KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Whether you’re having Thanksgiving at home, or somewhere else, the consensus at one local university is that there still something to be thankful for.
Western Michigan University's campus looked like a ghost town on Thursday. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse, but in the heart of campus, a few students lingered still.
“I actually ended up working,” Amanda Jean-Louis, a graduate student at the university, told FOX 17.
She said she misses her family, who lives in New York, “It’s usually me and my mom in the kitchen, also my sister. I’m usually the one baking the pies. It's my favorite thing.”
While she wishes she was home making Haitian food for the holiday, she won’t be alone.
"My boyfriend of two years, he came to visit me for this holiday,” she said. “Not even five minutes of being here, he proposed.”
Although some students couldn’t go home because of work, it's a bit more complicated for others.
“I can’t go home,” said lliyaza, a graduate student. With a war going on in his country, Myanmar (Burma), it’s hard for him to be with his family.
Thanksgiving is an emotional day for him, as he misses his family dearly.
But, like Jasmine, he’s thankful he won’t be spending the holiday alone.
“It means everything to me, the love and the kindness that I am receiving from the American friends,” he said.
He told FOX 17 he'll be celebrating the holiday with his friends. He plans on bringing a traditional dish to dinner— a small piece of home.
