For many students at the University, Fall Break means going home to see family and friends. Most travel relatively short distances to get home to the Chicagoland or surrounding areas. Yet, for international students at the University, Fall Break means something very different.

Since the majority of international students cannot go home over the weeklong vacation, many choose to spend the week traveling around the United States.

Andr‚a Cerosio, sophomore in FAA, is studying abroad from England. She said she will be spending her Thanksgiving in California, specifically in San Francisco and Los Angeles, visiting relatives.

Cornelius Kan, senior in Communications, studying abroad from Singapore, said he plans to travel to the East Coast, specifically New York and Boston, with a few other exchange students. They are from Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Australia, France, Hong Kong and Vietnam.

“It’ll be my first time seeing New York, so I’m really looking forward to that,” he said.

Kan said that Thanksgiving is an entirely new concept to him, but that they have similar festivals in Singapore, like Chinese New Year. Kan said he likes the whole idea of Thanksgiving, including the food.

“We’ll probably look for a place to eat in New York where we can have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner,” he said.

Bernard Tay, junior in Engineering, is also studying abroad at the University. He is originally from Singapore, and said he and his girlfriend, Ting Shen, a junior in Business, will drive from Champaign to Chicago’s O’Hare airport to catch a flight to Washington D.C.

Tay said they talked to some of their friends from the U.S. who have been there so they have some ideas of what to do once they arrive.

Tay and Shen, studying abroad from China, plan to have lunch in Chinatown in Chicago when they return from Washington, D.C. and hopefully get some shopping done, too.

“We’ll also stop by the Aurora Premium Outlet mall to check out the post-Thanksgiving sales,” Tay said. “We can’t wait for the Thanksgiving break!”