Ispent the holiday with my suite mate Ryan Hanrahan, a self defining Irish, German, Spanish, English, French, Polish, Prussian and Swiss American and his family. Thanksgiving dinner resembled a British Christmas dinner with Turkey, cranberry sauce, potatoes, and the rest but with a few American touches such as cool whip (which is delightful), a strange casserole of green beans and cream of mushroom soup with fried onions and Pumpkin pie. It has been said to me that Thanksgiving represents all that is America: strong family values, a reflection on their past, great food, TV movies and obviously football matches. Honestly I can say it is perhaps the nicest holiday of the year felling like christmas but without the stress and fuss of present buying. I began the day at 4:45am as we headed for the famous Macy's Thanksgiving parade in New York City which lasted around 2hrs. The city was chaotic with thousands of New Yorkers crammed into the largest subway system in the world and with wholeblocks closed off searching for our seats was difficult and ended up requiring a police escort. The parade itself was amazing with giant floats accompanied by some Z list celebrities but also some notable names such as Kylie Minogue and Kanye West.I will soon post the pictures on Facebook for all to see. The Hannrahans were celebrating at Ryan's Aunts, who has a beautiful house on Long Island with gorgeous views across the water onto Jones Beach. It was strange drawing likenesses to my own family from his who all were extremely nice people and were very accommodating even making a gestured toasting of the haggis at the table. American thanksgiving seems to be true to its values unlike a lot of what people deem to be American.
For the rest of the holiday I spent time meeting Ryan's friends and talking to his Mum (who has visited Edinburgh and Stirling Castle), Dad and Brother. Their house was extremely homely and instantly I felt very comfortable amongst the two dogs (Scottish Collies), two cats, some fish and a turtle. I felt a sense of longing to be back in Scotland with my family as I spent time in Ryan's home with his family. I would like to thank Mrs. and Mr. Hanrahan once again for their greatly appreciated hospitality and for the incredible American ribs which were unlike anything in Scotland.
On a completely different note I have found American romance with a girl from Syracuse NY. Fiona Cunningham is an English major who also enjoys fine arts with amazing paintings and photographs she is one of the few Americans with a nice accent and is not loud. Although she did think all Scottish people say "uch aye" all the time she did not ask at least for a while if I had a kilt or play the bagpipes. So the plan is now to come back here a week earlier than planned from Christmas break and spend time with her family upstate and hopefully a visit to Scotland will be on the cards soon.
Now to America beyond the thanksgiving season with Christmas music commanding the airwaves, houses draped in lights and figures resembling reindeer and Santa hammered into lawns America has begun to embrace its famous christmas spirit once more and I'm very much looking forward to it all.
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