Thanksgiving... Forum

[Krones]

As a 1L starting this fall, I was wondering what what do you guys do for Thanksgiving? I'm trying to figure out if I need to get plane tickets while they are still reasonable, or if I'm not going to have any time to come home.

Any thoughts?

[savesthedayajb]

Use that time to finish outlines and take practice tests.

[steve_nash]

I used that time to finish outlines and take practice tests. I only took off for Thanksgiving dinner with the family. Probably overkill but it was all I could handle at the time.

[findlayswimmer28]

My In-Laws came to town for the holiday. We made it clear to them that we were both outlining and prepping for finals and would only be available in the evenings and all day Thanksgiving. The completely understood and kept themselves busy.

[jmhendri]

While we're asking about holidays, is it smart to go home for the period after finals to mid January (or around the time that classes start up again) or will their be thing's to be taken care of on campus?

[findlayswimmer28]

Go home or go somewhere. You will want the mental break. We drove from Ohio to Montana to go snowboarding for a week. The rest of the time, we hung out with friends that we had neglected and cleaned up the disaster zone that became our home during finals.

[sophie316]

You can go home for thanksgiving. I was with my SO's family and thus unable to do any work all 4 days and I was fine.

[t_flores08]

I hope to fly home and maybe bring outlines or something to go over. Maybe a textbook, not sure. But I do want to come home for at least the holidays and before my family stops hearing from me for the month of December.

[whenpigsfly]

1L I stayed at school, cooked dinner with friends, and worked on outlines, etc. While I didn't "lose time" traveling, just being around school while knowing that others were enjoying even the smallest sliver of family time/real life was tough. So 2L I flew home and visited family and was much more productive over the break as a whole. Getting out of the whole school/outline/study routine, even for just a day, did wonders and helped me kind of clear my head for the final push. If you don't have too far to travel, I think it's definitely worth your while.

[jennylynn]

My family is only about an hour away, so I went home for break. Might as well get someone else to cook for you for a week while you're studying.

[jayn3]

i chose my law school based on where i could visit home more frequently than during undergrad. the only thanksgiving i've ever spent away from family was during study abroad, alone with a bottle of wine. i will fight anyone and everyone who tries to stop me from going home for thanksgiving from that day on.

[chicagolaw2013]

From what I was told, it's cool if you go see family or whatever for the actual day/stuff yourself silly with some turkey, but don't blow all weekend, as finals are too close afterward. Study as much as you can around the actual holiday.

Also, I've been told to avoid flying (that's a geographic issue I think, though, since I'm in Chicago, and O'Hare is always delaying or cancelling flights). You can never predict weather, or air travel issues, so the time constraints and added stress will screw up your studying as well if you do decide to travel by plane. If you are driving a few hours or something, though, I don't see the issue with travel.

[Pearalegal]

*stare*

C'mon.

[chicagolaw2013]

I don't generally go back east for Thanksgiving anyways, as we just stay in CA and spend it with my boyfriend's mom. I flew in order to save time, but I also wasn't dealing with any potential bad weather. I agree with studying as much as possible while you are gone though. People who didn't study at all were pretty frazzled when they got back.

This is what we do, except replace CA for Chicago. You and your nice weather in November are making me jealous.

[Krones]

Thank you all for your replies. I still haven't decided what I'm going to do. The year after I graduated and entered the real world I had to spend Thanksgiving alone with a turkey sandwich and Stovetop Stuffing. I'm not sure if I wanna do that again.

[vanwinkle]

For 1L I would highly suggest planning on staying near school and studying. No matter how prepared you plan on being, you will feel behind by then, and those days will help you catch up. Your second and third years, since you'll know what to expect by then, you can actually plan on using that as a going-home holiday, but for 1L I'd really highly advise against it.

[Pearalegal]

This is quite honestly baffling to me. I'm not saying go home for Thanksgiving break and get hammered every night, but go home if you want to go home. Budget your time, go to the local library if you need time away during the days from your family if its too distracting but...heavens. If someone can't figure out how to do that, I suppose its their own business, but it would make me personally very sad.

Its not like you can or should just block out family and friends for 1L. C'mon now. Law school is still part of your life. I guess if the holidays not important to you, stay at school if thats what you want...but you can't isolate yourself and expect to be happy. When you're an attorney you'll have demands around the holidays as well....you just make it work. Budget budget budget.

