While thousands of students will travel back home for the holidays after completing this semester, they will be getting excited for moments with their loved ones such as sitting by the fire, opening presents, and drinking hot cocoa. This is not the case for all students though. Some students do not get to go home.

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          Juniors Saara Hakanen and Alejandra Lozano are two of these students who do not get the luxury of travelling back home for the holidays.

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          Saara Hakanen is a Junior at Oklahoma State University. She has come from Finland to OSU to study for a degree in Sports Media while also running for the Oklahoma State Women’s Track and Field team. As an international student, Hakanen has spent a lot of time away from her family. She wishes that she could return to Finland to celebrate in the way she used to when she was younger.

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          “It’s pretty traditional in Finland… for especially younger people to have what’s called ‘Little Christmas’ [where you] have a gathering, make good food, have some drinks, and have fun celebrating with friends,” Hakanen said.

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          Even though she cannot experience a typical Finish Christmas this year, she is luckily still celebrating with her family. This year it has more meaning to her because her brother will return from the military immediately before they fly to Stillwater.

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           “We will probably just hang out and drive around while playing a Christmas CD. [I’m just happy] to hang out [with them] because we haven’t all seen each other in such a long time,” Hakanen said.

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          While Hakanen gets to spend time with her family despite it being thousands of miles away from home, other students will also stay in Stillwater, but for them, they do not get to spend time with loved ones.

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          Alejandra Lozano is a Junior at Oklahoma State University. She usually celebrates Hanukkah each year with her family. For her, Hanukkah is special because her family spends time together, away from all other distractions.

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          “Traditionally… we say a prayer as we light the Menorah. Then we have dinner together. For the 8 nights of Hanukah, we usually give gifts every night. It’s really just a good time for us to spend time with family. We’ll all be off our phones and we’ll play games with each other. [For] my family, we are all usually doing our own thing… and aren’t around each other a whole lot. So when it comes to these types of holidays, we like to actually spend quality time with each other,” Lozano said.

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          For Lozano, the holidays will look a lot different this year. She works on campus and because Hanukkah starts the Sunday after Thanksgiving, she will have to keep working and going to class instead of focusing on celebrating and spending time with her family.

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          Even though school and work are holding Lozano back from celebrating like she normally does, she is still dedicated to celebrating in a semi-normal way.

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          “I have a little Menorah here that I got freshman year that I am going to light every night. This year, I am going to Facetime my family and we are still going to do the same stuff. We might all have dinner together over Facetime and we are definitely going to light the Menorah and say the prayer all together, but I don’t think we are going to be able to spend as much [time together],” Lozano said.

 

          While some students are not spending time at home for the holidays, many are still dedicated to keeping the holiday spirit alive and celebrating in new ways. For Hakanen, this means showing her family around Stillwater, and for Lozano, this means celebrating unconventionally over FaceTime.