It can be difficult to watch all of your friends pack up and leave to go visit home for Thanksgiving break while you will be spending that time on an almost empty campus. As someone who spends Thanksgiving on campus, I want to explain the many ways to make it feel like an exciting staycation instead of a lonely week at school.
Many students who stay on campus do so because they live really far away and it would not be worth the travel expenses to go home for such a short time. When that is the case, it can be disappointing and you can feel really left out. However, getting out of the dorm and into the city will help you take control of your break!
In my experience, staying in the dorm over Thanksgiving can be depressing, so the key is to take little day trips by yourself. Write down some places in Boston that you have not been able to go visit and use your free time over break to go check those things off your Boston bucket list. This year I went to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
It is also really important to re-frame your mindset about being by yourself on campus. Instead of feeling lonely and left out, try to focus on the fact that you will have time for yourself. You will get the rare opportunity to catch up on work or just watch movies and have time to center yourself before the end of the semester.
You can think of this time as purely “you-time” and focus on resting and recharging. You will be grateful for it when school gets going again after Thanksgiving break. Binge that new Netflix show you have been too busy to watch, read the book that has been unfinished for months, or sleep in for the first time in a while.
Essentially, this time is yours to fill with whatever you desire. If you want to get ahead on schoolwork so that the end of the semester is calm, you can. If you want to sleep for five days straight, you can. Whatever you feel is necessary for yourself and whatever will make you feel the best going into the rest of the semester and finals week.
Think about what makes you happy and make Thanksgiving break an extremely positive experience. You do not have to feel lonely if you fill your time with things that make you feel excited and rested. Happy Thanksgiving!
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