Every year many students look forward to the Thanksgiving holidays—a few days that students don’t have to worry about classes and class work. Setting early morning alarms for early classes is far from the students’ minds.

Not only are the students excited, but the families are excited as well. Catching up on what was missed while gone, spending time in the kitchen with mom and Black Friday are just a few things students have to look forward to.

This is the time where students get the chance to have a break from school work and have a few home cooked meals while spending some time with their families.

“For Thanksgiving I’m going to Oklahoma to be with the majority of my family,” Kevyn Courtney, a sophomore undecided major, said. “I’m very excited because this will be the first time I’ve seen my mom in 2 years.”

The Thanksgiving break doesn’t necessarily mean a Thanksgiving holiday for all students. Several students at VSU come from different ethnic backgrounds or are here as foreign exchange students.

“I’m Albanian, and we don’t have Thanksgiving,” Ana Shalesi, a junior finance major, said. “I don’t celebrate it myself, but I usually go to my cousins and we have a small dinner.”

Whether celebrating Thanksgiving or not, students can see these few days off as an opportunity for rest and relaxation.

“On Thanksgiving day, I wake up and live my life as if it were no special day at all,” Jonathan Gray, a sophomore dance major, said. “Why? Because I’m thankful every day not just one day out of the year.”

While a majority of the students venture home for the holidays, there are some students who stay in Valdosta during the break.

“I’m not going home this Thanksgiving,” Ranesha Jackson, a senior early childhood education major, said. “I’m staying in Valdosta and hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for my friends and I who are not going home.”

I myself am flying out to Boston to be with my family. I’m excited because it has been a few years since I’ve been able to spend the holidays with my family up North.

Being Greek, Thanksgiving is not a holiday that we celebrate, but living in America we have adopted it as a holiday of our own.

So, whether going home for the holidays, or staying in Valdosta, the Thanksgiving break is welcomed and will be celebrated in some way.