<p>We live on the West Coast, and as of this time do not plan to bring our son home for Thanksgiving holiday. What does the campus look like during this holiday? Are the cafeteria open and do they serve turkey dinner and such? I suspect the campus will be pretty quiet but how many students stay on campus on average for the Thanksgiving holiday? Also, do they usually have classes on Wednesday before Thanksgiving? Airfair is quite pricey, so if the campus gets quite deserted, we need to figure out what to do for this holiday. The same question goes for the spring break and Easter. Current students/parents, please give your feedback.</p>
<p>This year, being that I am from relatively far away (Ohio), I came on campus a week prior to spring semester’s start and stayed during Easter Break. That having been said, the holidays cause campus to be fairly quiet. All the vital services (dorms, dining halls, etc.) do remain open, however.</p>
<p>We live in AZ and S2 is a junior at BC. When we sent him off to college (as well as his older brother, who also attended a college in the NE), we told them that we could afford 2 round-trip tickets per year: Sept/Dec and Jan/May. That was it.</p>
<p>Both sons always managed to find something to do for Thanksgiving, Spring Break, and Easter Break each year. Almost always, they were invited to go home with one of their friends. (it seems like most students at BC are from NE, NY, or NJ – and from my son’s experience, very generous and friendly!) He did stay on campus this past Easter weekend (by choice) to catch up on some work and he found many other students around too and they hung out together – going into Boston one of the days. As trizz said, the campus is fairly quiet during holidays, but certainly not deserted. So I wouldn’t worry about your son, unless he is a complete social misfit – but then he wouldn’t be at BC, would he? :)</p>
<p>And no, there are no classes on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>Trizz75, thanks for your input. I was worried that some of the services are not available for those staying on campus which would be very inconvenient. I have no experience sending my child so far away. My older son is here at UW, and even though it is a very large university, it still gets rather deserted here during holidays. So he definitely comes home for all his breaks.
Worried_mom: what does a possibility of being a complete social misfit at BC have to do with my questions? I was asking about specific details related to the logistics of staying on campus during certain holidays/breaks. If one follows your logic, “complete social misfits” go home for holidays but “complete social fits” stay on campus? If that’s what you were trying to say, you got me worried! I am planning for my S to stay on campus. If there are logistic problems, we’ll have to help him solve them. That was the nature of my question. I hope it was just a misunderstanging on your part.</p>
<p>Feolvi: Are you reading way too much into Worried_mom’s comment or taking it too seriously?</p>
<p>feolvi,</p>
<p>worried mom was just making a joke. She wasn’t implying anything about social misfits or making a statement about those who go home or stay. She was just being lighthearted 
</p>
<p>My D comes home on the breaks but many of her friends choose to stay, although they are very welcome at our home. They find things to do, there’s a lot in the area and seem to have a good time.</p>
<p>Campus will be pretty empty but dining halls will be open and I’m sure they will serve Thanksgiving food as “Turkey Dinner” is a fairly regular (and legendary) dining hall option. That said, if things work out there he may score an invite home with an east coast friend. </p>
<p>I stayed for Easter once to get work done, the emptiness of the place definitely helped in that process but it wasn’t totally deserted and everything was open (although stuff closed early). </p>
<p>Spring break may be the lousiest time to be on campus just because it’s the longest of the mentioned breaks and most people go on a service trip or go home. Probably a good idea for your son to look into a service trip as this will be much more fun and rewarding than seven days on an empty BC campus. </p>
<p>No classes the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>BC2012guy,</p>
<p>That’s right! During orientation our guide talked a lot about her trip to the Appalachians for spring break. She told us that lots of students do this and have a blast. My D wanted to look into this because she heard so much about it from her friends, my guess is that she is going to do it next year. What a great suggestion for feolvi’s S. </p>
<p>feolvi, I found this link [Service</a> & Immersion Programs - Boston College](<a href=“http://www.bc.edu/offices/service/volunteer/siprograms.html]Service”>http://www.bc.edu/offices/service/volunteer/siprograms.html)
I’m going to look into it also.</p>
<p>feolvi-I’d be willing to bet that your S will make friends with many students that live in the local area, and will likely receive more than one invitation to join them for Thanksgiving! I know, because the past 2 Thanksgivings, I’ve told my daughter that if any of her friends are staying on campus, to extend the offer to join us for Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>Its Boston, there are plenty of people plenty of resturants and plenty of bars. Send your son 100 bucks and have him take his friend out to dinner at Ruth Chris’s.</p>
<p>feolvi, I’m sorry that I unknowingly seemed to have offended you somehow, but that was not my intent. You are completely misreading my post. I was trying to tell you that there was no need to worry about your son not being able to come home for each break. I thought you might find it reassuring to hear this from another parent who is in the same position as you, living thousands of miles from the school. </p>
<p>I pointed out that either: (1) he will receive invitations to go home with friends who live closer to school or (2) he will stay on campus and find others to hang out with. And I certainly was not implying that those who stayed on campus were automatically “social misfits,” as I pointed out that my own son had chosen to stay on campus this past Easter. I even gave you a “smiley.” C’mon, lighten up!</p>
<p>Thanks everybody for your input. I like the idea of my S signing up for a service during spring break. I will definitely suggest that he looks into it. Also, glad to hear that all the essential services stay open during breaks/holidays.
As far as my reaction to the post by worried_mom goes, I apologize for the misunderstanding. It felt like she was taking the discussion in a new direction. Mistakes happen! It’s good we’ve cleared them up.:)))</p>
<p>Dear feolvi : This is our family’s fourth year ending at Boston College with one student graduating and a second who is a rising junior. During our four years (we are based in New York), we have had a guest for almost all the significant in-semester holidays for those students who could not travel back home. Our younger just completed the Appalachia Service program during the Spring break and absolutely loved the experience.</p>
<p>Boston College’s student body is reknowned for exercising the “men and women for others” ethic. Students will not leave their friends behind - your son will indeed find others more local willing to bring him on board for a few days.</p>
<p>We live in Massachusetts and have hosted many of our son’s friends on various holidays and/or breaks. Our sense is it happens often with many students.</p>