Being away from home on holidays and important events hasn’t been too terrible so far; but I do miss my family, friends, and the yearly traditions.

My birthday is at the beginning of October and I never would have imagined turning 23 in Melbourne and celebrating without some of my closest friends. But the people I’ve met in the last 8 months made this day great! My roommate and I had a combined party in a park on Saturday night, we made s’mores on the BBQ and enjoyed the warm weather!

Most of the gang that came out to the park

On my actual birthday I received birthday wishes from friends all over the world and a few presents before going to Brighton Beach to watch the sunset.

Eating coconuts and papayas in front of the beach boxes at Brighton

My birthday and Thanksgiving usually go hand-in-hand. Australia doesn’t celebrate it…but this year:

I’ve never had a funnier Thanksgiving in my life.

This weekend was Thanksgiving at home in Canada, so instead of staying in the library for even longer and eating my warm sushi we decided to have our own holiday.

We put the table in the middle of the kitchen with 1 broken chair, 1 footstool, and 1 hot pink desk chair. Food was served in several odd dishes and 1 candle holder. Wine glasses were mason jars. Serving utensils were measuring cups; this ensured that everyone had specifically 1/2 cup of gravy!

Our feast!

Dinner music was classical and added an epic and building undertone to all conversations. By the time pie and tea came around we had completely run out of utensils and mugs. I ate my pie with a tablespoon, the roommate ate her’s with a 1/2 tablespoon and her boyfriend drank his tea out of a milk pot.

Apple pie and tea! You can see that our newest family member, Gem the fish, joined the Thanksgiving celebration.

It was amazing and I couldn’t have eaten one half tablespoon more!

Crazy faces who are feeling full and thankful!

I am so thankful and amazingly blessed to be in vet school (and almost done my first year!). I also have a whole ton of new friends and experiences and life goals that I’ve accumulated! But I can’t wait to come home and have a white Christmas…