In my mind, Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on all the good things going on in your life and express gratitude for your many blessings. But what you are thankful for changes with time. When you're a kid, you're thankful for candy and having lots of toys. When you are an adult, you are thankful for your parents, or good health. College students, however, have a very particular list of things they are grateful for - a list that reflects just how blessed and tortured we really are.
1. The end of the semester being in sight.
Thanksgiving break for most college students means the end of the semester is near. Of course, that also means finals are also eminent, but so is winter break! Thanksgiving break becomes the perfect time to recharge and power up for those last few weeks of classes and finals. Suddenly life becomes more hopeful, and for that, we are truly thankful.
2. Home-cooked meals
After months of takeout, dining hall "food" and Ramen noodles, there is nothing a college student loves more than going home to gorge themselves with some real home-cooked meals. And even if all you can fit into is sweatpants for a few weeks, the memories of those rich and delicious meals will help you get through the rest of the semester.
3. Clean laundry
Nothing is harder than finding that perfect moment in which you not only have time, but there is a laundry machine actually free to use. Therefore, clean laundry is a luxury in college, so we learn creative ways to re-wear clothing and go to sleep on sheets covered in crumbs. Not only does home for Thanksgiving mean clean laundry, it often means having someone (your mom) do your laundry for you. So you get the best of both worlds - you get clean laundry and don't ruin any clothing in the process. And let me tell you, if there is anything to be truly thankful for it's clean socks.
4. Their hometown/home state
Sure, you like the state/city your college is in, but there are just certain things that are off about it. Maybe you are sick of the way people drive, or their way of talking, so going home is like returning from a foreign country. Suddenly, the world feels right and familiar again. People in your hometown are so sane and logical and you wonder why you even left (until you see an old classmate or boyfriend/girlfriend and suddenly remember). You are never as grateful for where you came from until you leave that place.
5. A break from their roommate.
Even if you and your roommate are the best of friends, at this point in the semester you are both probably getting on each other's nerves. That weird quirk that seemed cute at the beginning of the year now makes you want to smother them in their sleep. And that's why we are appreciative of a week apart in which to let the distance make the heart grow fonder (or at least make the heart less homicidal).
6. SLEEP
It's a fact of life that college students get the bare minimum of sleep needed to literally not die. Between studying, Netflix, procrastinating and classes, we have full schedules that rely on copious amounts of caffeine in substitution for sleep. So don't be surprised when we spend the first few days of break passed out in our beds sleeping for a full 24 hours. Just be sure to wake us up if we start having nightmares about finals.
7. Time to binge-watch TV
Thanksgiving break is the perfect time to spend a few days on the couch in an epic TV marathon. This is not to say college students don't already spend hours on end in their dorms watching entire seasons of TV, but we are grateful for vacations in which we can do it with less shame and on more comfortable couches with less homework to do.
8. Their family and friends.
Although some of us won't admit it, we totally missed our parents, siblings, and old friends. It's nice to return to the people who know you the best and still love you anyways. College students everywhere are thankful to return to their families and get a little morale boost before finishing off the semester. We are even probably grateful for those family members that ask us what we are doing after college...maybe.
9. Being alive
To be honest, some college students are just grateful to be alive. It's basically a miracle that all the stupid stuff we did this semester, like eating only Ramen noodles for a week, didn't kill us. Of course one day it might all catch up to us, but for now our youthful invincibility will keep us hanging on as we continue to be thankful for our ability to #YOLO.
10. Being a college student
Just because we complain about all the "life threatening" difficult things that college entails doesn't mean we don't love every second of it. We may be naive young kids, but we realize what a good deal we have going on as we spend four years learning about stuff that we are actually interested in and hanging out with friends and eating whatever we want. There is nothing better than being a college student and thus we will be endlessly thankful for it.
