Nicole Robinson

International student and England native sophomore Celia Surtees has never eaten pumpkin pie before.

But when she spends Thanksgiving with her roommate’s family in Neenah, she may eat several kinds of pies, not to mention the turkey, mashed potatoes and all other foods that make up a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner.

As Eau Claire students make plans to head home for the four-day break, some international students are preparing for their first Thanksgiving Day and all of its festivities.

Thanksgiving may be a new concept, but it is similar to Christmas for many students in that it brings families together.

Senior Richard Waterson, originally from Ireland, has spent his entire college career at Eau Claire. For the last three years, he celebrated the holiday in the Twin Cities with his girlfriend’s family.

“That’s a completely different thing for me,” Waterson said. “I didn’t really know what it was or what to expect. But that’s what I wanted to do . to sample American culture.”

For the majority of international students in Eau Claire for the semester, the holiday will be spent seeing the sights in Chicago, while some will stay in Eau Claire with host families or in residence halls.

Junior Denis Thurich said the turkey he ate Friday night at a pre-Thanksgiving dinner reminded him of what he enjoys during Christmas in Germany – duck.

“I thought it was great,” Thurich said. “The turkey is not much different. In Germany, we eat duck, but we don’t have Thanksgiving. We only have Christmas.”

Freshman Claudia Lozano Aguirre, who will be among those in Chicago on Thanksgiving, said she spent time in Boston five years ago and took in the day-after-Thanksgiving sales. But she said she “didn’t have the American experience” and made up for it with a pre-Thanksgiving dinner at a host family’s house.

Likewise, sophomore Stuart Stoter, who is from England, said he enjoyed his Thanksgiving meal of turkey, mashed potatoes and cranberries in Sutherland Hall, as well as his entire time in Eau Claire.

Thanksgiving, he said, has been just one of the many cultural differences in the United States, in addition to the bigger cars, inexpensive goods and a vast variety of cereals.

“It’s been a great experience learning a culture other than my own,” Stoter said. “I understand how Americans would feel if they were English.”

Germany native sophomore Thomas Corbett said he has no idea what the holiday entails and will miss out on Thanksgiving completely, as he is one of the students traveling to Chicago.

“We don’t celebrate it back home,” he said. “We just have the usual stuff, like Christmas and Easter.”

That is in stark contrast to the United States. The American Automobile Association released a report Thursday that predicted 37 million Americans will be traveling this Thanksgiving holiday, including more than six million in the Great Lakes region.

Thurich added there was another difference about this time of year

in Germany.

“It usually gets cold from day to day,” he said after the recent plummeting of temperatures in the upper Midwest. “I don’t think it gets cold that suddenly.”