Life in America: Thanksgiving

Don't eat me pl0x

Happy Thanksgiving! So the Thanksgiving break is finally coming to an end. It wasn't too much of a break anyway, University of Wisconsin only gave the students a two-day break from Thursday. So I haven't been doing much except to chill during this rare holiday (students in the United States are very holiday-deprived during regular semester).


Come to think of it, it never fails to amaze me how fast time flies as we are growing up. When I was 7 or 8, a year felt like an eternity. But now, a year felt almost like nothing. I still remember vividly this time last year I was writing my thanksgiving note, which I later found out to be a huge task because there are just too many people to give thanks to, so I scrapped the idea. Anyway, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been in my life. It might not be sincere enough, but this is the best I can do without being too creepy (like, posting "thank you" notes on everyone's wall on Facebook).

Speaking of Facebook, I shared a video a couple of days ago on my page. But I'll put it up again here so you can watch it. It was about a Thanksgiving tradition, specefically Black Friday. Some of you might not know, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving (which is usually on the last Thursday of November). Basically, it is a day of sales. Shops open at 3am or 4am and people would just go on a shopping frenzy, like the video below.



I find it disturbing, especially the value of consumerism in the U.S.. I read somewhere about the Americans spending more than the GDP of North Korea in Thanksgiving weekend 2010. I was surprised at how much they can really spend!

The crowd is just crazy, I am not sure if I want to experience this part of American culture.

One thing I want to experience though, is to travel around the cities of the U.S.. Thanksgiving break was just too short, maybe I'll do it during my one-month winter break. Haven't have any plans yet, but I'd like to travel alone. That ought to be interesting. Any suggestions on the places I should go? Hmm...



Till next time, cheers~