Traveling home for the holidays may be nothing for those from surrounding areas such as Montgomery, Birmingham or Atlanta. While these students only have to factor in gas money and a couple of hours into going home for the holidays, international students have to take much more into account.
Yichen Feng, a student from China, will be traveling home for the holidays after finals, and she said she will return Jan. 1 because it was less expensive to come back earlier.
“I came here to the University because I was interested in the business school,” she said. “I then became interested in the management information systems program here.”
Feng said it has been a little under a year since she has last seen her family and she is excited to go home and see her relatives.
Depending upon the area in China, the length of an average flight from the United States to there is anywhere from 13 to 15 hours.
Christmas is not as commercialized in China as it is in the United States, Feng said, and it’s not celebrated in the same large-scale way.
“It is nice to go home for the holidays, but my focus mainly is just getting to see my family,” she said.
While some international students are able to go home and see their families, others will remain on campus during the holiday season.
Abdullah Ibrahim, a student in the English Language Institute is from Saudi Arabia, and he said he will be in Tuscaloosa for the holidays.
Ibrahim’s flight would range from 16 to 18 hours if he went home this holiday season, and he said it would be very expensive for him to travel.
“I miss my mom a lot,” he said. “But maybe next year I will be able to go home for a month or so.”
Although he would like to go home for the holiday, he said he will still enjoy the break.
Rose Towers is the residential housing for most international students, and it will remain open throughout the holiday season.
There will be resident advisors on campus, housing personnel and desk assistants to help with anything the students need.
“Rose Towers, The Highlands, The Bluffs, Ridgecrest South and Bryce Lawn remain open during these break periods,” according to the Housing and Residential Communities’ website.
Other residence halls are preparing for routine closing at 10 a.m. Dec. 11 and plan to re-open at 10 a.m. on Jan. 9.
