Like many other events this year, the holiday season is likely to be a drastic change from what it was last year. Students are looking forward to traveling and spending holidays with family, things that were unavailable to them in the past year.

Sophomore Soleil Porcella said, “I am going to San Diego and La Jolla [over Thanksgiving break].”

Freshman Alexis Awad is also traveling during the holiday break and said, “I’m going to London and Amsterdam. I’m so excited because I have never been before.”

1 common trip over the holiday breaks is visiting colleges. Many colleges last year only offered virtual tours in an attempt to compensate for the COVID restrictions. This year, many more schools are open to tours for students with an interest in their school.

Another trip that was not common last year due to COVID was visiting extended family such as grandparents or cousins. Most large family gatherings were postponed last year, so families are excited to get together again on these holidays that are centered around family.

Sophomore Kendall Hollyfield is 1 of several students that will be able to reunite with family. “This year my grandparents are coming to town from Texas which is really exciting because they could not come last year because of COVID,” said Hollyfield.

Porcella is also excited to see family over the holidays and said, “I am [excited] because I’m hoping I’ll be able to see more family this year. I think that’s a big thing is that with COVID restrictions, I wasn’t able to see a lot of my family members and there was a lot more distance. So I think now that all of my elderly like family members are vaccinated I’m going to be able to see them and I’m really excited for that.”

The normality of this year’s holiday season excites students who are looking forward to traditional holiday breaks. Porcella said, “I think there will be more ability to do more activities and I am traveling without my family for the first time so that’s going to be different for me personally.”

Hollyfield agreed and said, “I am really excited for the holidays this year because I am able to see my grandparents for the first time in a year and I am able to hang out with bigger groups of friends.”

Awad also thinks this holiday season is going to be exciting and busy: “More people can travel, but not as much as probably the year before last year. I think that this is going to be a really fun holiday even though we’re still wearing masks.”