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By angusmack101

Thanksgiving doesn't exist outside the US. That isn't too much of a revelation for most of us, but I've got to've had a half-dozen Americans ask me about it this week. Black Friday does exist—kinda. You could probably get up at noon in Australia and still make it to the sale for your OLED TV or cut-price shoes. Here ends my PSA.

All that said, Thanksgiving in the US was a great time. I shipped off to New Jersey for the holiday to spend it with my friend Fraser and his family, and I was more than happy to experience it for all it's worth. We joined another American family and did the whole dinner with them; It was a wholesome night of giving thanks, eating turkey & pumpkin pie, and dodging political conversations. There was one close call when someone brought up Brexit, but it was swiftly dismissed and a merry evening was had by all.

01 - thanksgiving

Wholesome family fun... No further questions.

The rest of the weekend was just as good. New Jersey isn't drastically different from the rest of the North East, so Fraser and I were initially at a loss for what to do in my limited time there. He suggested we take a half-hour drive to a nearby beach in the hopes it'd be empty for the holiday. We were quickly proven right, and after a bit of confusion walking through the cold and the wind it became apparent what we were really there for; an abandoned military base on the southern tip of the New York harbor.

02 - exterior

Please don't jump this waist-high fence. Please.

Despite it being obviously deserted, we clearly weren't the first ones to have wandered through the old complex. The pitifully-short fence had been trampled down in multiple places and the bolts on the doors had long-since been busted open. We steered clear of the buildings that warned of prosecution for trespassing, but what remained gave us plenty of opportunity to explore and escape the cold. The signage and the design seemed to indicate it was an old gun battery and fort for guarding the harbor, and the sturdy construction had kept it structurally sound in spite of intermittent hurricanes and a half-century of salt and rain. Stalactites of salt had formed in most of the cavernous rooms, and thankfully the litter and graffiti hadn't ruined the experience of scoping it all out.

03 - interior

Grave Encounters hmu

The remainder of the weekend was spent hanging out with Fraser's friends, playing old Playstation games, and generally avoiding the multiple assignments I've been given in the last week. We're coming up on the end of semester, but I'm confident I'll get through the finals unscathed and can make the most of what I've got left to experience at GW. That Bernie ticket I waited two hours for is finally going to come in useful this week. Stay tuned.

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