Thanksgiving: A Day for Turkey and American Football

          I have never spent a Thanksgiving away from my family, so this would be my first. I knew it would be weird not being at my Grandma's house with my 30+ relatives to enjoy a meal together. It was bizarre for me to think that all of the people (besides the Americans, of course) surrounding me had never even heard of the holiday. It reminded me that I really was in a "foreign place," but I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to share the great holiday with my new friends and family here in Leuven.
         To prepare for out Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday evening, Shayne and I took the challenge of baking banana bread upon ourselves. Most of the internationals had never even heard of banana bread, let alone tasted it, so we were excited for them to try something new. Banana bread is a favorite of ours, so we were hoping we could open their eyes to another delicious dessert!

Table 5! We were each assigned a seat at one of seven different tables so we could mingle with different people during the meal.
 (Starting with me, going left: Meaghan, Evelien, Dan, Lesley, Emilie, Daniella, Annie, & Dominika)
Our table was representing America, Belgium, Italy, & Poland!

        Thursday rolled around and everyone was very excited for our big meal! We had to attend Dutch class just before the meal, so it was #strugglecity for those two hours. There was going to be a traditional "Thanksgiving basis," with a Belgian spin. I had received a call earlier in the day from Dr. Hughes, in which he asked me to say Grace before dinner, I was a little nervous because there were going to be 70+ people in attendance, but I took on the challenge to make my Grandma proud! It went over well and it was a great way to kick off the start of a delicious meal.

THE FIRST COURSE: PUMPKIN SOUP

I may or may not have gone for seconds...
It was my first time having pumpkin soup, and it shirley won't be my last!

                                                              THE MAIN COURSE

There was so much going on, on this plate:
croquettes, turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries...you get the idea!
It was fabulous!

THE FINAL COURSE: DESSERT

Everyone brought something different to the table, literally.
I had some pumpkin pie, cake, brownies, banana bread...

The only downfall was I was the LAST person to get both dinner and dessert...and dessert was at random--How does that happen? But on a lighter note, I did not go hungry, not in the slightest. 

Here is a look at the dessert table:

Here is a look at the dessert table after 70 people made their way through it:

GO BIG OR GO HOME!

        After dinner, we all rolled ourselves home ready to rest. We also had to get our head in the game because the next day was GAME DAY. We were bringing American football to Leuven. 

THE team.

War paint, if you're going to do it-do it right.

Just a casual interception, things got pretty intense on the field!

       Overall, the game was a lot of fun! It was a great way to bond with all of our new friends by teaching them an American favorite. In the end, everyone learned a lot, and we opened up the eyes of many to this great game. 

Bottom line: HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM BELGIUM!

Back to reality, although I am still in a bit of a food coma--BRING ON THE CHRISTMAS SEASON!