While the disappointment of not getting to go home for the Thanksgiving break was initially pretty sad, I quickly learned that spending the holidays at SU is actually not nearly as bad as I (honestly) expected it to be. Thanksgiving at SU is surprisingly relaxing and a great time to re-energize after two months of hard work.
Some of the perks of staying at SU over break are obvious. Hearing the elevator bing two seconds after pressing the button is honestly life-changing, and seeing a full row of open treadmills at the gym is truly shocking. To make these wonders even better, Capitol Hill is surprisingly quiet practically all the time, and waking up in an empty room is pretty wonderful.
If I’m being honest, however, there are parts of staying on campus for break that can be a little sad. It can be hard to wake up on Thanksgiving to silence and no scent of cooking food. Normally when I wake up, my mom has already been frantically cooking for hours, so it was odd to not hear her running around the house and giving me tasks that were too easy to mess up. It is also hard to be away from family during the holidays. Seeing pictures from home and hearing about all the good food at my house made me wish I was there for a little bit. One of the surprisingly hardest things was seeing and watching all the photos and videos of people going home. This one threw me off, but it was actually very upsetting seeing my friends reunite without me.
But overall, I actually truly enjoyed my break in Seattle. SU is great about making sure students have a place to go for Thanksgiving dinner, and the break is the perfect opportunity to make friends with other lonely kids on your floor. It was an especially great time for my friends and I to spend (a lot) of time together, bond, and explore the city. We took the opportunity to explore the many gorgeous parks throughout the city or even hosted our own friendsgiving (sidenote: you can cook mashed potatoes in a microwave, and let’s be real, they’re the most important part of Thanksgiving anyway)!
On a more sappy note, in the end, Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful, and being here on campus for the holiday helped me realize how thankful I am to be here. When my friends mockingly asked what I was thankful for at dinner, I wasn’t distracted by the wonders of being home and was able to honestly think about how happy I am to be at such a great school with such wonderful and passionate people. While it was occasionally hard to be away from home and family, spending time in my new home and with my new family was just as meaningful and ultimately a great way to spend one of my favorite holidays.