enough to bring wine over as a thank you for inviting him to our feast. Once we were all together Julia was designated to tell the story of Thanksgiving and why we celebrate it in the United States. After eating we had Vince and Selke break the wishbone, because neither of them had done it before. Vince ended up getting the bigger section, so he won. I think the best part of the whole day was just how excited our housemates were that do not usually celebrate Thanksgiving. Chen checked on how I was doing throughout the day, and was surprised that I had started cooking so early. Selke had never tried turkey in her life, and she also was curious about what a casserole was.
On Thursday (Happy Thanksgiving!) The International office was providing a free Thanksgiving meal for all of the International students. It was held at the Sports Bar on campus located by the arena. The meal included turkey with stuffing and gravy, boiled potatoes, a veggie mix of carrots and some other unidentifiable vegetable (parsnips?), cranberry sauce, sweet potato pie, and juice. I went with Jill and her friend Megan, and along the way a fellow Chip (one of two who came to UL with me) named Brendon joined us. He knew the two of them through Gaelic language class. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but this campus feels really homey because you will always see people you know throughout your day. This was one of those instances. The rest of my day was spent working on my final online test for Music, and then I called/Skyped all of my relatives and my boyfriend to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. It was a bit bittersweet to see everyone together and know that I wasn't there, but it was still great seeing them. They all seemed to be doing well and were excited to hear about my trip and hear that I would be back for Christmas.
Fun Facts!:
#1: Most people have a general knowledge of what Thanksgiving is, but the United States is the only place that celebrates it (not really surprising).
#2: Christmas jumpers are all the rage here, and they can be very elaborate with bells and pop out objects. I even saw one that had a fireplace with moving flames on it.
#3: Unlike American universities, UL has an entire week of studying and then two full weeks of exams starting on Saturday the 6th of December. CMU only has two additional study days before one week of exams. I think this system makes exam week much less stressful, because I now have the time to write my papers well in advance so I can focus on studying for my exams.
#4: Our Thanksgiving feast is a lot like an Irish Christmas feast with plenty of spuds and turkey (Paul informed us of this).
