Remember when Thanksgiving break was a full week long? I know I do. Even though the holiday is only one day, in early education, Thanksgiving was an excuse to not have school for five whole days. Those were the good old days. Now in college, most students only get two days off: the actual Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. I guess I should still be thankful that they are still giving us the holiday and the next day to try to recuperate from everything that has piled up throughout the academic year.
Yet, two days of break can hardly be called that. In reality, Thanksgiving is only a warm up to the real break everyone is looking forward to: Winter Break. It is a small taste of the amazing yet still too short three weeks of actual break we get in the academic year. To me, Thanksgiving break mocks students of what is so close yet still so far away. I guess the fact that there is a lot of food involved can make up for the very short two days of no school we get. However, my family, like I am sure many other students’ families, will not be making a big Thanksgiving dinner this year.
There is also the problem that because it is such a short break, many students find it unreasonable to travel all the way back home for just an extra two days. Packing to travel is exhausting and stressful, and then there is even more work when you have to unpack once you come back. Airplane tickets are also very expensive around holiday time. This is not even taking into consideration that Thanksgiving is one, if not the craziest, of the most hectic traveling holidays for people in the United States. Is it worth it for so many out-of-state and International students to go through all this trouble just to come back four days later? For many, the only option is to stay at school and wait until Winter break (which, I repeat, is the real break we want and need).
I don’t want to spend too much time writing about Black Friday, but I do need to at least mention it. If traveling and cooking were not already chaotic enough for you, Black Friday will be your cherry on top. People fight, injure and in some cases kill other people in order to get their hands-on materialistic things that stores have smartly placed on sale to get your money. Congratulations, you are helping feed capitalism!
Nevertheless, take these two extra days to rest and relax as much as possible. Whether you stay at college, go back home or maybe spend it with a friend’s family, make sure to make the most of this short break and get the strength you need to push through until Winter Break. This is a small taste of the three weeks that are ahead of us, so let’s just finish off strong!