As the temperature slowly drops and the bright, colorful flowers are replaced by a thin coating of morning frost, and green, lighted garland is wrapped around every flagpole and fence on campus, it’s obvious that the holiday season is rapidly approaching.It is only customary that around this time of year, every year, college students are scrambling around organizing travel times, and doing their best to rid themselves of any last minute work that may, in any way, encroach on their long awaited, and much needed, holiday vacation.
After almost an entire semester of papers, tests, presentations, and group projects, the last thing on most students’ minds is doing any more work.
Thanksgiving break is a time for relaxation and kicking back with family and friends; and that’s exactly what many of the students at High Point University have chosen to do.
The Long Road Home
Anything that’s worth having is usually worth waiting for, and for those students who choose to make the long trek home, that wait is definitely worth their while.
Whitney Special, from Southern California, knows all about holiday travel. “Being so far away, I don’t get to go home as often as some of the other students,” says Special, “so it’s great when I do go back. The holidays are a great time to be able to be at home.”
Non-Conventional Thanksgiving Break
While most people head home and indulge in unimaginable amounts of turkey and stuffing, that doesn’t mean that it’s the only way to have an awesome Thanksgiving break. If the idea of being at home isn’t your idea of a good time, there are plenty of other ways to release yourself from all of the stressors at school.
Even though you might have a home-cooked holiday meal waiting for you at your house doesn’t mean that everyone else does. Women’s shelters, homeless shelters, hospitals, or even local foster homes are always looking for volunteers, and the demand is especially high around the holidays. Making someone else’s Thanksgiving wishes come true can be more than a little rewarding.
If you don’t have the funds to head back home, you can try going home with a friend. Taking the time to see a different part of a friend’s life may open your eyes to a completely new side of them.
“I didn’t have the time to go home [to Atlanta] this year,” admits Ashley Akers, a junior Interior Design student at High Point University. “With finals coming up there was just too much work to take that long of a break. I’m heading up to Raleigh for the day to spend Thanksgiving with one of my sorority sisters instead.”
And while it might not be the holiday vacation that you’re used to, it gets you away from campus, and allows you to spend the holidays somewhere you may not have gone before.
Thanksgiving Traditions
No matter where you end up on this particular Thanksgiving there will always be those moments from Thanksgivings’ past that you will never forget.
“Every year, the day after Thanksgiving, my family and I put up our Christmas tree,” Holly Smoot, a senior at HPU recalls, “No matter what, we always decorate the tree.”
Ashley Akers, who won’t be making it home this year, remembers her favorite Thanksgiving to date; in Disneyworld. They may not be making the trip down to the theme-park again this year, but she looks back on the memories fondly.
“It wasn’t very traditional, but it was so much fun,” Akers admits, “Normally we spend the holidays at home with family, but it was nice to take a break from the chaos that sometimes comes with everyone getting together.”
The holidays are the time of year when you want to surround yourself with people that you love. Whether you’re at home with your family, giving back to those less fortunate or visiting new friends in far away places, it’s inevitable that you will create memories that will be with you for years to come.
To find out how to take your holiday celebration to the next level, check out the following websites:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/thanksgiving/package/index.html
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/pac_ctnt_988/text/0,,HGTV_22056_71063,00.html
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