Hannah in a Suitcase

I would like to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!! I am thinking of you all and missing sharing a table and all that food with everybody! In Poland Thanksgiving is not celebrated so I am missing the food but I would still like to give thanks for a number things :)  Here are a few of those things: 1. Being able to experience such a different culture and meet so many new people 2. All the messages I've received via mail and email from everyone at home  3. All the hot chocolate ;) 4. My family (and Host family) for supporting me this year and all the years before this 5. This overall newness and busyness in my life I hope that all of you at home are enjoying the food and the parade today! I don't have a lot to share about the last couple of weeks, I have been in a regular routine. Gym, school, polish learning, and running (or now dancing). November has been great for me to get into the swing of things and breath before the craziness of

It has been quite a while since I last posted, and I have so much to share! The first snow was on Halloween!! This holiday is not largely celebrated in Poland but I was very excited to see the big Hollywood snowflakes falling when I woke up :) We celebrated  Wszystkich Swietych or All Saints' Day on November first. This is a  holiday  to commemorate family members that have passed away. Wednesday morning we left the house at nine and  drove  two hours to Marek and Jola's home town. We went to the church and then we walked over to the  cemetery, where we lit candles and placed flowers on the graves of my host family's loved ones. It was surprising to see how different the  cemetery was from what I'm used to seeing at home. Usually the cemeteries are grass with a small headstone, here there are rows and rows of stone tombs above the ground. Each 'tomb' has a picture of the deceased and their age on it. Every grave is covered in candles and flowers.  I spent