Author: Rebecca Eckart, GEd’13
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all enjoyed the holiday with your families and friends. This year, I hung out with family for the first time in five years, so my Thanksgiving was extra special. It also made me realize I have a lot to give thanks for. Here is a list of the top five things for which I am grateful this year:
5: Thanksgiving food. Having lived abroad for the past five years, I could not wait to eat turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie, and I encouraged my international friends to try this uniquely American holiday cuisine.
4: International friends. One reason I chose to study at Penn was the large international student population on campus.
3: My GSE cohorts. I was so worried before coming to Penn: Would I make friends? Would I fit in with 22 year-olds after having been out in the work force for five years? Thankfully, my cohort is a fun, supportive group of people of diverse experiences, and I’ve made good friends both within and outside my cohort.
Members of my GSE cohort at a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
2: Being accepted to Penn. I never imagined I’d be an Ivey-Leaguer, and I wasn’t able to visit before I accepted my offer of admission. My first week on campus, though, I was so glad I’d chosen to come here. Penn embodies the perfect blend of large-university-with-extensive-resources and beautiful-old-campus.
Fall leaves on Locust Walk.
1: My family. Spending Thanksgiving with my family was truly wonderful this year, and I have to say thanks to my parents for driving me and a car-load of stuff across all of Ohio and Pennsylvania in August. I bet they thought they were done with that two years ago when my younger sister finished college. Thanks Mom and Dad, and I promise that after I graduate from Penn, you will never have to do that again!
Frankly Penn 
We will help you any time you need help. Love, Dad!