JuniorTonia Grande gother5 mound the table with sopho– more Rachel Bashaw's family in Iowa for Thanksgiving dinner Nov. 24. Grande was from San Salvador, EI Salvador, and was unable to travel home for some holidays. ·Courtesyof Ro(hel Boshaw At the home of junior Clint Rankin, junior Manuel Tourlay opens a gift from the Rankin family Dec. 18 during his week-long stay at the Rankin's home in San Antonio, Texas. laur– lay stayed w ith the family until he returned home to Toluca, Mexico, for the remainder of the holida y break. ·Courtesy of MonuelTourloy ays roa Foreign students spend holidays with host famil ies When the holiday seasons came, someofHarding's international students were left without a place ro go. With airline ticket coSts rising, not only did they find alternate places to spend the holidays, but they spent their (ime learn ing new uaditions while remembering their old ones. Senior Misha Kalhin, from Brest, Belarus, spent his holidays in LosAngeles, San Francisco, Ariwna and New York. Kalhin spent (WO years in the states without returning to Belarus and said he did nor regret it at all. "I could find away home, but it's nacworth it to me," Kalhin said. "1 have hiked up volcanoes and been inside ice caves; that's more fun than mOst people's holidays." Senior Catherine Carui, from Brazil, lived with her host family in Searcy and by 2005, had spent twO Christmas holidays with them. She said she felt the education she was receiving was worth more than missing her parents, but said Christmas was the most difficult time to be away from them. "Being away from home is so hard, especially during the holiday season, but 1know later it will be rewarding," Carui said. H er favorite part ofChristmas in Searcy was having a stocking, she said. "I got my own [stocking] with my name on it, and it was hung beside the other children's," Carui said. "My host family has made me feel so welcome; it's like they are my real family now." Junior Jose Rod riguez said the cost of a plane ticket for him to go home to Panama for Christmas was the primary reason he went home with friends for the holidays. "I wish 1couldbewith my pare11ls," Rodriguez said. 'Tm the only child so it's [difficult] to know thac there is no one else to be with them during Christmas or New Year's Day. It's not going to be like that forever, but 1 must confess it huns nOt to see them." Rodriguez said missing Christmas was not as difficult for him as missing New Year's Eve. He said in Panama families would gather together five minutes before midnight and listen to a song called "Cinco para las dace," which means "Five minutes untilll." ''After we listen to the song, we come together in the living room for a fam ily hug, just the three ofus, and we stay there for a few minutes," Rodriguez said. "My mom cries, but dad and I try to hold it and be the macho men. We cry as well; it is nOt as noticeable, but we do. That's what I miss the most." ·Volerie Hendrix
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