Obviously, the ideal way to spend Thanksgiving is with your family. But what about the students whose homes are thousands of miles away?

It’s clear that some students can’t travel home because of the prohibitive cost of traveling overseas. So, where do the international students spend their holidays? Loras allows international students to stay on campus during holiday breaks, but that likely would be somewhat depressing.

Loras students with faculity and staff on Thanksgiving.

But there are other opportunities for students to get off campus over breaks. Faculty and staff members often open their homes to international students over the holidays.

“For the most part, I stayed on campus, but for Thanksgiving dinner I went to Dr. Koch’s house,”said senior Bibek Thakuri, a native of Nepal.

Many students go home with a friend, and spend the break with their friends’ family. Kun Hee Jeong, a first-year from South Korea, said: “I went to Chicago with my friend. I liked the food there. But it was like a four-hour drive; we got caught in rush hour traffic.”

Sophomore Alejandra Ruales-Almeida, from Colombia, spoke of her break, during which she went home with a friend.

“I loved it; I got to go to the Mall of America, go downtown Lacrosse, and of course eat lots of turkey with her family,” she said. “Some of the things I did reminded me of my mom, and that made me miss home, but I had a great time.”

Nepalese first-years Reena Dev and Ayush Joshi also went home with friends over break. Both had positive experiences, and both took the opportunity to share their culture with their friends’families, in very different ways.

Dev spent the time painting on her friend’s family’s hands with mehendi, or henna, and offering them Nepali candy. Speaking of her time there, she said “It was my first Thanksgiving, and I enjoyed it. I even got gifts.”
Joshi’s approach to sharing culture was somewhat different: “It was the best Thanksgiving ever. I spent my time with the DeBartolo family and taught some of them Nepalese swear words.”

Some students choose to participate in a week-long service trip Loras sponsors each year. This provides not only something to do, but also an experience that is unforgettable for these students.