Dorm students share Thanksgiving destinations

Dorm+students+share+Thanksgiving+destinations

As the Thanksgiving holiday draws close, where to live when Darlington School is closed becomes a concern for international students or students who don’t live in GA. The long holidays are a great chance for them to enjoy and do what they want and they would like to share some of their choices with us. 

Junior boarding student Khame Tippayapaphanupap, from Thailand, shared his Thanksgiving plans.

“I am going to my friend’s house, Micheal [in] Tennessee. I believe we will have a great time, though I do not yet have a plan of what we are going to do,” Tippayapaphanupap said. “It is too far [to go back home]. I am going back home this Christmas though, I miss my friends and family.”

Talking about his destinations in the previous long holidays, Tippayapaphanupap listed several of his favorite places.

“I traveled to Phuket this summer holiday and visited Disneyland in Florida last Christmas,”  Tippayapaphanupap said, “among which, my favorite place is Phuket, where I could enjoy the beautiful ocean.”

Sophomore Eddie Ye, a boarding student from China, also chose to hang out with friends over the break.

“I will go to L.A. with my friends for this Thanksgiving,” Ye said. “It would be a fantastic trip as we are planning to go to Universal Studios [Hollywood].”

Ye has a different reason than Tippayapaphanupap for not going home, however.

“I would be quarantined for over half a month if I am going back, while Thanksgiving is only nine days,” Ye said. “I will go back the following summer holiday as the pandemic will get better, and I will have more time.”

Besides Los Angeles, Ye has been to multiple places in the previous holidays.

“I went to Seattle last Thanksgiving … I visited the [Space Needle] and ate turkey for the first time,” Ye said. “I lived in my friend Jiahao’s home last Christmas. We play[ed] Genshin Impact together.”

Ye stayed in Georgia with his two friends this summer, but he reflected, “It was boring.”

“They are busy working on their studies as they are close to applying to college,” Ye said. “I could only practice piano and go to [the] gym during the days.”

Unlike Tippayapaphanupap and Ye, freshman Tyler Scipio, a boarding student from New York, doesn’t have a clear plan yet.

“I will either stay in Atlanta or go back to New York,” Scipio said. “I want to see my friends and go to places with my family [in New York].”

Scipio also described previous holidays, sharing that he went to a “water park in New Jersey during spring break [and] arcade in New York last Christmas.” He liked the water park best “because my cousins were there, and there were a lot of rides.”

Junior Elika Mohammadi also chose not to go home to Iran, opting to stay in Atlanta instead.

“It is just because the time period is too short,” Mohammadi said. “It is just not worth it to go all the way back home. It takes two days to go back home and two days to come back here. The holiday is over.”

Sophomore Anna Nguyen, from Vietnam, will also stay in Atlanta.

“I miss my family, too,” Nguyen said, adding that she does not think she will return home over Christmas. “I probably will go to another state.”

“I will go back to Vietnam next summer holiday, and I plan to go to [the] zoo with my family.”