November 28, I experienced my first Thanksgiving. As an exchange student from Belgium, I had never tried a Thanksgiving meal. What were the differences between this meal and a regular family dinner? What did I like? What did I dislike? 

The Differences

A family dinner is a dinner with your family. Thanksgiving is also a meal with family. So what makes that day special? 

First of all, I went to Big Bone Game which is something unique to Lincoln, but also a Lincoln Thanksgiving Tradition. We won and the Bone stayed home (others articles about Big Bone are coming out soon). After that, we went to my host grandma’s home.

It wasn’t a surprise when I saw that the women were in the kitchen and the men in front of the TV. Belgium and United States are pretty similar countries on that topic.  This is what I expected, and fit into what I thought would occur. But at the same time, I was surprised because I saw in a lot of shows that men were also cooking on Thanksgiving.

I think the biggest difference between a normal, regular dinner was the amount of food served. It was a huge amount; the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, mushroom sauce, pumpkin pie, apple pie and my Belgian chocolate mousse. In my opinion, it was too much food. Another difference is that, for Thanksgiving, everyone brings something to share instead of just one person cooking for everyone. 

My Opinion

 I cannot deny, I was a little bit disappointed.

Thanksgiving is such a big deal for an exchange student, or anyone visiting the United States during this time. On TV, Thanksgiving is a day where family join together for a big meal, share love and are thankful for everything. In reality, no one is saying:”I’m thankful for…” what, I thought, was the big goal of Thanksgiving. 

Anyways, I enjoyed it a lot and had a great day! I will maybe do it back in Belgium. Who says no to food?