As University students head home during breaks, some students may travel thousands of miles to get there. Instead of traveling that great distance home, many international students visiting the University use their time off from school to explore different parts of the United States.

Allan McLean, a junior in business visiting from Sydney, Australia, and Eliza Kruger, a graduate student in LAS visiting from Brisbane, Australia, used their Thanksgiving break to travel to San Francisco, Calif.

“I spent the first five days in San Francisco in a town house with ten other people,” Kruger said. “We went shopping, we bicycled along the Golden Gate Bridge, we enjoyed cooking in our kitchen and we enjoyed a few drinks on our rooftop terrace. Now I’m going to Springfield to have an actual Thanksgiving dinner and to spend the rest of the weekend with a friend. She invited me and my friends to have dinner with her family.”

McLean also enjoyed his time in San Francisco.

“We visited Alcatraz, we rode the trolleys,” McLean said. “It was a great city, I absolutely loved it. It was also a bit of nice weather,” McLean said.

McLean has plans to meet up with his family during the winter break for some more traveling.

“I’m meeting up with my parents and my sisters in the states,” he said. “We’re going to New York to see Central Park and the Empire State building, then to Whistler Blackcomb for skiing in Canada, and then we are heading to LA for Disneyland and Six Flags.”

Samantha Balfour, a junior in LAS visiting from Scotland, made the most of her Thanksgiving break by traveling all around Illinois. “I (stayed) with my friend in Chicago, then (went) down to Springfield to spend time with my friend, and then (came) back to Chicago to see the sights and go shopping,” Balfour said.

The whole idea of Thanksgiving is new to Balfour.

“We get the end of October off, but we don’t really have anything like Thanksgiving,” she said. “I (was) really looking forward to the home cooked food and that all the family just sits and eats as much as you possibly can. I’m definitely looking forward to that.”

Balfour plans on heading home for the winter break.

“I’m going home for Christmas break,” she said. “There are a couple other international students that I’ll be going home with.”

Balfour added that she enjoyed staying on campus, but after taking exams, she is ready for a break and looking forward to going home.

Sam Carigliano, a senior in business visiting from Sydney this semester, used his Thanksgiving break to experience the traditional American Thanksgiving experience.

“Me and a friend drove to New York and spent a couple of days there, and I’ve got family in New Jersey to have a traditional Thanksgiving with,” Carigliano said. “We have nothing like this at home. I woke up, and I played American football Thanksgiving morning. We got this big turkey that weighs 24 lbs. and we watched football as well. I’m just cramming as many American traditions as I can into one day.”