You are probably wondering about St. John's graduates as they march out of childhood and into adulthood. First on your list of curiosities: Where do they attend high school and are they good drivers or how many of them bag groceries at Sniders? Now that we are squeezing the weeks out of February, you are probably wondering just what do they do for the holidays. As luck would have it a non-representative sampling of three graduates and one Youth and Family graduate took time out of their busy collegiate schedules to share how they met for Thanksgiving at the beginning of our recent holiday bonanza. They found each other, as self-respecting SJE twenty-somethings would, in Paris during a transit strike.

Will McDermott, Kelly Brown, Grace Campion (class of '01) and Renata Aguilera-Titus (Youth and Family) walked together for miles and miles visiting Parisian landmarks. Will served as host because he was the student studying in France while the others joined him from their host countries, each forging through his or her junior year abroad, "It was all kind of weird hanging out with everyone just like we would at home, except we were in Europe and I was the tour guide. We went to a café nearby and got crepes and caught up on everything that had happened in the past couple months. Eventually we fell back into normal conversation, and really, besides the magnificent architecture surrounding us, we might as well have been back in America."

Not ones to blindly succumb to the temptations of French cuisine, they strove to preserve the essence of our National holiday, far from home and under distressed culinary circumstances by cooking up, "cut up chicken breasts, mashed potatoes from a box, fresh steamed broccoli, canned corn, " according to Grace. Though Will's tiny apartment challenged their menu plans "we figured out how to make it work, even with the stove, a (small) step from a hot plate, an oversized easy bake oven and limited counter-top space." Will assured me that the "meal ended up being delicious." Grace recalls that the generous wedges of brie and four baguettes more than made up for the reduced American fare.

Kelly was eloquent when reflecting on her first holiday away from home and Saint John's, "Over the past few years my best friends and I have had to separate and do our own things, but coming together in Paris from all over Europe shows that some things never change." Perhaps Kelly captured the mingled appreciation and nostalgia that wove its way through their celebration far from home, "I had some of the kids I grew up with together with me to eat my family Thanksgiving meal." Transit strikes, tiny ovens, and distances traveled did not deter these intrepid world travelers. They seized the moment. Together with their buddies, they gave thanks in a foreign land. Will sums it up, "I really enjoyed getting to spend some time with my friends from home."