Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been a lovely and relaxing break in Northbrook and I am thankful for everyone I have gotten to see whether it was for five minutes or five hours!

Although this seems incredibly generic, I'm going to continue my list-making fetish and describe what I am thankful for!

What Katie is thankful for

• My family: I have to give my family some credit, because they still love me even though I am rarely home. I have not been with my family for more than a week since May (where I had a month), and cannot foresee a time where I will be at home for an incredibly long period of time. But I am thankful that when I do return, we can all sacrifice our time to have family dinners, catch up, spend time together doing completely random things, make jokes, laugh together and so much more. I can ramble on about absolutely nothing and they will listen. I can call members of my extended family like my Yiayias (who don't know enough about the Internet to know that this blog exists) on walks to class just to smile, and always feel loved. Thanks Artemi!
• Friends from high school: I am thankful to have close-knit relationships from high school so when I come home, I don't only have automatic plans, but I also never feel awkward or forced. I want to see everyone that I hang out with, and each one of these people can start off just where we left off. I can wear my glasses and no makeup for three days straight and not feel any bit of guilt. Hanging out with friends can constitute going to the bank, Costco, and running other errands and it's not about what we're doing...it's about valuing the time we have together. No one knows where we will all end up living after graduation, so I am thankful to have friends that take advantage of every minute we have together and home to continue our bond :).
• People that value communication: Both of the above categories fall in this realm, but I could not survive without my constant communication with the people in my life. Whether this is through phone calls everywhere I walk, Skyping when I'm stressed, or random texts throughout the day, I thank everyone who makes time to communicate with me by choice. I love having people to talk to, hear from and discuss anything from school to current events with, and not just one-sided relationships. Thank you to anyone who keeps in touch with me!!
• My college experience: Choosing the University of Missouri was never where I would have anticipated myself as a young teenager, and to this day I envy people who attend college in gorgeous U.S. cities and study abroad or do great work in amazing places. But I'm thankful that I attend Mizzou every day. Not just for our beautiful and simple campus, welcoming environment or Journalism School, but for the way the system works. FIGS (Freshman Interest Groups) and Learning Communities determine where you live as a freshman, and allow you to meet students in your major and with similar interests. While promoting competition, it allowed me to click with the university quicker than anywhere else I would have gone and oddly enough, I will always feel a strong attachment to Mizzou and "CoMo," the town of Columbia. I will be dressing my kids in Tiger-spirited items, have mugs and trinkets around my house as an adult and am happy that this is the case.
• College friends: Both living in Mark Twain Hall and my experience in Phi Mu have had a very strong impact on who my friends are and I can't envision things turning out any other way. My FIG and learning community gave me the best friends I could ask for- my own family at school. We're oddly obsessed with the same things and each other so much that I feel like we can read each other's minds, make each other's decisions and mock ourselves perfectly. We're insane enough to all leave our hometowns early to spend more time with each other...when we see each other on a daily basis at school. Kathryn, Sherman, Andrew, Laura, Kate, Shaina and Amy- thank you for keeping me sane on a daily basis. Phi Mu contributed as well by allowing me to meet a diverse community of girls who participate in various things on campus and come from a variety of backgrounds. Shelley- thank you for being the best pledge mom/big sister ever. And thank you to all of my friends from Mizzou for being my friend :)
• Involvement with the Greek Orthodox Church: After my trip to Boston this weekend, I realized how many activities and how much of my life has been influenced by having connections and more through church. Although I was visiting two friends from Project Mexico, I practically knew half of the school I was at (Holy Cross/Hellenic College) from Ionian Village, Fanari, St. Nicholas Camp or being a PK (priest's kid). We could all go to Divine Liturgy and Paraklesis together without questioning why we were there, and comfortably hang out with anyone and share the common bond of our faith. I'm very glad that I have this and look forward to pursuing it in the future through Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) and College Conference at Antiochian Village this December!

Have a great Thanksgiving holiday, weekend and I hope that you can reflect on being thankful for some of these things too!