Week of Thanks

As the first semester drew to a close, both freshman and study away students celebrated a Week of Thanks from November 25th to 29th, honoring Thanksgiving and Hanukkah through food, friends, celebrations, and a Wall of Thanks.

Over the course of the week, students were encouraged to create an American Thanksgiving childhood craft - turkeys in the shape of a hand made with feathers and colored markers galore - with a short expression of thanks written on it. The hand-turkeys were hung up by HOW (Holidays of the World) it Tastes club members on a Wall of Thanks in the Geography Building’s student lounge. Another weeklong event was the sale of Gobble Grams (messages of gratitude with candy sent to other students or staff) that benefited victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

 The first of the week’s celebrations was a Hanukkah party put on by the HOW it Tastes club. This party was a chance for students to learn about different Hanukkah traditions through making dreidels and spending time with friends while eating traditional foods such as latkes and chocolate coins.

 On Thursday night, students gathered in the Geography Building to participate in another American holiday tradition - viewing New York City’s Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. At this event, students lined up to get pumpkin pie, apple pie, brownies topped with nuts, and hot chocolate before viewing the live-streaming parade. Juan-Carlos Gomez Carrera, a student from Mexico, had "never tasted pumpkin pie before" and found the parade viewing party experience to be a "beautiful thing to do, bringing family together."

 The NYUSH family continued to celebrate with a Thanksgiving dinner on Friday night with a feast of traditional foods such as turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. Students gathered around tables in the Geography building with orange tablecloths and fall decorations to eat together. Following dinner, NYUSH students assembled in classrooms in the Geography Building to spend time among friends. With a virtual fireplace projected on a screen and traditional holiday music playing, NYUSH freshmen played Twister, Mancala, Risk, Scrabble, and other board games. Celebrating Thanksgiving and trying turkey for the first time, Wang Kai Jie (Kathy) from Zhejiang Province, found the celebrations to be "very fresh and interesting." Hunter Jarvis, an American student from North Carolina who celebrates Thanksgiving every year, remarked that this year’s dinner "was good and generally tasty with lots of vegetarian options…it was very inclusive." The week’s holiday celebrations were a great opportunity for students to gather together and spend time as a NYUSH family.