Happy Thanksgiving!

November 24th 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!! It is kind of weird having classes when you know everyone back home is celebrating Thanksgiving taking today and tomorrow off with family and friends. I am planning on celebrating Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday this year with some friends, but in the mean time I have been skyping with my family, being able to ‘see’ my grandparents in California, as well as my uncle, aunt, and cousin on Bainbridge Island, WA. At one point, my cousin Mary called (she's on an exchange in Mali for a semester) and so I was able to talk to her a little on the phone via skype; it was pretty cool!!!! 

I know this sounds a bit cheesy, but usually at Thanksgiving dinner we go around the table and say what we are thankful for, since I can’t be present at the table this year, I’ll just say it here:

This year I am thankful for meeting so many wonderful people this year.

I am thankful for the many opportunities of adventure and travel that I have been able to experience. I have never thought that one year could be so eventful. This summer alone, I was taking a calculus class, going on a two week research cruise which thanks to the ROV ROPOS I was able to see hydrothermal vents on the sea floor. Back for only one week on land and then I was off in the air, traveling over to Munich to visit my penpal, Bettina, and her wonderful family. Now being in the U.K. there have been numerous trips that I have taken and activities I participated in.

I guess being so far from home, tonight I am most thankful for being able to skype in and say hello to my family back home, it is weird to think that roughly a decade ago this wouldn’t have been a possibility.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Grandparents in Pacifica, CA

Mom and brother (Sammamish, WA) and grandparents (CA)

At my aunt and uncle's house on Bainbridge Is.

Had a conversation with my cousin, Mary, who is currently in Mali; on the phone via skype!

Funny that just then my dad said how it is not the same having me away at Thanksgiving. From the looks of it, it doesn't seem different at all :)

Yup, c'est mon frere!