joyeux...donne-merci?

happy thanksgiving! obviously, today was a regular day here. the french acted normally as if nothing special was going on....HELLO. it's a day of friggin thanks, french people.

just kidding. i'm not THAT self centered.

today was a grand day, though. i've never thought of myself as much of a thanksgiving fan before this year...actually, not even before today. when mme jeanson asked me what i was doing for thanksgiving, i was just kinda like, "eh...i'll go out to dinner with some friends." like it's no big deal.

but when i woke up this morning, it had a strong urge to go outside and play flag football, then watch the thanksgiving day parade (only the good parts...thank you, tivo). i dont even really LIKE the thanksgiving day parade...i really could just look at pictures of the floats online, because that's the only interesting part anyway.

i spose it's the whole family thing that i like (how predictable). i like pretending the millers are my family for the morning, and i actually do enjoy seeing my real family in the evening. sure, we aren't super close, but i've never wished for anything else. i know dad sometimes wishes we had a big family, but if we did, then we would have to hang out with them more often. with our small family, we can see them all in one fell swoop. then we have more time to hang out just hte four of us.

i think i also like hanging out with my extended family so we can talk about how crazy they are :-P family gossip is great.

maddy, mal, chris and i went out to dinner at "breakfast in america" tonight. i had a very traditional meal: soda, chips/salsa/guac, a cheeseburger and a salad, followed by gelato for dessert. lol okay, so it wasn't your typical turkey/cranberry/stuffing feast. i could have gotten that, but i would have had to pay 30 euro for the full meal, and really, i just don't wanna spend that much on a meal. that's $45. i'm not frickin bill gates here.

okay, i got off on a not thankful tangent. back on track. i really enjoyed the meal, and we all had a great time talking and laughing about how bizarre this is, to have one of the biggest meals of the year without our families. all day i've been missing my family a lot. everybody's facebook statuses say something like, "i'm home!" or "man, (city) is cold!" or "back in the bay!" i wanna be back home. yes, yes, this is still fun over here and i love it. it's not that i want to get home right now..it's just that i'm looking forward to it. a lot.

maddy asked me if i was gonna write a blog about what i'm thankful for. i hadn't really thought about it, but that's actually a grand idea.

--okay, i'll start with the cliché: my family. you guys are phenomenal. parents, i can't believe how understanding and supportive you've been of everything i've ever done. kate, you're cool, too. i'll never get tired of coming home because i always have such a great time.

--cliché number 2: my friends. it's weird to think that, just 2 and a half years ago, i didn't know the greatest friends in the world. now i'm struggling to live without them (well, okay, i have facebook and i talk to them weekly...but it's just not the same).

--ucsb: i never realized what i great school ucsb is until i came to aup. this school is small and has no resources and it blows. ucsb, on the other hand, is stocked with great professors, has amazing resources (that i really should use more...), and just fucking ROCKS. plus, it helped me come over here for four months, so i've gotta be thankful.

--the internet. is that really dorky? but it's because of the internet that i can talk to my parents weekly (for FREE!), that i can keep in touch with my friends easily, that i can find out all the information in the world...you know, amazing things like that.

--the jeanson family. though we don't get along like a family, they're so incredibly sweet to me. and paul is a great kid. though he doesn't know it, he's helped me feel much more comfortable in this country.

--america. FUCK YAH! i love the states. california is my favorite place in the world.