Several local students are experiencing Thanksgiving for the very first time.
The Office of International Student Services at the University of Illinois Springfield teams up exchange students with host families. The goal is to make sure everyone can feel the joy of the holiday even if they are thousands of miles away from home
This year 28 international students were able to sit down with eight host families for turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and all the other trimmings.
"Since we have Thanksgiving here every single year I had to ask my grandma. I said, 'Hey, how do you think about... Do you feel about... You know having strangers come to the house?' And see said, 'Oh no, that will be fun!'" UIS Student Abby Lawley said.
The "strangers" Lawley is referring to are Meenal Lanke and Mukta Misal. The girls came to America to study computer science at UIS. Their home is just outside of Mumbai on the other side of the world.
The story was reported by WICS-TV 20 on November 28, 2013.
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