Not All Students Go Home

While most students will enjoy the Thanksgiving weekend at home with their families, a few unfortunate souls will find themselves stranded in Cambridge over the four-day holiday.

For those left here, Adams House will host a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

The delectable dining hall meal will include roast turkey, baked ham, stuffing and candied sweet potatoes, said Ron Cockcrost, assistant manager at the Adams dining hall.

"There will be linen table cloths, golden linen napkins [and] flowers, leaves and nuts on the tables," Cockcrost said. "Big Sam Holman will be out at the cutting board and he'll carve turkey and ham. Or there will be a turkey and ham. Or there will be a turkey and ham out for those who care to carve themselves."

Cockcrost said the staff is especially sympathetic to those who can not spend the occasion with their families.

"The staff is away from their families since they're working, so they know how the kids feel... We're all one big family," he said. "If any of the students are lonely, they can talk to me."

But some Harvard administrators are not so sympathetic.

With the exception of the Adams House meal, Harvard is not planning anything special for students remaining in Cambridge for the holiday, Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III said yesterday.

"We don't have any special plans, but local New England students go home and then return for the weekend," Epps said. "The place fills up pretty quickly."

The Harvard International Office, however, is helping to make Thanksgiving a little brighter for foreign students by pairing them with local families, Director Seamus P. Malin said yesterday.

"We take requests for local families who want to host students for Thanksgiving," Malin said. "We serve as matchmakers."

Because the University is not planning any specific Thanksgiving festivities, students remaining on campus say they are finding creative ways to spend the holiday and avoid loneliness.

First-year students say beating the holiday blues is especially important during this first Thanksgiving away from home.

"I want to explore Boston and tell my family I saw this or that," Patricia Perez '98, a California resident, said.

Other students say they will visit or host friends for the weekend.

Allison D. Overholt '98 said she plans to travel to Chicago to meet friends from her high school in Hong Kong.

"There's twelve of us... A couple go to Northwestern and a couple go to the University of Chicago so we're going to meet at the Northwestern dorms," she said.

And Ivan C. Ho '98, who is from Hong Kong, said he is having a visitor for the break.

"I have a friend from New York who's going to stay over," Ho said. "We're going to go out and eat."

Several students interviewed yesterday said they planned to visit relatives in the area.

Marlene M. Ching '98, a Hawaii resident, said she plans to visit relatives in New York.

"It's kind of sad to spend Thanksgiving away from home, but it's better to see some relatives than none at all," Ching said.

Geoffrey C. Rapp '98, who is also from Hawaii, said he is traveling to Washington state to visit his mother for break.

"If you stay at Harvard 24 hours a day, you get sort of a cabin fever," he said. "You feel a lot better when you have a break from campus."