I stayed on campus this Thanksgiving instead of going home for the break, and it wasn’t what I expected. Most students were gone and I got a little homesick. Despite the loneliness, I enjoyed the break from classes. Here’s what my Thanksgiving break at college was like.
It’s pretty lonely.
Photo from OKnation
I was looking forward to the long break since it would be a great time to hang out with friends, but almost everyone I know went home for break. Turns out the majority of students go home during breaks. The campus was pretty much empty except for the few students who stay. It was especially clear how many students were gone by how empty the dining hall was. During a regular day, it’s pretty hard to even find a seat in the dining hall and there are always long lines at the food stations but during Thanksgiving break, only one dining hall was open and even though half of the seating area was closed off, it was still practically empty.
Everything is closed.
Photo from Mother Nature Network
Though one dining hall was open, it had very limited hours and was even closed for Thanksgiving dinner. Naturally, I went out to restaurants nearby to try to have dinner only to find that literally one restaurant in the entire Fenway area was open. BU FitRec was also closed during Thanksgiving break, just when I thought I would start going to the gym, but who am I kidding? Of course, most of the places off campus weren’t closed all the time, just on Thanksgiving day itself, but it just added to the frustration of all the on-campus places that were closed during the rest of break.
You get a little homesick.
Photo from The Odyssey Online
Staying in college during Thanksgiving break instead of going home and spending Thanksgiving with my family was probably the first time that I actually started to feel a little homesick. I consider myself to be pretty independent so living across the country for college wasn’t a big deal for me, and I never felt homesick until I stayed on campus over break. It was hard FaceTiming with my parents and seeing them do all the holiday stuff we usually do together without me. I’m very excited to go back for winter break, though.
I hope my insight helps if you’re ever thinking about whether to go home or stay on campus during break. If you do happen to stay, just remember to make the most of it and don’t spend the entirety of it watching Netflix, like me.
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