While the majority of Harding students are anxiously awaiting their trips home for Thanksgiving break, there are many students from foreign countries that are unable to make the journey home for the break.
Thanksgiving serves as an extremely important holiday for Americans, as it is the time for families and friends to come together and reflect on all that they have to be thankful for.
International students at Harding have several different ways of celebrating and embracing this American tradition.
Junior Adriano Plaskocinski, a student from South Africa, said he loves this American holiday. He said that in South Africa, people do not typically have emotional connections to the national holidays.
“Here, I see families coming together and I yearn for that same feeling,” Plaskocinski said. “I thank God for the open-armed families I have met here who accept me and share the love that they have experienced.”
This year, Plaskocinski will be spending Thanksgiving in Illinois with the family of one of his close friends from Harding.
Mia Yin, a Harding student from China, also has big plans for Thanksgiving break. Last year, Yin spent her Thanksgiving holiday with an American family and had turkey for the first time in her life.
“This is a very different experience from being in China,” Yin said. “Now, it is a holiday for me, but because we don’t know how to cook turkey, many Chinese students choose to travel during this holiday.”
This year, she and several of her friends are traveling to Orlando, Fla., to spend the entire week at Disney World.
Yin said she is excited to go to Harry Potter World in Universal Studios.
“We have been big fans of Harry Potter since we were children,” Yin said. “Buying a magic wand is going to be at the top of my list.”
In addition to serving as home to many international students, Harding sends a large number of students abroad every semester to study in different countries.
While the countries these students are in do not celebrate American Thanksgiving, several of these students still plan to celebrate in memory of the good times and memories shared at home in the United States.
Sophomore Cooper Thompson, a student at Harding University in Florence, said he plans to spend Thanksgiving in Paris, France.
“From Paris, we are go-ing to Normandy Beach and are going to be spending the day in reflection,” Thompson said. “It is important for us to remember all the fallen American soldiers, and this is a great way for us to remember to be thankful for all the blessings we have in America.”
