Now that it’s Monday after Thanksgiving break, I’m continuing to appreciate how wonderful and relaxing the break was. A very much needed break indeed. Despite the fact that it started out rough, with my computer crashing and losing half of what I had written for a paper that was due by Midnight on Wednesday, I ended up staying up to rewrite it until 3AM. It was not pleasant, but, with a few tears, a TV show and a major support from my friend, I pulled it together and the paper was written.

Having never been to a parade before, going to the Thanksgiving Day Parade in Philadelphia, was definitely a strong motive to wake up bright and early to hop on a train. The parade was definitely worth it all. We humans often take things we have for granted. Here at Bryn Mawr, are so fortunate to be living close to a such a great city. Philadelphia is one of the oldest cities in the US, the history this city holds is very rich, it is worth exploring and learning. The Thanksgiving Day parade here in Philly is the oldest in the country, a fact that is overshadowed by the glorifying New York’s Macy’s parade.

Last Spring, I was lucky enough to have my host family from Kansas (you’ll hear more about them in posts to come) come visit and we spent the break in Philadelphia, learning a lot about its importance historically and enjoying its beautiful cites. One of my favorite stories of Philly is about the beautiful building of City Hall which has the statue of its founder, William Penn.

And so the story goes : William Penn statue used to be the highest point of the city, as if he was watching over his city. After building the One Liberty Place which was the first building higher than City Hall, Philadelphia’s major league sports teams started losing their games, and stories say that a curse of Billy Penn -that’s how Philadelphians called the statue- was started. To break the cures, in 2007 another statue of William Penn was built atop the highest building of Philly currently the Comcast Center, and the sports regained their wins since.

That story never gets old in my opinion, and whenever I go to the city with someone, I always tell them the story. The building is rather breathtaking, if you haven’t yet checked it out, it is worth the trip.

The parade was fun, glorious and full of happy families, kids, friends and pets. The sun was high and the cool breeze brought on funny hats on top of many heads, adding to the beauty of the day. A day filled with happiness, fullness of food, gratitude, great friendships and thankfulness was well deserved and will always be remembered and cherished.

Turkey hats all the way from NH. To complete the holiday spirit!

Until we meet again,

Peace,
~Muna 🙂