Although Thanksgiving isn't until tomorrow, some international students have already celebrated the holiday.
On Friday, host families prepared a lunch of traditional Thanksgiving dishes for international students, and a dance was held afterward.
Linda Melville, advisement specialist for the International Studies Program, said the office has considered celebrating Thanksgiving on Thursday several times, but have held the event on different days because international students typically do not celebrate it.
Two coordinators in the International Studies office said they hoped to do a Thursday celebration with local host families, but that might not happen until next year.
"The students usually go somewhere else or use the time to catch up on projects," Melville said.
Prasanna Sridhar, who came from India to work on his doctorate in computer engineering, said Thanksgiving is similar to India's religious festivals.
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"At this time of year, family members can get together and have a good time," Sridhar said.
He said he hasn't thought much about the traditional Thanksgiving celebration, because people treat it so differently. In the three years Sridhar has been in the United States, he has attended dinner with an Indian family. He said he plans to celebrate with the same family this year. He said he will use the break to finish a project due at the end of the semester.
Sandra Mu§oz, a business student from Mexico, said she likes Thanksgiving, because she gets time off from school and work. However, because she doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving in her country, she said she is not planning on having dinner or spending time with her family. Mu§oz said she will go to Florida to vacation with a friend who is also from Mexico, instead.
"I've been invited to Thanksgiving dinner from my American family before, and it reminded me of Christmas at home when we celebrate together," she said.
Mu§oz said she is confused about the holiday, because in the three years she has been in America, she has heard different versions of the holiday's significance. She said she was told Thanksgiving is about when Europeans came to North America and massacred American Indians, and also that the holiday grew out of an exchange of culture and crops between American Indians and European settlers.
This will be Rosalba Rinc¢n's first Thanksgiving. The Venezuela native said Thanksgiving is similar to a holiday celebrated on Oct. 12 in South America that marks the day Europeans came to the continent. She said it is not celebrated with dinner, but everyone gets the day off. She said Americans take advantage of any holiday just to have a break.
"We should have more holidays in my country," Rinc¢n said.
