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The yearly winter exodus from the dorms to hometown family gatherings has left classrooms empty and dorm rooms mostly unoccupied. But a handful of student athletes and students from abroad still wander Saint Mary’s and Winona State universities.
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Jinyan Juan, 23, from China, studies for Graduate Record Examinations on Friday at the Darrell W. Krueger Library on Winona State University’s campus. Juan, who said she wants to go to graduate school somewhere warm, was one of a few students who stayed over winter break. (Photo by Paul Solberg/Winona Daily News) |
Some like the solitude. Others pine for a familiar face.
Oana Sarbu hasn’t been with her family on Christmas day in six years. She left Romania as an exchange student in high school and enrolled at WSU after jumping through myriad hoops and visa-related paperwork.
She talks to her family on the phone and online, but she’s been back to Romania only twice.
“It’s hard, but I’ve gotten used to it,” she said.
This year, she spent Christmas with one of her former host families. She appreciates that they let her into their home, but a sea of strange faces can be unsettling, she said.
“They are all so happy to see each other,” Sarbu said. “I am not seeing the people I want to see.”
International students who can’t afford to fly home stay in town or travel over the winter break. Many students, particularly those from East Asian countries, have an unofficial tradition of visiting cities such as Chicago or New York, said Sarbu and Paula Scheevel, WSU’s director of housing and residence life.
Those who stay on or near campus enjoy the brief peace and quiet left behind when their classmates leave. The aisles and tables in WSU’s Darrell W. Krueger Library were nearly empty Friday, the frantic finals’ week over.
Sabit Ahmed graduated from WSU in December. He sat at a library desk with his laptop, wasting time until a friend got off work. Attempts to find permanent work in the U.S. by the Bangladeshi have so far fallen short, so he’s staying in Winona to enroll at SMU as a graduate student.
Wei Zhang, a student from China, manned the library’s computer help desk with barely a customer to bother him. He stayed on campus to work on applications for graduate school, welcoming the solitude.
“It’s OK. I need a quiet environment,” he said.
