First published on Nov. 23, 2021 in Stories Beneath the Shell.
by Hannah Kennedy
For many University of Maryland students, Thanksgiving break is a highly-anticipated five days off of school spent with family and friends at home. However, for international students, traveling back to their home countries for a short amount of time is not a practical or financially feasible option.
In previous years, the International Student Union has hosted a Share Your Table for Thanksgiving program that allowed families from the University of Maryland to host international students during Thanksgiving break. That program is no longer running because of the coronavirus pandemic, which leaves Thanksgiving break plans to the discretion of international students.
Ronith Solipuram, a freshman letters and sciences major from India, is unable to travel home for Thanksgiving.
Although his immediate family lives in India, he’s planning to visit his extended family in the U.S. They usually have a little Thanksgiving celebration, Solipuram said.
Solipuram said it would be very hard to go to India for a short period given coronavirus-related restrictions.
“More than going [to India], it would be coming back here that could be an issue,” Solipuram said.
Diya Bhattacharya, a freshman psychology major, also can’t go back to India.
“As home for me is too far away to be able to visit in such a short time period, I decided instead to visit my cousins and grandmother in Austin, Texas,” Bhattacharya said.
Patrick Stam is a third year student from the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, studying abroad at UMD for the fall semester. Unable to make it back to the Netherlands, Stam made plans with fellow Dutch students to travel the East Coast during the break.
“Since we are only here for half of a year we are planning on doing some trips,” Stam said. “For Thanksgiving break we plan to go to New York and Boston.”
Although he was already planning to travel around the U.S during his time off, Stam said an email from the Department of Resident Life stating that residence halls are closed during break caught him off guard.
“They are just expecting that everyone will go home, which is not the case for everyone, especially [international] students,” Stam said.
Residence halls will be closed from Nov. 23 until Nov. 28. Depending on their dorm, students can stay on campus for the break..
South campus students can remain in their dorms over break for a $130 fee. North campus students stayin Elkton Hall lounges — common areas — with several other students and pay a $65 fee. All campus dining halls will be closed.
Tony Li, a freshman letters and sciences student, chose to stay in the Elkton lounges because he can’t return home to China and has no other options. He said he’s disappointed with the break housing options and does not understand why he must stay in the lounge as opposed to a normal dorm room.
“I do not understand why we need to move to the lounge,” Li said.
He’s concerned about other students testing positive for COVID-19 and him needing to quarntine.
“My concern is that if someone tests positive or is considered a close contact, we all need to quarantine,” Li said. “I am not worried about my health since I am vaccinated and hopefully other people are also vaccinated.”
Unlike Li, Mengchao Ren, a freshman letters and sciences student from Shanghai, opted not to stay on campus over break. He said he isn’t interested in staying in the lounge.
“I cannot bear that,” Ren said. “There is no privacy and there are five or six boys living in a public place like the lounge.”
Ren is staying with a friend in Baltimore during the break.
“I am fortunate that I made a friend,” Ren said.
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