By Raya Tahan
Arizona Daily Wildcat
UA students will spend the Thanksgiving break in a variety of ways and places this year. Almost everyone's plans, however, include a big meal tomorrow and lots of rest and relaxation throughout the weekend.
Retailing junior Marnina Goldstein left yesterday for her home in Santa Cruz, Calif.
"I haven't been home in six months," she said, "I get to spend five days there this weekend."
Goldstein is looking forward to spending time with family and friends, as well as shopping, relaxing and sleeping, she said.
Jessica Morris, a graphic design senior from Boulder, Colo., will also spend five days at home this weekend. She is looking forward to snow and skiing.
"We get all the family and friends together and have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner," she said.
Rebecca Gaby, an undeclared sophomore from Atlanta will be home for the first time in four months.
"It will be good to be able to spend the holiday with my family," she said. "I'm going home to a new house because they moved and I have not seen it yet."
Some UA students will be visiting family and friends in cities other than home this holiday. Molecular and cellular biology senior Kevin Bilant is from Texas, yet he will visit family in Phoenix this weekend, he said.
"We might take my grandma to the zoo," he said, "I'm happy to be seeing family who I don't normally get to see."
Criminal justice junior Colby Nordheimer is from Washington D.C., but she is going home with a friend to Los Angeles for the holiday.
"D.C. is too far to go just for four days," she said. "By the time you adjust to the time difference, you have to turn around and come back. I'll be there in a few weeks for winter break."
Nordheimer is excited to be going to Los Angeles, she said, though she is nervous about meeting her friend's family.
Jessica Ellison, a family studies sophomore from San Diego, is joining her family in Las Vegas for the weekend.
"My 12-year-old brother is playing in a soccer tournament there, so we turned it into a family reunion."
Although Ellison is looking forward to spending time with cousins, aunts and uncles who she has not seen for over three years, she is also disappointed to be eating Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant, she said.
"It's the first time I've ever been away from home on Thanksgiving," she said.
Many UA students will also be staying in town over the weekend.
Manny Gomez, an industrial engineering senior from Tucson, will spend the holiday here.
"My wife and I are going to my parents' house and then we're going to visit her parents on Thanksgiving" he said. "But the best thing is that I'm going to relax and enjoy the vacation. Nothing is due, no presentations, no exams, nothing."
Gomez also plans to go camping and four-wheeling at nearby Madera Canyon with friends who are in town from California, he said.
Most campus facilities will be closed over the weekend. The Fiddlee Fig, Louie's Lower Level and the game room will remain open Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but will be closed on Thanksgiving. The Fidlee Fig held a Thanksgiving meal yesterday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
All campus libraries will be closed on both Thursday and Friday, but will re-open Saturday.
Two computer labs will be open on Saturday and Sunday only: Engineering Building Room 318, a Macintosh lab, and Electrical and Computer Engineering Building Room 206, an IBM lab. The remaining computer labs will be closed throughout the weekend.
All residence halls will remain open throughout the weekend.