Before studying abroad, I didn’t consider myself to be much of a holiday person. I’m not as bad as the Grinch, but I did not take holidays like Thanksgiving that seriously. I genuinely believed that I would be fine spending Thanksgiving away from home, but I was very wrong. As I scrolled through my Instagram feed, I saw friends and family prepping my favorite Thanksgiving foods. I have never craved baked macaroni and cheese and seafood salad more than I do in this moment. But what I missed the most was stealing cake batter from the bowl as my grandmom cooked and blaming it on my little cousins. I missed the community aspect that the holidays bring. I was about to get in rare form and wallow in my sadness for Thanksgiving, until I received an invite from my supervisor to attend a dinner party at JNRC. I immediately RSVP’d and dragged Katana with me because she missed home just as much as me. As we traveled the route to my internship, we were met with the beauty of the Repubblica area; this was the first time that I had been in the neighborhood at night, and it was gorgeous.
We walked a short way to the church I work in and were greeted with many friendly faces. Not only was there a diversity in guests, but there was a diversity in the food being served. One of my coworkers from Japan made delicious green tea brownies that I will never forget. While a coworker from Saudi Arabia made the most delicious rice I have ever eaten and the priest that runs my program made a traditional American turkey! As we sat around and ate, I thought about how many backgrounds were under one roof sharing their time and recipes with each other. And while I longed for my grandmom’s cooking, I felt community once again through the hospitality shown that evening.
We walked a short way to the church I work in and were greeted with many friendly faces. Not only was there a diversity in guests, but there was a diversity in the food being served. One of my coworkers from Japan made delicious green tea brownies that I will never forget. While a coworker from Saudi Arabia made the most delicious rice I have ever eaten and the priest that runs my program made a traditional American turkey! As we sat around and ate, I thought about how many backgrounds were under one roof sharing their time and recipes with each other. And while I longed for my grandmom’s cooking, I felt community once again through the hospitality shown that evening.
Finding cheese in Italy, that is not Parmesan, blue cheese, pecorino, or something of the sort, is hard. Therefore, I left mac & cheese, deviled eggs, and mash potatoes duty to Katana. Meanwhile, I went into master chef mode and tried to create a lot of my favorite foods from home. I bought the ingredients to make sweet potatoes, my famous chicken, cabbage, pineapple upside down cake, an apple tart, and corn bread. If it seems like a lot, that’s because it is. I may have gotten a little overzealous, but I persevered. We invited some other Temple students from our building to join us for this meal and we spent three hours straight cooking to bring everything together. I honestly felt like my Grandmom more than ever in that moment, and I quite honestly do not know how she carried so many holidays on her back for so many years. However, as the last few of my friends arrived and we set the table, I felt like everything was coming together at last. I was so tired that I didn’t want to do anything but sit down and eat all the delicious food in front of me.
We sat down, served ourselves and shared what we were thankful for. While many of us shared the same sentiment of being thankful for our time in Rome, many of us also expressed gratitude to be sitting at a table together. And while we all missed our families, we were grateful to be with friends and the new community that we had created for ourselves. So, while I was sad about not being able to celebrate Thanksgiving this year with my family, I ended up celebrating it three times. And as I finish my final weeks in Italy, I will miss the memories and connections that I have made, but I am excited for the Kwanzaa meal waiting for me when I get back. Check out how other Temple students are redefining home in their host countries!
