Thanksgiving as a holiday doesn’t exist in the Netherlands. International students hear about it all the time and are curious about what it is. “What does turkey taste like?” “Can we have a Thanksgiving dinner, too?” The Canadian students say that they have their own version some time in August, but even then it’s not such a big deal as in the U.S.
The coordinators responsible for setting up the exchange program threw a Thanksgiving dinner for the all the Californian students. Turkey, potatoes, green beans, mushrooms, the whole deal. I thought it was a generous gesture, and it was interesting to see what a lot of the Californian students have done since summer orientation. How have the friend groups changed? Did the Californians stick around Californians for the entire semester, or did they branch out and go out of their comfort zone?
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Thanksgiving may just be another day, but it never hurts to remind myself of how amazing I have it in life. I have a good family. Good friends. Good childhood. Good education. Those qualities alone already put me at an advantage over most of the world — but nope, now I also get the opportunity to pack my bags and live in another country for an entire year. Pretty sure I’m living someone else’s dream right now.
And yet, I feel an odd sense of guilt. Without my parents’ financial support, there’s no way I could have studied abroad in the Netherlands, let alone afford the plane ticket. (Tutoring young children in English during the summer only goes so far). Why do I this opportunity, and not someone else? Someone else more compassionate, more diligent, more deserving?
A combination of dumb luck and the hard work of those who came before me can answer that question, but it doesn’t offer an answer to this — how can I ever repay this? (and I don’t mean in the financial sense)
I can’t.
But there is one thing I can do to show gratitude, and one thing you can do as well if you find yourself in a similar situation:
Share that same generosity in spirit with the people you meet everyday. When someone shares something from their own life, be it a story or tradition, respond in kind. Or at the very least, acknowledge them.
It would be a terrible waste of all the other days of the year if generosity or gratitude were only reserved for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
