At no time did the legendary Trojan exiles lead by Aeneas sit down and eat with the indigenous Etruscans to celebrate their first harvest of olive oil and figs.
Nonetheless, with the huge American diaspora in Florence (it's a hotspot for study abroads and any scholar of the humanities as well as well-to-do tourists), I'm sure I could find something. The NYU campus is having a dinner with all the festive foods and at church, to provide solace to the missionaries, which are almost exclusively American, they are having a little "Thanksgiving" dinner, but I would rather lay low at the apartment, attempt to chip away at some reading, gorge myself on rice pudding (my current treat of choice), and prepare for a Thanksgiving skype with la famiglia. I'm a little bit hermitish, I guess. Maybe it is a symptom of homesickness because that sort of flared up this morning.
However, I don't have class on Thursday, and I wasn't going to stay cooped up in the apartment all day, so to celebrate Thanksgiving I went to the Uffizi. It was not too crowded, so it was especially nice. I really don't know if I have a favorite painting. To be honest, I am much more into modern painting...after the camera liberated painting from the obligation to depict reality. But I really do like byzantine and renaissance art; I think they are windows (both visually and in what and how they choose to depict what they depict) into ages past.
But, anyway, I have millions of things to be grateful for. To get in the holiday spirit, and because gratitude should be a habit, and should be expressed regularly, here's a little list of things I am grateful for, in no particular order:
1) My family. So, it's a cliche; I don't care. And even in a list where things are in no particular order, my family is still first. I love them.
2) My friends. To keep up the cheesy sentiments, they're the family you choose!
3) The color "dusty rose"
4) The internet.
5) That I am studying in the beautiful city of Florence.
6) That I get to be home for Christmas (and that I was able to change my flight for nothing! So all, I'll be home from the 10th of December to the 17th of January!)
7) For all the wonderful people I've met here.
8) For church, I really always to have a simple, sweet peace and church. It's the kind of thing that keeps you centered. And to be specific, I am thankful for a loving God in heaven.
9) La bellissima lingua italiana e tutte le opere che spero di capire un giorno!
10) Good books.
11) Good movies.
12) Gelato.
13) Cell phones. I use mine as a phone, alarm clock, watch, and flashlight.
14) Muffins! And the package my mom sent me!
15) That feeling, when you listen to a really good song, or see a good movie, or read a good book, or hear an amazing speech and you experience an overwhelming conviction of your own worth and know that you can do anything and that everything is right and good and if its not it will be alright. In the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower it is called "feeling infinite." Maybe this is an abstract thing to be grateful for, but I think you know what I am talking about.
So, here's a picture of Florence: Thanksgiving 2009
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