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Thanksgiving Break at CMU: Your new home for the holidays

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at CMU chapter.

Thanksgiving break is nearly upon us, and as we’re intensely studying for exams and getting those papers done, we still find the time to make those ever-so exciting thanksgiving plans. For those lucky enough to reside near Pittsburgh, it’s scheduling a pick-up time with parents; for others it’s booking a Megabus or plate ticket to a nearby state; and for those who live a little farther away, it’s planning Thanksgiving at CMU. With the number of students from states farther away, like California and Texas, as well as international students, there are many students that remain on campus for break.

Thanksgiving at CMU offers many benefits that often go overlooked. With all of the basic facilities of campus open and an environment of invaluable peace and quiet, you can:

1. Catch up on laundry

If you live in a dorm, you understand how difficult it can be to find an open washer and dryer at a reasonable hour. Break offers unoccupied laundry rooms and you can do your laundry without fear of another resident moving your wet clothes to an unsanitary location or putting your freshly dried clothes in a stranger’s basket.

2. Catch up on sleep

Your time during break on campus is completely free and unstructured, which offers an immense amount of time to sleep in and nap at your leisure. It allows you not only to catch up on sleep from the previous weeks, but also to get yourself on a regular sleep schedule in order to begin classes well-rested and rejuvenated.

3. Volunteer

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to volunteer with various food drives and food kitchens around Pittsburgh. Check out the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Light of Life Ministries, or Holiday Meals for the Homeless.

4. Clean or redecorate your room

Rooms can get pretty disheveled during the more stressful times of the semester, and break offers the chance to straighten up and organize your room. If you’re feeling ambitious, go for an all-intensive room clean, Lysol and vacuuming included. Bonus: blast music as you clean!

5. Start or finish your personal projects

If you’re anything like me, you have at least several projects you’d like to start or complete, but school hasn’t allowed you the time to do them. For example, maybe you’ve meant to decorate your room with posters or Christmas lights all semester, or you’ve wanted to learn how to sew your own clothes, or change the layout of your room.

6. Meet new people

Find fellow dorm residents also staying for break or talk to your neighbors to coordinate plans. Break offers you the chance to meet new people and make some new nearby friends.

7. Have a nice dinner

Treat yourself to a fancy dinner because during break you have the time—and hey, it’s a holiday! Check out Atria’s, Gateway Clipper, or Grand Concourse. Make it a date or a group meal by inviting your new friends that are also staying for break.

Wherever you’re going, have a fun and safe break! If you’re staying at CMU, enjoy your time on campus and take advantage of the many activities and freedom it offers. Happy Thanksgiving!

Laura Stiles is a Creative Writing, Professional Writing double major at Carnegie Mellon University who will be graduating in May 2014. In addition to being Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Carnegie Mellon chapter of HerCampus.com, she is Co-Prose Editor of The Oakland Review, Carnegie Mellon’s literary-arts journal, a manuscript reader for Carnegie Mellon University Press, and has copy-edited for Carnegie Mellon’s newspaper, The Tartan. She was also Communications and Arts Management Intern at The Hillman Center for Performing Arts in summer 2012, and is ecstatic to be studying abroad in Sheffield, England in spring 2013. In her free time, she enjoys singing along to music on long car rides, spontaneously kicking off her shoes to explore lakes and creeks, and curling up with a soft blanket and a captivating book. She was also recently pleasantly surprised to discover that she has a taste for sushi.