Well my Thanksgiving celebrations started on Wednesday at school. We had a very nice Thanksgiving feast in our classroom. One of my American students brought the turkey (her parents brought it in, after making it for us, and joined us for our feast), and everyone brought some food to share. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, baked corn, cranberry sauce, brownies, pumpkin pie, apple cake, cookies, and I donated Gertrude Hawke chocolates. We put all the desks together in a big table, had a nice table cloth and all really enjoyed ourselves. I was especially grateful for the DELICIOUS pumpkin pie, and thanked the mom who made it about a million times that afternoon!
On Thanksgiving my family and I visited the Pantheon (again we used Rick Steve's podcast).
We also visited the Trevi Fountain during the day, we had been there at night over the weekend. It was the absolute perfect time to visit, 9:30 AM, there was practically no one there and made it enjoyable and easy to get pictures. Then we walked around and visited many different churches in the area. Around noon we made it to Piazza Navona and enjoyed the delicious tartufo. It is chocolate ice cream with large chunks of chocolate in it. It also has a cherry in it, and chocolate syrup that is frozen a little and cream on top.
Not one of our tartufos (I didn't take a picture)
We then took a nice walk over by the Tiber River and had a great view of St. Peter's and Castle St. Angelo.
St. Peter's
Castle St. Angelo
After walking around all day we went back to have our Thanksgiving dinner. It was delicious complete with some cheese appetizers, four types of ravioli, salad, fruits di bosco pie, dates, chocolates, pumpkin pie (leftover from school the day before), wine, and limoncello. Although it wasn't your typical Thanksgiving dinner, it was just as good, and I was just as stuffed. We tried beef, mushroom, 4 cheese, and cheese and spinach raviolis that you could top with either pesto, regular tomato sauce, or spicy tomato sauce. After eating dinner we took a night walk to make some room for the dessert. We walked up to the Villa Borghese Gardens for a great view of the city, walked down the Spanish Steps (walking from the gardens we ended up at the top of the steps, much nicer to walk down them if you haven't just walked up them!), and walked to the Pantheon. Then we headed home for dessert.
This Thanksgiving I had a lot to be thankful for (as I always do). I am thankful that I have made it to this point in my college career and have been blessed with a great first student teaching placement. I am thankful to also have been blessed with a great second student teaching placement. I am thankful I have been given this great opportunity to live in Rome for two months, experience their culture, learn about their country, and learn about myself. I am thankful I currently have a classroom that represents students from 7 different countries, and many more if you count all the different countries these kids have lived in as well. I am thankful that my family; mom, dad, brother, uncle, nana, grandma AND poppop could all be with me to celebrate Thanksgiving. And that they could all travel here and enjoy this great city. I am thankful for the friends I have made here, they have really made all the difference, and have touch my life in so many ways. I am thankful I am healthy, my family is healthy, and my friends are healthy. I am thankful my family supports me in every adventure I take on. I am thankful to have an amazing boyfriend and equally amazing friends who also support me when I need it, put up with my crazy antics, and love me even when I'm being a pest.
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