<p>Our son is going to be in the 2016 JHU freshman class. This is a question for JHU parents, current students, or Admission Daniel :)</p>
<p>We live in California, so it's an expensive 5-hour plane trip home for our son. Reading the various blogs on JHU's website, I see that most dorms close up for all holiday breaks except for the handful of "vacation" dorms, which remain open during Thanksgiving and spring break. I can't find anything about what students left behind <em>do</em> during the vacations. For instance, what about Thanksgiving? Is there any kind of Thanksgiving dinner offered for kids who can't go home for the short break? What do international kids do?</p>
<p>The dining halls are closed during breaks even for the vacation housing kids. Where do they eat?</p>
<p>I never stayed in Baltimore during Thanksgiving, so I’m not sure what, if anything, is offered on campus - I would guess that campus is pretty much shut down. However, the area restaurants/grocery stores etc will still be open. That said, I know that several of my friends who were from far further away chose not to stay in the vacation housing and instead went home with friends who lived on the East Coast for thanksgiving.</p>
<p>I know in the past, from hearing from others, the interfaith center or other organizations will host a special thanksgiving dinner open to everyone staying on campus.</p>
<p>But anyways, there’s usually a ton of kids around campus (i.e. international and west coast kids) during that period. He’ll likely hang out with these people (who might be amongst his friends already as there is a strong west coast contingent in every Hopkins’ class) and figure out meals with them. But yea, people are friendly. His east coast friends will more tha likely invite him to their family’s thanksgivings if they find out he’s staying on campus. I’m sure he could even ask people here if he wanted.</p>
<p>Thanks tanman and Blah2009. Part of me wants to fly him home but it seems crazy for just 5 days when 2 of those 5 would be spent flying, and he’ll be coming home a month later anyway. The thought of him sitting all alone in an empty dorm is even worse…</p>
<p>As a current Hopkins student from the West Coast my dorm shut down for five days over break and I didn’t feel confortable asking my international friends in vacation housing to let me crash in their rooms because they have to pay extra money for the ability to stay on campus over vacations. The only people around campus during Thanksgiving Break are upperclassmen living in off-campus housing (who he may be able to stay with if he’s on team or club with them) and the people in vacation housing. Everything on-campus is shut down. I ended up just going home with a friend who lived on the East Coast, and it was a very nice time to meet her family and just hang out. This year our Thanksgiving Break fell a week before the end of classes so I ended up having three essays due that week and going back home would have been a complete waste of money because I needed to get a lot of work done and wouldn’t have seen my family much anyway.</p>
<p>Are the vacation houses filled mostly by international students? Are there many West Coast students or other students that just choose not to go back home for thanksgiving and spring break in the vacation houses?</p>
<p>I don’t think vacation housing is a place for random people to stay during vacations but rather dorms that are on special plan for those who cannot go home, like the international students. So it’s not like you can sign up to stay there just during the breaks. </p>
<p>We live far also. First year, DS went and stayed with relatives in DC area (who I think decided having him for 5 days was too long even though he is very low maintenance) and this year, we brought him home. It wasn’t bad as he came home tuesday night, and flew out sunday and had full 4 days at home. And we don’t have direct flights either. And it was actually nice to see him so soon after for Christmas break.</p>
<p>I did think transiently in the past about having him stay at a hotel nearby if push came to shove (about same price as a plane ticket) but also didn’t like the idea of him being alone.</p>
<p>Now as a junior, he will be in off campus apt and I expect he will not be coming home henceforth. He will either stay there and scrounge or go with friends who live on the East Coast. I don’t think he will mind being alone as much I will mind it.</p>