I'm just completely taken aback by the idea that if you want to go home you wouldn't. Totally anecdotal, but in all the pre-law school advice I got from the attorneys I worked...never once was staying home for Thanksgiving even mentioned at all. In fact, the only time Thanksgiving break was discussed was when someone would mention how they went home and cried to their Moms or got really drunk with their friends in passing.

[jayn3]

you can't isolate yourself and expect to be happy.

this.

[findlayswimmer28]

There will likely be a large group of people that don't go home for the holidays. One thing you can do is have a pot luck dinner. We had three of our fellow students over for dinner, as well as my husband's parents. Everyone had a great time and no one had to spend the holiday alone.

[caoyun]

This is quite honestly baffling to me. I'm not saying go home for Thanksgiving break and get hammered every night, but go home if you want to go home. Budget your time, go to the local library if you need time away during the days from your family if its too distracting but...heavens. If someone can't figure out how to do that, I suppose its their own business, but it would make me personally very sad.

Its not like you can or should just block out family and friends for 1L. C'mon now. Law school is still part of your life. I guess if the holidays not important to you, stay at school if thats what you want...but you can't isolate yourself and expect to be happy. When you're an attorney you'll have demands around the holidays as well....you just make it work. Budget budget budget.

I'm just completely taken aback by the idea that if you want to go home you wouldn't. Totally anecdotal, but in all the pre-law school advice I got from the attorneys I worked...never once was staying home for Thanksgiving even mentioned at all. In fact, the only time Thanksgiving break was discussed was when someone would mention how they went home and cried to their Moms or got really drunk with their friends in passing.

+1. I mean, what the hell? If you want to go home for a couple days for the holiday, go home. I get that you need to work in law school, but if you burn out, your grades will suffer accordingly. And Thanksgiving is the best, most delicious holiday ever. I never understood why someone couldn't spare a few days to relax and re-charge. I took every weekend off during my 1L year and did just fine. If I, with my terrible work ethic can take off every weekend, certainly more industrious students can manage to take Thanksgiving weekend, or at least just Thanksgiving, off.

[macattaq]

I can't stand Thanksgiving, so I had less reason to try and go home. But, if you're going to be operating purely on financial aid, and have to cross the country, it doesn't make much sense if you are going home for Christmas. To be honest though, I cut my studying by half over the break, chilled more, and I was fine.

[snowpeach06]

You people worry me. Are you honestly telling me that the few days you spend with your family relaxing and eating like you probably haven't eaten all year is going to be the death of your grades? Doubtful. Besides, no one said you can't take a few hours out to study while you are home. I think you people who plan on working 12 hours a day 7 days a week are going to more than burn out, so have fun with that.

[09042014]

ITT Strivers.

[A'nold]

Actually, there are valid points from both sides. I went to my in-law's house in CA and locked myself in a room for most of each day. It worked very well but I was still behind when I got back. You guys honestly have no idea how much time getting your crap together and memorized before finals takes. Not to mention your LRW memo and whatnot. Time is not on your side and you will feel time slipping away from you every day leading up to finals, topping off with a miraculous "stay up until 4 a.m., set alarm for 5:30 a.m., study while walking to school" crapfest.

Just allocate your time and like Pear said, go to a library to work on outlines or find a quiet place to lock yourself up. I will say though that it is hard to concentrate when you see everybody else having a great time. Think Bart Simpson in the episode where he is trying to pass 4th grade or whatever when everyone was outside making snowmen and stuff.

[zeth006]

This is quite honestly baffling to me. I'm not saying go home for Thanksgiving break and get hammered every night, but go home if you want to go home. Budget your time, go to the local library if you need time away during the days from your family if its too distracting but...heavens. If someone can't figure out how to do that, I suppose its their own business, but it would make me personally very sad.

Its not like you can or should just block out family and friends for 1L. C'mon now. Law school is still part of your life. I guess if the holidays not important to you, stay at school if thats what you want...but you can't isolate yourself and expect to be happy. When you're an attorney you'll have demands around the holidays as well....you just make it work. Budget budget budget.

I'm just completely taken aback by the idea that if you want to go home you wouldn't. Totally anecdotal, but in all the pre-law school advice I got from the attorneys I worked...never once was staying home for Thanksgiving even mentioned at all. In fact, the only time Thanksgiving break was discussed was when someone would mention how they went home and cried to their Moms or got really drunk with their friends in passing.

Small problem is there isn't a library that's open during Thanksgiving weekend...