Friday - Classes were still held, but a lot of students had already left for the long weekend so professors had relatively laid back lectures. In aesthetics we discussed the relationship between morality and aesthetic value; we had a book test in Environmental History on Collapse by Jared Diamond (it's an excellent, but relatively dense read); and in Greek Civilization we compared Mycenaean and Hellenic art. It was also a beautiful day out, so after lunch six of us went down to the harbour, played hangman, and just laid out in the sun. Then we went out for Indian food, which was delicious but the restaurant was almost unbearably hot.
Saturday - We went down to the farmers market where I got apple cider (of course), a slice of pumpkin loaf, and a loaf of pumpkin bread for Thanksgiving dinner (more on that to follow). Then, because my roommate is on the rugby team, three of us went to watch the girls rugby game. I had never seen a rugby game before and I must say I have a newfound respect for anyone that plays the game. I'm so used to field hockey and lacrosse where any forceful physical contact will instantly get you carded, and football where the players wear padding and you can't grab on jerseys to pull someone down. In rugby, it seems, anything goes with just a mouth guard for protection. The only card of the game was called when two girls broke out into a full-out fist fight. Acadia won, 31-0 against the University of PEI. After leaving the game Teal, Rachel, and I took some pictures in front of Uhall. Here are two of my favourites:
Then last night, there was Thanksgiving dinner! My roommate's older sister also plays rugby for Acadia, so their parents were in for the weekend. Their parents cooked Thanksgiving dinner for 10 of us in all. We had: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, squash, cranberry sauce, zucchini, carrots, peas, pumpkin bread, rolls, wine, cider, and pumpkin pie. Amazing.
A note on Canadian Thanksgiving. I was curious about the holiday American Thanksgiving a) is centered around the Pilgrims (and Indians, of course) which didn't settle in Canada and b) falls so much later. According to my google research French settlers had "feasts of thanks" after their harvests each year, but when the Loyalists moved to Canada during the American Revolution they brought their Thanksgiving traditions with them and in 1872 it was made an official holiday. Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October, roughly six weeks before American Thanksgiving, because the harvest comes much earlier here because of the higher latitude.
Today I need to write a paper for my Pre-Confederation Canada class and study for my Greek Civ midterm. Tomorrow, though, we're going to try and a corn maze around here that is open on Thanksgiving day.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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