This weekend I'm getting ready to go home for Thanksgiving and I'm really excited to see all of my family and enjoy the holiday with them. I'm from Albuquerque, NM and I'm also really looking forward to flying in and seeing the Sandia mountains because I've missed them too. The last week I've been talking with all my friends and my roommates and we've all been discussing out plans to go home for Thanksgiving and I think it's a pretty common theme to hear everyone saying how excited they are to go home and see their family, but also how excited they are to return to LC after the break.
I really enjoy going to a school where most of the student body comes from out of state or out of the country, and even most of those that come from Oregon are from outside of Portland. Talking about where we're all from is a really nice way to bond and learn more about each other. It's also really nice to bond over how excited we all are to go home and see our families. I'm really glad that I looked at the percentage of students from out of state as a factor in where I wanted to go to school because I think it would feel harder to fit in at a school where most of the students come from that area. I like that most of the freshman class had only ever visited Portland once or twice before coming here to go to school. It means that we all get to explore the city together and find all the good restaurants, and the best food truck parks, and the coolest stores, and the best places to go for a walk or a run just off campus. I have loved getting to explore these things about the city will all of my friends. And because we're all from different states and cities I also feel like I get to learn lots of stuff about other cities that I've never been to. A lot of people are from the Bay Area so I've learned a lot about the different neighborhoods and cities in the bay area. And I have a few friends from Minnesota and I always enjoy hearing their accents. I also like that as it's getting cold we all compare what the weather is like where we're from to the weather here. It's always really nice to have these conversations about home and about how we're adjusting to life here. I think going through this process of adjusting to life here all together and being able to talk about it with lot's of people going through the same experience is really great.
And so, I'm really looking forward to going home and all the things I'll do there: seeing my parents; catching up with my younger brother; playing with my little cousins; sleeping in my bedroom; visiting my old high school; and of course, spending Thanksgiving together with all of the people I love. But as much as I'm excited about that I also know I'll be really happy to come back to my second home at LC because I know there are lots of people I care about here too, and I'm happy here just as much as I am at home.