Cultures and Traditions

Two weeks ago my department welcomed a visiting PhD student from Belgium to come study with us for the next 5 months. It’s been a lot of fun getting to know Laurence and I’ve already had the opportunity to help introduce her to two very American traditions: football and pumpkin carving*.

I have always love spending time with people from other countries and cultures, which is part of the reason why I love traveling so much. It makes me happy to know that there is this big world out there and that we’re all pretty special and unique. I love witnessing how people can live such different lives but how there are still some things that are common to the entire human race that bind us all together. Okay. I’m getting a little too kumbayah here so I’ll move on!     

Clay and I took Laurence to the Auburn vs. FAU game last weekend and it was super fun watching her enjoy all of the pregame festivities, sharing Auburn’s traditions with her, and trying to explain to her the rules of American football. Some of our traditions are so silly and ridiculous when you stop and think about them or try to explain them to an outsider. Take Boda Getta for instance. It’s a cheer full of made up words. I have no idea how it started or why we always yell it at the tops of our lungs but I also don’t really care. It’s a fun cheer that is uniquely Auburn and it plays an important part in bringing us all together to show support for our team.  

Side note: football is such a complicated sport and incredibly difficult to explain to someone without completely overwhelming them. No wonder the Europeans aren’t into it. But hey, I’ll still take football over soccer any day!

Anyway, last night (yes, November 1^st) some of my fellow doc students and I introduced Laurence to pumpkin carving. Better late than never, right? After a few scary encounters with the carving knife (we had to teach her that you always point the blade AWAY from your hand), we had a great time! I had bought my pumpkin several weeks ago when the pickin’s were still good, but the rest of the group had to settle for the leftover reject pumpkins and gourds.  I love a good, weird pumpkin though and thought everyone’s turned out great!

Yay, pumpkins! I think my pumpkin could eat those other shorties.

The artists! Please excuse me for looking like a hot mess. It was a long day.

Yep. I'm the weirdo who didn't have a pumpkin for the whole month of October but finally lit one up on November 2

Hopefully I’ll have some more opportunities to show Laurence some of the great things America has to offer. And don’t worry; we’ve already introduced her to Chick-Fil-A, which is one of the most awesome things American has to offer. She loved it!  

*I know pumpkin carving didn't originate in America but we're definitely the ones who carry on the tradition the strongest. Besides, Laurence had never herd of such a thing so it was still new to her.