As my first semester of college continues to fly by, I’ve started to prepare myself for the wonders that is Thanksgiving break. One thing that this unreligious, half-jewish and holiday loving girl refuses to do is listen to any Christmas music before Thanksgiving. When I went home for October break, I saw that an entire Christmas store had opened up. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas, especially in NYC, but more so when it’s actually or at least close to December. It’s not like there are any Thanksgiving songs for anyone to be singing, and I doubt anyone would sing them if there were, but the last thing Thanksgiving should be treated like is the forgotten holiday. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, and at Ithaca College, we’ve been blessed with a full-week off for Thanksgiving, which is filled with many thing for us college kids to look forward to when we go home.

1. Reuniting with my cuddle buddy and real bae: my dog of course.

Let’s be real here, every college kid knows one of the hardest goodbyes we had to say back in August was to our pets. The best thing for me to wake up to in morning is my 14 pound cocker-spaniel by the foot of my bed, as her head rests on my leg. Studies have shown that dogs can be big stress relievers, and after these intense few months of college, a nice cuddle with a furry, warm and mushy stress reliever sounds wonderful.

2. Wondering around all the places of your city that make it your home.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Ithaca. I love the campus, the town, the people, but there are always going to be little outskirts of my town that I will feel connected to. Within my town, there’s this little park that I would always go to, "the second park," whenever I just needed to think and breathe after a long day. Aside from that, since I live in Queens, I have easy access to the city with the subway, which would lead me back into my usual atmosphere and daily craziness of Soho, Washington Park or whatever other aspects of New York City there may be.

3. The somewhat amusing “Do you have a boyfriend yet?” filled Thanksgiving dinners.

From my eyes, Thanksgiving dinners can consist of going around from adult to adult, filling them in about how your life is. These adults have seen me grow up, and I honestly love reconnecting with them, since some of them are practically my family. I mean of course the whole “Do you have a boyfriend yet?” comes up in at least one conversation. I mean what can you expect from your family? They want to know things about you because they’re your family who always looks forward to seeing you walk through the front door.

4. The Very Extravagant Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Even though the parade takes place in my city, and I don’t have the energy or patience to go to it — watching it on TV with my sister and parents make me happy enough. My sister has always loved watching the parades, and when I was younger I just watched because she did, but now we’ve grown to watch them together. We point out the things that stand out, things that are laughable or whether the performances have gotten better or worse throughout the years. The parade alone is always so unique and extravagant, and it puts a real kick into the holiday spirit, literally.

5. Walking down the halls of the most annoying yet memorable four years: high school.

I know a lot of people think high school doesn’t mean anything now that we’re in college, but hear me out before you scroll past this one. For me, high school was a huge learning experience that I wouldn't take back, and if you really wanted to live your high school life, you probably feel the same. Even though we've graduated, we all have that one teacher we want to go back for or those few now-senior friends we want to see. Plus you can show how you’ve somewhat evolved within these short months of college. I mean, that’s all gotta be something.

6. Reconnecting with the friends you were used to seeing everyday.

In college, I’ve learned how hard it is to keep in contact with friends back home. Everyone has SO MUCH STUFF going on, and college is a serious thing, so it’s not so easy to make a FaceTime call whenever you want. When I return home, I will discover who will make the effort to stay in touch and who won't. I know for a fact there will be friends I can talk to as if no time has passed — all the inside jokes and similar feelings we have will still be there.

7. Shops, shops and even more shops.

Despite how annoying and time consuming this day may be, I’m genuinely looking forward to Black Friday shopping, or any kind of shopping I do in general over break. I always love shopping with my sister, and she’s usually honest about what looks good on me and what doesn’t. Since I’m going to be at home with my parents for a week, I’m no longer a broke college student, so I could plead them in person for just that one last top at Forever 21.

8. Watching that movie and this episode and that series.

College has encouraged me to focus mainly on my studies and making new friends, which has been apart of the amazing experience. However, I’m extremely behind on my shows which makes me kinda sad. I haven’t seen any season 13 "Grey’s Anatomy" episodes yet, which is literally my show (ask anyone about that). So I’m very much looking forward to the freedom of binge watching all the episodes I’ve missed until my heart’s content.

9. Food, all the real food.

College is nice, freedom is nice, but dining hall food is not always so nice. There are many times where Sodexo does provide a good meal for most of Ithaca students, but those meals aren’t like the NYC pizzas and bagels that I miss. Aside from that, I genuinely miss my parents' home cooked meals.

10. Speaking of food...leftovers too. All the Thanksgiving leftovers.

Everyone knows that once the huge Thanksgiving dinner is over, each family takes packages of leftovers. Thanksgiving leftovers especially are my favorite thing to have at the most random times of the day (maybe even the next morning). Plus if all goes well, I can probably steal some food back with me to Ithaca. I wonder if leftover stuffing can make it through a four hour bus ride? Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to find out.