"Turkey tastes great!" I tasted the first turkey of my life on Thanksgiving as a part of the International students dinner hosted by the local church. Although the town wore a deserted look since almost all the students were back home celebrating Thanksgiving with their folks, we still managed to celebrate Thanksgiving in our own sweet way with a big feast. The church and the religious community are very supportive of International students who are away from home and need company to enjoy the small and big things in life. Besides this there are lots of fraternities and sororities on campus which are student communities for different interests. They routinely organize get-togethers and socials where a student can make lots of friends.

Since it was Thanksgiving and all people were travelling from one corner of the US to another, I too received two friends from Boston who planned to come down to Florida for a nice reprieve from the brutal weather in Massachusetts. They were on a Holiday trip to Florida just like many other people who come to Florida to see its scenic beauties and experience the peace and tranquility in living here. We toured many places around Gainesville and explored almost every Indian restaurant and store around. We even went to special screenings of the latest Blockbuster "Mohabbatein." These screenings are routine in places which have a big Indian population. Not just watching movies in theatres, getting a DVD of any Hindi movie imaginable is absolutely easy and possible in the US.

Coming to bad things, when the University is on holiday there is a higher possibility of shady characters coming into the act. There are lots of things that one goes through being a part of such a large student community (University of Florida has about 50 thousand students) and apart from good things and having good people around one can come across anti-social elements. But even in the worst circumstances, the University Police is a great help, one can reach to the University police by dialing 911 from anywhere on campus and the police comes to the rescue immediately (in less than 3 minutes!). There is also a night escort service to drop people back home when it gets late in the night. Therefore, whenever encountered by awkward situations, one should always take the help of University officials. The International student adviser is also a great source of help for any worry that bugs us International students ranging from pyschological to academic issues.

I guess a big worry that still bugs every American is the outcome of the presidential elections. Florida is still not over with its contribution to the dilemma relating to the American Presidency. I hope we have a new President soon!