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A couple from Colombia who recently moved to the U.S. are looking forward to celebrating their first Thanksgiving with an American family. International students Susana Oreego Villegas and her husband, Edward White, are now living in Brookline, Massachusetts, near Boston, while she studies medical sciences at Harvard Medical School and he studies English.
Susana got curious about the American tradition because they don’t celebrate it in Colombia. She turned to the neighborhood app Nextdoor to see if anyone nearby would be willing to share Thanksgiving dinner with them. “We are a super lovely couple and want to know more about American culture,” Susana posted on October 26th. “I want to have our first traditional Thanksgiving with an American family.”
Within a few days, more than 100 people had extended invitations for the couple to dine with them on Turkey Day. Susana and Edward narrowed it down and eventually chose nurse practitioner Carol Lesser as their host. She’s delighted to open her home to the couple as she was the recipient of the kindness of strangers while traveling when she was younger. Susana says her view on Bostonians has changed since her post and she now realizes “that people are super kind and welcoming.”