Thanksgiving Break: Expectations Vs. Reality

By Alexandra Brown on November 28, 2014

It’s around that time that most of us are all going home for Thanksgiving break, which is kind of a weird period of time.

Some schools already had a fall break, where they got a few days off earlier in the season, but for a lot of others, Thanksgiving break is the first time they’ve been home for a whole solid week in a while; this is my experience, at least.

The break comes at a weird time because it sort of acts as a tease for winter break, which comes a few weeks later. Upon return to school from Thanksgiving break comes a week or so of classes, and then finals, to finish off the semester.

As college students, we may all go to school, and live in different parts of the country, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that what occurs over Thanksgiving break isn’t all that different.

Here are five different occasions during which reality trumps our expectations over Thanksgiving break:

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1. Studying

Expectations: We constantly tell ourselves, even before break starts, that it’s not going to be like last year. We will start studying for finals over Thanksgiving break. It’s non-negotiable. It’ll be a good way to get ahead, and then the week of classes after break will be a lot less stressful.

Reality: You’re lucky if your backpack even gets opened. Maybe it does get opened, but only because you needed to get your laptop out for Netflix binging.

You’ve most likely not accomplished anything more than making a to-do list for break, at the beginning of break, only to have not accomplished a single thing on it by the end of break.

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2. Overeating

Expectations: You plan on not going crazy with all the unlimited food you have at home that you don’t have to worry about saving for the upcoming week, since you only really have time to go grocery shopping once per week.

Your expectations for Thanksgiving dinner, every year without fail, are that you’ll pace yourself. You’ll start with small helpings of everything, so as to get a taste of every dish, and that way you’ll definitely have room for dessert.

It’s a bulletproof plan that really can’t go wrong.

Reality: You actually end up gaining a little weight just being home for a week or so. Also, you did not follow through with your plan to pace yourself at Thanksgiving dinner.

Dinner took you all of 15 minutes to finish, and by the end, you felt at least 5-10 pounds heavier. You spent the remainder of the evening in the fetal position on the couch, wishing you had chosen to do things differently.

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3. Meeting up with friends from home

Expectations: To make plans with friends from home you haven’t seen in a while, and keep those plans. You’ll make plans with a number of friends you’ve been meaning to catch up with since they’ve recently returned from going abroad, or because you haven’t kept up with them as much as you’d have liked while being away at two different schools.

Reality: You really only end up meeting up with your closest friends, and you wouldn’t have it any other way. While it’s nice to see and catch up with friends in general, family and other distractions can get in the way, and that’s okay.

You’ll hopefully have time to see those other friends over winter break, when you’re home for a month and have absolutely no idea what to do with yourself.

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4. Dealing with awkward questions from family members at Thanksgiving dinner

Expectations: This year won’t be as bad. You sort of have your stuff together, at least more so than last year, when you didn’t even know what you were majoring in.

It might even be enjoyable to talk to family members about your life; after all, they’ve more likely than not gone through everything you’ve been going through/will go through in the near future. Use them to your advantage!

Reality: Did Aunt Susan really ask me what happened with my one-week old break-up in front of the entire dinner table? Did Uncle David actually corner me about my major, trying to convince me that there’s no money to be made in what I’m studying?

Did my parents try to persuade me that my family loves me, and that they don’t mean any harm with their interrogations? Yes, yes to all.

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5. Getting ahead on projects

Expectations: In addition to getting ahead on finals, you’re going to get the ball rolling with all the projects/papers due at the end of the semester. You’ll thank yourself when finals week is over.

Reality: You don’t open your backpack to begin studying for finals, so you definitely didn’t get ahead on long-term papers and projects. What will be, will be, you tell yourself.

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