We get almost a whole week from Nov 22-27 for thanksgiving break (is it possible to skip classes for monday so we can come home for the first weekend as well? lol). I was wondering do people usually go home for this break or do they stay on campus? What do people usually do if they stay on campus? I’m looking at plane tickets and it’s about $500 to get from Cal to NJ 
and I’m contemplating whether it’s worth going home for thanksgiving and then going home again for winter break a month later. My financial aid only pays $1100/yr for transportation so that’s enough to cover 2 roundtrips, but I’m considering going home for thanksgiving, winter, spring, and summer if I don’t get any internships/research (incoming freshman :P)
Which breaks do people usually go home/stay on campus for?
The breaks are fall recess (1 week), Thanksgiving recess (generally Wed-Sun - I would double check on the dates you were given since online it says Nov 23-27), winter recess (usually 3 weeks although this past year just two over Christmas), intercession (one week at the end of January between semesters), spring recess (one week) and summer recess (end of May-mid September). Due to travel costs my son came home fairly infrequently as well. Summer and winter recess are the only two breaks where essentially everyone leaves. You might make friends with someone more local where you can spend the Thanksgiving holiday or other break periods. There are always far less people on campus than normal during these breaks but due to the number of international students as well as others in similar situations that you described, there certainly are people who stay.
When my son stayed he would sometimes go on retreats or other activities. If the break took place during his sports season (he is a varsity athlete) he would do a training trip with the team. Once he used a break period for a “field trip” to Europe with one of his classes (costs were covered as it was part of that course curriculum - he just needed to provide spending money and a few meals I believe). Sometimes he would just hang out on campus for a break and do day trips with a few friends (New York City, Philadelphia, hiking at the Delaware Water Gap etc).
@Cantiger There is 1 week of break at the end of January? I don’t see it on here https://registrar.princeton.edu/academic-calendar/Fall-2016-2017.pdf
Why does princeton have random week offs? like the one at the end of october and the one you described? What do people usually do on these week offs?
https://registrar.princeton.edu/academic-calendar/Spring-2016-2017.pdf
The one week break is between semesters. Spring classes do not start till February 6.