In just a few days, most students will be packing their cars and trading in parking and papers for a week of family, American tradition and food. But for those whose home is halfway around the world, that option lacks significance and practicality. These international students, however, are by no means deprived of possibilities when it comes to Thanksgiving break.
“Many of the students have family in the States,” said Santiago Luzuriaga, a sophomore business management major from Quito, Ecuador. “I have a cousin in D.C., and she invited me, and I think that happens with most of my international friends. It’s kind of one of those two — either you get invited by a friend, and you spend Thanksgiving with them, or you’ve got family somewhere in the States, and they’ll usually have you over.”
The possibilities don’t end there, however. International Student Advisor Molly Fryman said this year a group of students are going to Las Vegas during Thanksgiving break.
“During Thanksgiving, we offer a trip at cost to them to go somewhere,” Fryman said. “We had them vote between Chicago and Las Vegas, and they chose Las Vegas.”
Taiwanese student Min-Yan “Mike” Hsieh is at Ole Miss for his second year as a civil engineering graduate student, and he has yet to spend his Thanksgiving break in Oxford.
“This year, I’m going to Vancouver,” Hsieh said. “My friend who studied here last year has an internship in Vancouver, so I’m going to see her.”
Hsieh is traveling to Canada by himself — hardly a journey compared to the trip home, which takes a minimum of 24 hours, according to Hsieh.
Fryman, who oversees 155 incoming study abroad students, said this display of autonomy is rather typical of them.
“Our groups tend to become more and more independent, and I don’t know why that is,” Fryman said.
It may have to do with an ever-growing convenience in public transportation, something upon which many international students depend for mobility.
“Some of our trips that were popular in the past have become less popular, like New Orleans,” Fryman said. “This year, we went to Nashville instead because of the Megabus. Most students have already gone (to New Orleans) on their own, so they don’t really want to go with me.”
According to Fryman, the visit to Nashville is another trip, like the Thanksgiving trip, although shorter, to introduce international students to American culture.
“The idea is that they’re bringing their culture as well as learning our culture,” Fryman said.
For Hsieh, who only goes home to Taiwan during summer and winter breaks, the school-organized trips are not an option, but neither is staying in Oxford.
“Last year, I went to Jackson,” he said. “Every international student is crazy about Black Friday. We don’t have any kind of holiday like that.”
According to Hsieh, he and his friends also spent a few days in New Orleans over the break last year. He admitted that although staying in Oxford is not appealing, it would be a wise thing for him to do.
“I shouldn’t go traveling, though,” he said. “As an engineering student, your final exam is really hard to prepare for. I should be studying.”
If Hsieh were to do so, however, he would find the town quieter than usual; most businesses will close on Thursday, public transportation won’t run and options for food on campus will be very limited. These are bleak conditions for a student who is already feeling homesick, like Hsieh.
“First semester, everything’s really interesting. Then second semester is a little boring, and you start to get homesick,” Hsieh said. “This semester, I just want to go home.”
However, sometimes international students get to go home with a mentor, according to Fryman, to partake in the American holiday.
“It’s kind of a cultural thing,” Fryman said. “But if they get the opportunity to do something like that, they usually take it.”
The program is called the Global Ambassadors, and according to Fryman, it works to match up an international exchange student with a student from the U.S. like an peer mentoring program.
Thanksgiving, while an American holiday, is well known to international students, according to Luzuriaga.
“It’s not a thing outside the States,” Luzuriaga said. “But obviously, everybody knows about Thanksgiving. You see it on the movies.”
