Friends break bread

Carved turkey, sweet potatoes, green beans, potato bread and a pumpkin pie were some of the dishes patiently waiting to be eaten. Sophomores Sarah Naji, Nabila Wadud and Sarah Shroeder hosted a pre-celebratory Thanksgiving dinner with friends who they call their second family.

Last Saturday, the three roommates decided to celebrate Thanksgiving in advance at their off-campus apartment in an original way - a potluck dinner. They said each guest brought food to share.

"We couldn't afford to make a whole Thanksgiving dinner for 20 people," Naji said. "So we asked them to bring a traditional Thanksgiving dish. We just asked [people] what would they like to bring and [had them] bring it."

Despite the amount of traditional Thanksgiving food in the kitchen, the girls said they had a dish that would not normally grace the Thanksgiving table - brownies.

"We have brownies too," Naji said. "I think I just can't go without brownies."

Naji said she had this idea since last year when she did a potluck Thanksgiving dinner with her "Bigs" and her service fraternity. Because it was a success she said she decided to do it again, this time before returning home for Thanksgiving Break.

Naji and Wadud said they wanted to gather their second family together before going back to their place for Thanksgiving Break.

"When we say family, we mean the people we met last year," Wadud said. "We're just all getting along very well together. The main reason for this dinner was really to get everyone together and have a nice meal."

To keep track of their 2009 Thanksgiving dinner, the hosts made a guest book.

"I just wanted to bring everything the guests are thankful for, for this year," Wadud said. "Maybe we will look at it in our senior year and see what people wrote."

Although students, like Naji and Wadud will celebrate Thanksgiving twice this year, others will not have the chance to do so, such as the Truman international students who cannot go back home.

Senior Slavina Stoyanova will not be returning home because she does not want to fly across the Atlantic Ocean for just one week. Instead, she is planning to stay in Kirksville for her first Thanksgiving.

"In the previous years, I was the guest of several of my friends in their house, and they had really traditional Thanksgiving dinners," Stoyanova said. "It was so much food. I've never eaten so much."

Stoyanova enjoys Thanksgiving's family atmosphere. She said Americans need to spend more time with their family than they actually do, a concept that is more common in Europe.

She is planning to have a Thanksgiving dinner with her friends where - European and Indian styles will be represented.

"It won't be like the pure tradition, but we will keep the turkey and smash[ed] potatoes," she said.

Freshman Linh Dao of Vietnam also will not travel home for Thanksgiving Break. She said she decided to leave her residence hall to go to an off-campus friend's apartment during the break, with her other Vietnamese friends.

"I'm planning to do a big Thanksgiving dinner with my friends," Linh Dao said. "I think I will cook some food with them, but not really in the pure American tradition."

On the menu, spring rolls will replace turkey and mashed potatoes. This unusual food for a Thanksgiving dinner is not a problem for Dao. She said she already experienced a Thanksgiving dinner last year with her host family in Texas. Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Vietnam, she said she just does not feel the need to do anything special for it.