Giving thanks in French

Chambéry in autumn is as beautiful as Southeast Missouri in autumn, maybe even more so. The weather is much colder, though. The fall season means more than just cold weather, it means three very important holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas --every foreign exchange student's nightmare. This time of year is an emotional roller coaster for exchange students. Traditionally, holidays are meant to be spent with family, which unfortunately, along with my tons of lonely shoes, I couldn't manage to fit into my suitcase.

This year all my family's Thanksgiving traditions were only a memory. Thanksgiving is obviously an American holiday, I knew it would not be celebrated here; therefore, I decided to hold Thanksgiving night at my host family's house.

My host mother, Jocelyne, and I headed to Carrefour for the proper ingredients. Although I have never cooked for Thanksgiving before, I wasn't afraid to try, regardless of my cooking abilities.

We decided to have our dinner on Friday night. As soon as I finished class at 4 p.m. on Friday, I headed home to start cooking. I ended up making homemade stuffing-- even without a recipe it was delicious. We couldn't find a whole turkey, so I pulled the meat from five turkey legs. In the end, we had with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, many vegetables, yams, green bean casserole, pumpkin and chocolate pie, and my host mom's apple tart (as close to apple pie as I could get). The results were amazing.

The American exchange students, whom I had invited, arrived at my house around 8 p.m. to celebrate. We gathered around the table and stuffed our faces, reminiscing (in both French and English) about all the things we missed, as well as explaining this unique holiday to our French guests.

But Thanksgiving, after all, is about giving thanks, and I'm grateful for plenty. I am thankful for the Jackson Rotary Club who gave me the opportunity to be here, my family for supporting me, my awesome friends -- French and American -- who are always there for me, and the hot chocolate that gets me through every day.

As they say, "absence makes the heart grow fonder." This saying couldn't be more true for me. Be thankful for your family and friends. Be thankful for even the smallest things that you may take for granted -- like seeing your family every day or being an American and having such a wonderful holiday like Thanksgiving to eat all day and enjoy being with the people you love the most.

Brittany Lang is a high school student from Cape Girardeau living in France as part of the Rotary International Exchange Program.