Happy Turkey Schnitzel Day!

The day is just ending for me, and at home everyone I know is gathering with their families, stuffing their faces with turkey, and falling into tryptophan-induced comas. I haven't felt homesick yet, not quite, but tonight I'm feeling the distance acutely. It sounds ridiculous, I know, since I've been gone less than a week, but it seems much longer to me. I've already settled into a routine here: class in the morning, lunch at home with my flatmate BritBoy, study, afternoon nap, go into town to take pictures or go to the opera. Vienna certainly doesn't feel like home, but it does feel homey.

I've always liked Thanksgiving, if you ignore the whole Pilgrim-Indian thing (oh, and the presidential pardons for turkeys—what's that all about?). Spending time with loved ones and giving thanks is a lovely reason for a holiday. So, although I can't do the former, I'll certainly try my hand at the latter.

I'm thankful for my family, both the one I was born into and the family of friends with whom I surround myself. I know you always have to remind me that I can lean on you, but believe me, I'm listening, and your support means the world to me.

I'm thankful for a life in which I spend the vast majority of my time doing things I love to do, whether it be my amazing job, travel, spending time with the people I care about, or taking time for myself. I know how rare that is.

I'm thankful that I haven't finished growing up, that I still have time to become the person I want to be. Every day I make new discoveries of what I want and what I'm capable of.

I'm thankful for a future with no concrete plans. There are days where this seems like a negative, but it's incredibly freeing to be able to say that I have no idea where I will be in 5 years, in 10 years.

I'm thankful to be in this amazing city, with so much history, where I was able to visit the graves of Beethoven, Schubert, Schoenberg, Brahms, and Johann Strauss today. I feel a connection to the music that is my life in a whole new way.

And tonight, I'm thankful to the Staatsoper for answering my prayer with its Eurotrash edgy production of Roméo et Juliette. It didn't have any nudity, but what it did have was leather pants, bizarre choreography, and a Juliette who was more....um....knowing than I've seen her played before. The lighting was incredible, with onstage towers holding dozens of moving lights used to great effect, pyrotechnics, and some gorgeous silhouette action for the last scene. Too bad the singing wasn't better.

I am not thankful that I left my hat in the streetcar today. But I am thankful to have a reason to go shopping.