Students Celebrate Quiet Holiday on Campus

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Darius P. Felton ’08 sat in his room and stared at his lunch—leftover turkey, stuffing and ham—and pondered his Math 21a test coming up next week. The Canaday quad was absolutely still.

“It was kind of isolated because you don’t even hear anyone walking by,” Felton said.

Most of campus shut down for Thanksgiving break, as students left town to visit family and friends. But those whose homes are too far away joined athletes and others on a quiet campus.

Of the 1,643 members of the Class of 2008, those who chose to attend a Thanksgiving study break Friday night fit into the Canaday common room. Felton said that he and a girl from Zimbabwe were the only ones in Canaday G who had stayed behind for Thanksgiving break.

Like many students who chose to spend Thanksgiving in Cambridge, Felton—who ate the festive meal with a local relative—did so because the four day break was not worth the long travel and expensive plane tickets home.

Jeffrey W. Lin ’08, who was playing foosball in the Quincy dining hall Friday with a friend visiting from West Point, said he didn’t think the travel time back home to Bakersfield, California was worth it. He and his friend spent the weekend ice skating on Frog Pond and watching a movie.

Mihaela Pacurar ’06 didn’t really have a choice—the flight from Boston to her home in Cluj, Romania is 13 hours long. On Thursday, she got her share of turkey in the Quincy dining hall, at a “festive lunch that was called Thanksgiving dinner, but was really just a late lunch,” she said.

Because there is no equivalent Romanian holiday, Pacurar said she didn’t mind spending Thanksgiving away from her family. “I will celebrate when I get home to my family for winter break,” she said.

Instead of a traditional turkey dinner, Gregory D. Bybee ’07 opted to split a pepperoni pizza and mozzarella sticks with five friends at Pizzeria Uno.

He said he spent most of Thanksgiving doing “putzy things” that you usually don’t get around to, like cleaning out a crowded e-mail inbox and naming digital photos.

“I even vacuumed. My roommates will be really happy to see the room when they get back,” Bybee said.

Bybee, who is from Wisconsin, said this Thanksgiving was a lot more relaxing. Last year, he said, he rushed to pack and catch a plane, and spent his time at home racing between obligations to family and friends.

“Distance translates into money and time,” he said.

Sheria D. Smith ’05 said Harvard should make the break longer—“at least a week,” like a certain institution of higher learning in Connecticut.

“It’s not worth it for people to buy plane tickets to be where they want to be,” she said. She has never gone home to Indiana for Thanksgiving, but has spent several with roommates who live closer to Cambridge.

Smith said the holiday gave her an opportunity to catch up on activities she hasn’t had time for. “It has been a really busy year, and I feel like I finally got to move in to my room,” she said. She added that she planned to hit the day-after-Thanksgiving sales at 6 a.m., but ended up going around noon.

Ana Huang ’08 spent her Wednesday before Thanksgiving helping other people celebrate. Along with a dozen other volunteers from the Harvard Progressive Advocacy Group (HPAG), she prepared a turkey dinner with stuffing and pie for an event at the state house organized by the First Church Shelter and HPAG. According to Huang, the event was intended “not just to provide food,” but also to raise awareness.

“The holiday season is a chance to bring attention to a population that is usually ignored by the public and politicians,” she said. She said a letter-writing table offered people the opportunity to contact their representatives—but some of the homeless were disappointed that only a few legislators attended the event, though many were invited.

Most of campus and Harvard Square was closed down for Thanksgiving day. “It was like having the city to yourself, but with not much you can do,” Pacurar said. Even cafes were closed, and Pacurar and her friends had to “go on a quest for restaurants.”

For Bybee, it was “a pain” that the shuttles were not running. And though he planned to work out, he was disappoitned to learn that the Malkin Athletic Center and Blodgett Pool were closed.

Many varsity athletes also had to spend their Thanksgiving away from home.

“We’re just like a big family anyway, so it felt like family time,” said Caitlin K. Cahow ’07, a defender on the women’s hockey team.

Although the team lost the two games they played on Friday and Saturday, Cahow said they had a lot of fun together.

“For us, it’s good not having to worry about classes and hockey at the same time for once,” she said.